{"id":3227,"date":"2018-01-07T15:47:20","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T21:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/?p=3227"},"modified":"2018-01-08T16:47:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T22:47:04","slug":"45-january-7-2018-a-winter-coat-for-isha-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/2018\/01\/07\/45-january-7-2018-a-winter-coat-for-isha-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"#45 &ndash; January 7, 2018 &ndash; A Winter Coat for ISHA Hill!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Dear Friends,<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">After the construction work shut down for the season, the bare soil on ISHA Hill needed to be protected until work recommences in the spring. This seeding and mulching work was done by a team of sevadars in November and December.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">First, tractor-drawn equipment was used to smooth uneven surfaces and break up clumps of soil. This is commonly done with a large disc, which cuts through vegetation, sod, or hard soil and partly turns it into&nbsp;the soil\u2019s surface.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The next step in the process is to plant grass seed, especially on the slopes that could be easily&nbsp;eroded by rain. Here, a local farmer is using a seed&nbsp;drill to insert the&nbsp;<span class=\"\">orchard grass and oat seeds<\/span>&nbsp;into the loose soil.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"9E029448-47CE-4D84-8898-6794DA93D214\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1-Dera-2017-seeding-1.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Next, a layer of grass hay mulch is spread over the soil. The mulch helps retain soil moisture, prevents movement of seed&nbsp;and soil erosion, reduces surface crusting, and helps to moderate soil temperatures. Mulching helps grass&nbsp;establish faster. Here, the farmer is moving large hay bales onto the site.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"0B98C63F-9EF3-43DF-AB91-2E6BBC20C3AA\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/2-Dera-2017-seeding-3.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Here\u2019s a photo of workers unrolling a bale of grass mulch. Such round bales can weigh 1000 to 2000 pounds. The hay in these bales was grown on the farm of a local friend of Ishwar\u2019s! F<span class=\"\">lower and grass seeds in the hay will sprout and grow in the spring.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"EB775C21-7C5C-44F4-820A-A5C8EAF51235\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/3-Dera-2017-seeding-2.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span class=\"\" style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">This mulch is especially well suited to protect the soil on the hill slopes, such as the steep slope here on the southeast side of ISHA Hill.<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"16ED8EE2-7572-48FC-9FCC-51707ABE07A3\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/4-Dera-2017-seeding.jpg\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The first snow fell in early November on ISHA Hill. Here&#8217;s the Dome basement excavation with the blanket of white.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3233 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1040\" height=\"424\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole.jpg 1040w, https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole-150x61.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole-300x122.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole-1024x417.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole-768x313.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole-690x281.jpg 690w, https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/5-Dera-2017-Winter-scene-of-basement-hole-930x379.jpg 930w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">With warmest regards,<br class=\"\">Paul Bauer<br class=\"\">Chair of ISHA Building &amp; Fund-Raising Committee<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"\"><span style=\"font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Friends, &nbsp; After the construction work shut down for the season, the bare soil on ISHA Hill needed to be protected until work recommences in the spring. This seeding and mulching work was done by a team of sevadars in November and December.&nbsp; First, tractor-drawn equipment was used to smooth uneven surfaces and break [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-construction-chronicles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3236,"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227\/revisions\/3236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ishanews.org\/ishwarsprojects2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}