Introduction: I have been visiting the Ananda Marga Peach Farm in Lake Hughes, CA, near LA for a number of years. Every visit I faced completely different experiences mostly in the company of Dada Gananathananda, the farm manager. This time, August 2013, I found a completely different situation and I decided to make this short photo book about my experiences during my previous visit and this one. I hope it gives some insight in the life of a small organic farmer in the USA. It is also a plea for help. Ac. Rainjitananda Avt.

In 2009 I visited the farm at the time of peach harvest. The trees were loaded with beautiful peaches. Those were the best peaches I have ever tasted, straight from the trees. One day after my arrival there was wind storm and its effect was devastating. Thousands of peaches were knocked on the ground. I joined Dada and some volunteers in a frenetic effort to collect the best and bigger peaches before they would get spoiled by the scorching sun heat. But the skins were full of mud and Dada decided to wash them. We worked long hours on that but the results were far from acceptable. Washing the peaches made them start going bad much faster and even the refrigerated container was not good enough to keep them fresh.

Dada tried to wholesale them as quick as possible but the peaches were not as they used to be anymore and that did not work. It was sad to see all those mountains of peaches spoiling on the ground. We tried to sell them directly to the consumer, ship them to everyone we knew, and made a lot of jam but that harvest was a disaster. This experience might not have been that great but compared to the present situation it was just like paradise. There was so much abundance except for the financial disaster.

August 2013 Now the situation is totally different. Just two months ago a wild fire devastated the area. The farm land was burned except the house and its surroundings which were protected by the fireman. The landscape is beautiful but very sad. The peach trees were burned, the irrigation lines melted. The orchard was destroyed.

Dada is only doing some small agriculture in beds and greenhouses around the house which were not burned. His garden is full of bees, other insects, birds, mice, gofers, and other little beings that consume a lot of what grows. Actually that is the only green in a few miles and the only food these beings can find. That is important for the environment but not so for a farmer. Still Dada does not mind.

He has contacted FEMA for help and they denied, stating that they would only help if the house had been burned down. Then he contacted the US Dept. of Agriculture and they said they would help to remove the debris and came over to verify the damage but it seems like it ended there. I thought that his plight is no different from a number of small farmers who are working hard to maintain the land healthy and support the environment but have very little economic return. My thought is that these farmers should be supported by the community with a decent salary so that they can continue doing their work and be able to maintain their families like any other city worker. This booklet is an invitiation to think what should be done.

To help the farm send checks to Ananda Marga, 42310 Lake Hughes Rd, Lake Hughes CA 93532, USA. Contact: Dada Gananathananda dadagana@gmail.com