Newsletter – Dec. 2021- Part 2

December 4, 2021 by Christopher Morel

Dear Milk Lake Community,

This is John and Jenna, caretakers for the Milk Lake Retreat Centre in Middlewood, Nova Scotia.  In this, the second part of our two-part December Newsletter, we’ll describe some projects accomplished since we arrived in May, upcoming projects and long term vision, also how to book retreats, and how to make a donation.

(photo above – freshly fallen snow in the fields next to the Samayatara cabin)

2021 Projects Completed

There are many projects that have been completed since we’ve arrived and many more are pending for the future.  Many thanks to the volunteers who have dedicated their time and efforts to help make these possible. Some of these accomplishments are listed here.

  • Walking trails in the woods by the lake have been cleared of overgrowth and marked with trail tape.

  • A vegetable garden was planted and made available to guests.

  • New pots, pans and utensils are in all the cabins.  Coffee makers and kettles were replaced when needed.

  • New manuals and wood stove instructions (with pictures) are in each cabin.

  • Updating the Milk Lake website (with the great help of Chris Morel) which now has a calendar that shows when each cabin is booked for a retreat.

  • The fields have been mowed which has helped to greatly reduce the amount of ticks in the area!

  • Toilet paper, paper towel, dish soap and hand soap are being provided to all guests on retreat.  We are also washing all linens before a new retreat starts.

  • We now offer guests who are on longer retreats the option for us to go grocery shopping for them (This can be reimbursed at the end of your retreat).

  • For any guest who is staying longer than 2 weeks, we now offer to wash and dry a load of laundry (for a small fee).

  • Practice kits are being created with the help of Andrea Doukas and Sandra Selva.  Currently we have enough supplies for Werma practices and Vajrakilaya. If you have questions about what supplies are available, please contact us at [email protected] We hope that we can continue to add to these practice kits for all retreat needs.

 

(Volunteers from the August.8th 2021 volunteer day, helping to stack wood and sand the barn in preparation for painting)

2022 Planned Projects

  • Replacing old fridges in each cabin with new energy efficient fridges.

  • Re-shingling the Barn’s roof, the side facing the driveway

  • Re-shingling Buddhalocana’s roof, the side opposite the barn

  • Install new decks for both Samayatara and Mamaki

 

Long Term Vision

The future of Milk Lake is still always unfolding with many ideas and lots of energy from many supportive members.  One of the most ambitious projects we have is working towards making Milk Lake a net zero energy centre, with renewable energy and solar panels for each cabin.

As we work towards a net zero energy centre, we would like to look into more energy efficient fridges, changing all lightbulbs to halogen bulbs, obtaining water conscious shower heads and faucets, wrapping hot water pipes and draft proofing all cabin windows.

We have accomplished many projects with the modest budget that Milk Lake allows and have had great help from many volunteers and friends.  For us to complete Milk Lake’s future goals, we’ll need more financial support so we can focus on getting these projects up and off the ground!

(A comparison of the Milk Lake Barn from May to November of 2021.  The Barn has two sides freshly painted, with the great help of John Odenthal and new wood has been delivered for the winter retreats!)

 

Book Your Next Retreat and Consider making a Donation!

We want to encourage everyone who has not already booked a retreat to check out the website’s cabin availability calendar and see the full details on how to book your stay.  If you book a retreat for 2022 this month, you will enjoy our present cabin rates, which will change January 1st.

We do need your support to keep Milk Lake flourishing. If you are interested in making a one time or monthly donation, please go to the Shambhala Canada donation webpage and make your contribution by putting “Milk Lake” in the comment section as shown below.  Thank you to everyone who has already set up a recurring monthly donation towards Milk Lake!

Be sure to click on the box for recurring donations if that is part of your intention.

 

Add a note in the comments box so your donation is directed to the correct fund.

If you have any problems in setting this up, we’d be happy to set this up on your behalf.  Contact us at [email protected] and we’ll happily follow up with you!

 

Thank you all for following along with the updates and changes here at Milk Lake. There is still some availability for December if you want to have a retreat for this year.  We hope that you all have a wonderful Winter!

With appreciations from;

The Milk Lake Caretakers:

Jenna Young
John Shaw

and

The Milk Lake Advisory Council:
David Brown
Mary Campbell
Eve Rosenthal
Jim Torbert