mmmm, CHOCOLATE.

Well, HELLLLOOOOOOOOO there, my good people. Greetings to you this marvellous Monday.

um, where did the weekend go? How can it possibly be Monday already?! Trying to think what I *did* all weekend. Life gets a bit smeared around the edges when dh's in town - hard for either of us to remember what day it is. (blissful sighhhhhhhhhh) Must be love! ROTFL

OOOOH!!! I remember ONE thing I did this weekend. I took a 2 hour raw chocolate workshop and it was fanTAStic!!! These two fabulous raw divas gave a demonstration on making chocolates, talked about the ingredients and then we all got to make our own batch to take home! Mine were (oooh darn I wish the digital camera had some way of getting the photos online right now. darn darn DARN) little frogs that looked like they are praying or meditating - they are SOOOO adorable... and stars. Then today, because EVERYONE (yes, even the omnivores) in our house absolutely LOVES these raw chocolates, I whipped up another batch of hearts and seashells, including (ahem) one chocolate starfish. (I can see just by typing that that any naivety I may have pretended to portray on here has just disintegrated. Honestly, I'm not like that. dh was the one ROTFL about the starfish. He's the one you should be glaring at theatrically, not me!!!) (that link's hilarious)

*dusts herself off* (ahem) Yes, well... Anyways... the raw chocolates were divine and we'll definitely be making more.

Oh, the recipe you say?

Well, if I may...

1c of raw cacao butter, grated, or in shavings, or 1/2c cacao butter and 1/2c of coconut oil
2/3c raw cacao powder
pinch of salt
1tsp of vanilla extract (just started making my own; recipe to follow)
a good squeeze of raw agave nectar (to taste; I use about 2Tbsp in the recipe)
1Tbsp of either mesquite, maca, or lucuma powders

Start by melting the cacao butter/coconut oil in a double boiler over low heat, stirring well. Remove from heat, stir in the cacao powder 'til smooth, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Keep stirring, or the chocolate will set up!!

You can add in optional ingredients like shredded coconut, goji berries, raisins, dried cranberries, cacao nibs, crushed cashews, hazelnuts, or even things like crushed rosemary, or fresh minced ginger, raspberries, or what about (organic) orange peel and some orange essence? Play around with different things. I can't claim any creativity on these additions on my part; I've had each in (vegan) chocolate bars from various companies. Still, they are all yummy flavours. I'm still working on the espresso-chocolate. mmmmmmm YUMMY

Pour into chocolate molds or even just pour it into a pie plate and freeze it 'til it's set. Turn it over once set and they usually just *POP* right out of the molds, very easily.

Raw Vanilla Extract
Take 3 vanilla beans and 1c water. Blend well in high powered blender and soak for 24 hours. Then strain through a nut milk bag. Voila! Non-alcoholic, home-made vanilla extract.

GEEZ I wish I could share pictures with you! :( Alas...

Enjoy your raw chocolates!!!

Thursday's Thoughts

Greetings to you this fine Thursday! It's been (another rainy) day of non-doing around here, mostly. A day of rest. (much-needed rest) I seem to be fighting off some sort of icky intestinal bug the past several days and today this nasty little bug and I are goin' head to head (no, that's not some sort of boat bathroom humour, LOL). I'm taking acidophilus and really, I know I ought to just go on juices for a day or two and let my digestive system rest and recover, but I'm just so HUNGRY.

Today I had 2.5L of green smoothie this morning, 3 nectarines (throughout the day), 1 banana, 1 1/2c of almond milk chia pudding, 1L of smoothie this evening... quite a LOT of food. I felt lousy this afternoon but am feeling better tonight. I skipped out of tai chi class tonight, but did manage to row 6 kms this afternoon.

Going to go rest and read a book... dh and the kids (incl ds's neighbourhood pal who's been over for ~4 hrs now) are playing "Pass the Pigs" downstairs (lots of giggling goin' on) and Pat Boone is serenading us from his "In a Metal Mood" album over in the living room. (LMAO) Welcome to my life. Like Jon says on the opening of Jon&Kate Plus 8, "It may be a crazy life, but it's OUR life." and as ds is so fond of saying, too true, my friends, too true.

Things you may not know about me...

At least 75% of my clothes are organic cotton - probably closer to 90% if I actually do the math. A couple years ago I made a commitment to myself that any new clothing I purchased had to be organic. It was a matter of principle and as I've replaced item after item, it's nearly always been an organic cotton purchase. Which means I wear a lot of cotton. LOL I think I have a couple bamboo shirts, a pair of hemp pants, but for the most part it's all cotton. And, fwiw, my wardrobe is almost completely replaced from 3 yrs ago, because...


I've lost 75 lbs in the past 3 yrs. On Earth Day 2006 I went overnight from a standard north american diet to a 100% vegan diet, and then last April (2008) I became a raw vegan. What do I eat? Vegetables (including the very important dark leafy greens), fruit, nuts and seeds. No meat, no dairy, no refined sugars or processed foods. Still, there's LOTS of variety on a raw food diet and I don't feel deprived. And did I mention I've lost 75 lbs? LOL I'm WAYYYYYYYY healthier now in my mid-30s than I was at nearly any point in my 20s. For more than a decade I was obese and I finally feel like I'm gaining a little control over that whole part of me.


I have no tattoos. otoh, the idea of getting a tattoo intrigues me, otoh, it creeps me right out. if i *did* get one, it'd be a dragonfly with irridescent colours. but (shivers up my back) i can't see it happenin'.


i have had my nose pierced. i have had my ears pierced. at the moment i have no piercings, and have not for more than a year and a half now. i don't miss the earrings - i haven't worn them in more than a decade - but the nose ring, i do kinda miss sometimes. but i'm not getting it repierced.


i have now logged over 6.9 million metres on my rowing machine. this month i will reach (maybe i have already, i should check) 7 million - which means Concept2, the company that makes the rower, will be sending me a new pair of socks!!!! (no, sadly, not organic cotton) If that's not incentive - a free pair of socks - I don't know WHAT will get you off the couch and exercising. ROTFL i row 100 kms a month - 5 kms a day, 20 days a month. i used to row 10 or 12 kms a day, 6 days a week, but that was really a lot.

that is all. ;)

you say "po-tay-to" i say "po-tah-to"...

really, what difference does it make how you say it, anyways. lol

today i spent 3 1/2 hours in the farm field, hilling potatoes, with some very bored children in tow. actually it went quite well - they amused themselves for most of the time. it helped we had grampa's two chocolate labs with us; they're always good for some entertainment - especially in the pond!! anyways, i got the entire field hilled today. (YEAH for me!!!) i have SUCH an appreciation for my food now. my son said at one point (when he was kinda helping pull thistles), "how does Marika does this every day?! like, how does she keep smiling?!" Marika is the farm worker at the local organic farm where we get our CSA box from. Week after week for several years now she's been providing our family with delicious food. I replied that she's really passionate about her work - about providing families like ours with delicious, healthy, organic, local, in-season food. About helping us make a connection with our food. Passion. That's what's driving her... and me.

Someone the other day (father's day, actually) said on facebook that he was grateful for all the times his dad made him work hard when he was a kid, because now as an adult, he's not afraid of a little hard work to reach a goal. I thought of all the times when I was a kid, working on the local raspberry fields, that my dad would say, "go and work there - then you'll really appreciate getting an education. don't settle for becoming a farm labourer in life. working there will get that notion out of your head - then you'll be motivated to get a higher education." (basically; he'd never say it in so many words. LOL) Well, here we are, full circle. I went and got that higher education, and here I am, back toiling in the field. Only this time I'm passionate about it. This is MY food I'm growing, damn it. (well, actually, I'm not planning on eating the potatoes, LMAO, but STILL....) Funny how things have come 'round. Farming is not an occupation we should demean or belittle, yet, socially it sure isn't equal to lawyer, doctor, university professor. Far from it, eh. Sure, farmers get paid very little for the sweat and labour they put into growing our food. That's exactly one reason it's all so messed up. We have no real appreciation for just how much sweat and energy it TAKES to grow our food. We just happily go to the grocery store and buy whatever we feel like to eat. No connection to the land, no connection to the seasons, to locally-grown food, to its carbon footprint, to how much precious water was used to grow or produce it. No connection at all. That's one reason I'm out there, growing potatoes. My kids need to SEE the connection. They need to FEEL it. They need to remember the hours Mom was out there, toiling away, and them feeling bored bored bored with it all. Because when they're adults, they'll remember and maybe, just MAYBE.... they'll want to plant a potato for themselves and seek what kind of crazy joy there is in watching a plant grow, produce food and seed, and go through its full cycle. THAT's what I'm talkin' about. I remember how BORING picking raspberries was. I remember. And yet, here I am.

Doin' the right thing.

I hope.

Monday's musings...

Hmmmm.... What to say, what to say....

Had a great day... I worked on excavating the front path up to the deck/stairs I just completed. I got it about half done in 3 hrs, took out about 5 wheelbarrows of subsoil. I'm going to put flagstone or slate rocks down and then in between them plant creeping thyme. I think that will look beautiful. yes, i'll post pics once it's all done (and the computer gets fixed)

Took the compost out; it's doing beautifully - everything I added about a week ago has virtually disappeared, which is always nice to see. It's definitely heating up nicely in between. Our 11 remaining chickens are doing very well. ds replenished their feed and water. He's been a good caretaker for them. The kids and I washed the car (they *love* washing the car - shhhhh don't tell them they shouldn't enjoy it! LOL). I got sunburned on the shoulders and back of my neck (first day in a tank top - shoulda known better). Not too badly. About a 4 out of 10. ds rode his bike around lots again today and then got interested in geocaching. We've had a GPS for a couple years but have never used it - at all. So he got it out and read the instruction booklet and tonight we searched geocaching.com for some nearby caches. My half-brother has more than 1,500 caches under his belt. We're definite newbies to geocaching. But ds seems to have been bitten by the bug!

Took the kids and one of their friends to Aikido class in town tonight. First time at the real dojo (not the local rec ctr). Very formal but they had oodles of fun.

Today's intake:
2.5L green smoothie
3L water
a couple pounds of strawberries - 2? 3? something like that - maybe even 4.
a Raw Organic high fibre bar
avocado salad roll
some flax crackers with raw ranch dressing
3 raw coconut macaroons
maybe something else... can't quite remember. still, i feel filled up tonight. (the avocado salad roll & fibre bar were impulse buys at the grocery store. wasn't intending to buy & eat those. still, there's a lot WORSE things I could've impulsively eaten, right?)

now ds has found the chess computer and is playing against the computer. he was quite into chess a couple years ago but hasn't played in quite a while.

namaste
~n~

Happy Solstice & Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday I was up just before sunrise (yes, I was out of bed by 5:07) and out working in the yard by 6 (quietly, I assure you. No sense in getting the power tools going that early and upsetting the neighbours). I have been working on the front deck railing the past few days. But not being a carpenter, there are mistakes. Mistakes that I am determined to fix today. Maybe if you came over and looked, you wouldn't notice, but *I* can see them, and I want it to be better than it is, so I'm kinda going back a couple steps today and fixing a couple things. dh comes back into town tomorrow, so there's a bit of self-induced pressure to make it presentable before he comes home. And my parents are possibly coming for lunch later this week, and if you know about my relationship with them (LOL, my sister's the same way I think), I go around trying to impress them... seeking attention, really. It's obvious to me, and yet I have a really hard time stopping myself. LMAO So yesterday I worked on the deck in the morning, went to the field where the potatoes are and hilled potatoes for a couple hours (phew! hard work!!! and i'm not done! need to go back tomorrow!), then I went to a "organic soil health and management" workshop at the compost centre in town, and came home and continued to work on the deck until nearly sunset (9:21 p.m.). A very productive, if not tiring, day.

So today I slept in. LOL I'm going out in a minute to work on the deck railing and stairs, though. It's just too sunny out there to not be out enjoying it.

I ate *SO* much yesterday. I only drank 48 oz of water, where I usually drink 3L (96 oz). I had, among other things, 1 1/2 c of hemp milk-chia pudding, 2 lbs of strawberries, 1.5 L of green smoothie, 2 avocado salad rolls (in rice paper, so not completely raw, as I don't think rice paper is completely raw - it's certainly quite processed - you don't find "rice paper plants" in nature anywhere, LOL - and I think this was also 2 full avocadoes, which is quite a bit to eat at once, for me anyways), 2 juicy nectarines, a "Raw Organic" bar (I like the high fibre chocolate one - it has 14g of fibre in it and has the consistency of toffee. mmmmmm, toffee). Oh, and and 3 pieces of raw candied jicama. A mug of herbal tea. Some salmonberries. (Are you getting full yet, just reading about all the food I ate yesterday?!) 2c veggies (carrot, celery, mushrooms) & 1/2c raw ranch dip (cashew based). An apple. hmmm, there's probably more. I was eating and eating and eating all day. At least it felt like that. But then again, I *did* expend a lot of energy working yesterday, and I rowed some, too.

Anyways, enough talking about food. ;)

Enjoy your Solstice, and Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!! You've given us the gift of life, you've guided us as we've grown, you've worked hard and fulfilled your responsibilities of keeping us sheltered, clothed, fed. You protected us from danger and taught us skills like using the lawn mower, weedeater, chainsaw, all the power tools.... You've taught us how to change tires, oil, and belts on our cars. You've watched as we've grown, from little infants, through toddlerhood and into young children, through the teenage years and as we've become adults and moved out into the world on our own, creating families of our own. It's been a long road and I'm sure not always easy for you as we've made choices you haven't necessarily agreed with. You've shared your thoughts with us, and in your own way, showed us you love us and care. I for one am grateful for all the dads I have in my life - my own dad, my husband, my father-in-law, my grandfather, my husband's grandfather, the kids' godfathers, my brothers and brother-in-law, uncles, and others. They have all, in their own way, contributed so importantly to our lives, and I'm very grateful for them all. Happy Father's Day.

Wednesday's words...

I've been out in the sun mixing up a little cob today. i'm also working on building a small front railing for our front deck that i built 2 yrs ago... it's coming along... (later update: i should clarify the front deck railing is not out of cob; it's wood. and it's not finished. i forgot to pick up the nails. kind of important, so i didn't get much done on it today. LOL)

yesterday i had 1.75L of green smoothie, and 3 small raw pizzas (flax crusts) with ranch dressing (cashew based), a little guacamole and a few olives on them (I chuckled at the amount of fats (albeit healthy ones) in that meal). and 3L of water. i was actually a little surprised by how little i ate. most days i eat considerably more. :D like today, I had a bowl of almond milk-chia pudding, some flax crackers with guacamole and salsa, 1.3L of green smoothie, a little coleslaw, 1 pint of strawberries, a coconut macaroon (yes, raw), a mug of mint-rose tea, some salmonberries from around the yard, and yes, 1.5 oz of denman island espresso chocolate (vegan, but not raw). an indulgement (is that a word?!) as i'm experiencing pms this month (i don't usually, but when you have a day where you feel possessed by the raging hormones, it's really okay to just go for the chocolate. LMAO)... ROTFL was that TMI?! ;) i've been making sure to add maca powder to the smoothies lately (it's reputedly a hormonal balancer)... the last few days, anyways.

I've had a couple ideas for e-books lately so I'm going to start working on those.... just as soon as my outside to-do-list is accomplished (LMAO, will it ever be? realistically?!). And I have a couple other things I'd like to write... articles and such. Just need to get the computer fixed first!!!

Spending time outside working each day the past couple weeks has been soooooooo wonderful. the sunshine, the fresh air, getting things on my list of ongoing projects accomplished (or at least worked on).... such a sense of purpose and accomplishment each day! gardening, the cob oven, painting parts of the house, building the deck railing (and i'll get to the path soon)... these things have been intentions and now they're becoming reality, and that's terribly exciting. i admit i really don't generally have an appreciation for how much ENERGY goes into projects. if you invite me over to admire your new gazebo, i kinda glaze over and nod and say, ya, that's great... without a REAL appreciation for how much time, effort, energy you put into it. working on projects... for example, planting 200 lbs of potato seed, and being responsible for watering, weeding, harvesting eventually.... suddenly i have SUCH an appreciation for how much time, effort, energy goes into so many things in my life... from the food i eat to the water flowing easily from the tap, to the car running smoothly to the walls of our treasured home. I am beginning.... just beginning.... to realize, to appreciate so many of these things in my life. Things I previously took for granted. It's a wonderful space to be in.

hey char - the kids took the drawers out of your old bed and are both inside the frame of the bed (yes at 11:00 at night, LOL). i simply mentioned how i used to do that occasionally as a kid and suddenly they needed to try it out. too funny.

cheers
~n~

Fab Friday.

Had the BEST sleep last night. Slept from around midnight 'til about 8 this morning. It was fantastic. Woke up SOOOOOOOO refreshed. It's a wonder I don't do some tai chi before bed EVERY night. LOL

Spent some time this morning pondering what I want the outside of the finished cob oven to look like. I'm considering somehow incorporating some sort of blessing and also some way of honouring or depicting the compass directions and the elements, etc. I came across a picture or representation of the Ba-Gua, which has Feng Shui elements and the meanings.... For example, South:Fire:Red:Eye:Fame .... you get the idea. The direction, associated colour, associated body part, and so forth. So possibly some sort of representation of this on the finished plaster. The alternate I came up with was grass along the bottom edge of the oven, with ladybugs, dragonflies, a bunny rabbit, fairies, pixies, flowers, toadstools, a brownie and elf... things like this on it. I think that would make a lovely finished oven as well. Which do you prefer? Or do you have other ideas?

But before I get to plastering, I need to build first!!! So I'm off to mix up cob. And it's cloudy today. What's up with that?! Nearly 3 weeks of daily sunshine and now clouds?!? wtheck?

And ds just came back from the mailbox with a parcel tag marked Heavy. Although I hadn't been planning on going into town, I might just go pick it up. I *think* it's the raw food order I placed earlier this week, which would be very exciting. 5 lbs of brazil nuts, 5 lbs of walnuts, 1 lb of pecans, 15 lbs of medjools, 30 vanilla beans, a bottle of nama shoyu, 1 lb of maca powder, and some other items. Yummers. :)

Signing out.
~n~

Evening update: yep, the parcel was the delicious raw food. So happy it arrived. I mixed up two very small batches of cob and began trying to level out the foundation for the next step. My GOSH it's going to take me FOREVER to build this oven alone!!!!! Many hands make light work so either I grow more arms or put the word out there to people in the community. I also painted a little bit of the house - the East wall of the front entry and also part of the top deck railing. I'm getting it done, bit by bit. Again, it's taking forever, but I'm only one person and I am always multitasking - parenting, painting, etc., so it takes me a while. It's getting there. DS has his buddy over for their first sleepover tonight; hopefully they don't stay up toooooooo late. LOL (they're 9; I should expect at least 11:00, I guess).

Today's food intake:

• 08:00 2 raw coconut macaroons, warm from the dehydrator
• 08:00 1 pizza crust with 1T raw ranch dressing on it (the pizza crust is 1/16 of a dehydrator tray)
• (throughout the day) some wild salmonberries from around the yard. they're so good!!!!!!
• 3L of water throughout the day (108 oz, actually)
• 11:30 2 raw pizzas with 1/2T ranch dressing, 1T guacamole & 1T salsa (all raw) as well as a couple mushrooms and some red pepper on it... and a little fresh basil. Deeeeeelicious. I ate more than 1T of guacamole though; I ate an entire avocado's worth, it was so yummy.
• 11:30 bowl of organic salad greens with Annie's Papaya Poppy Seed dressing (not raw)
• 3:00 3 organic medjool dates
• (throughout the day) 1c organic strawberries
• 5:00 a bowl with 1 organic banana sliced, 2 org strawberries sliced, 1/3c of crumble topping (raw) and 1/3c of vanilla creme sauce (raw)
• 5:00 2 organic collard wraps with red pepper, mung bean sprouts and 1T of raw ranch on each leaf
• I seem to remember at some point I had another 2 coconut macaroons and also 2 flax crackers with a little salsa.

No green smoothie yesterday or today and I'm missing them something FIERCE so I'll be brewin' one up first thing in the morning... right after 1L of water. :)

Thursday's Musings...

... although we're inching towards Friday very quickly here.... nontheless, here's what's new in my part of the world...

• Protective Mama Black Bear with 2 cubs in the neighbourhood. Haven't seen her myself (and don't expect to). Our neighbourhood is home to black bears, cougars (aka mountain lions), black-tailed deer, raccoons, zebras (LOL just checking if you're paying attention), squirrels, MANY different types of birds, including California Quail (LOVE those!) and bald eagles, sea otters, and probably other animals I'm not familiar with.
• Home phone line was out of service for just about 72 hours. While someone mentioned to me that I must've found it "liberating", on the contrary, I found it quite isolating. No cell phone coverage at home, we don't get the newspaper, and the phone line being out meant the internet was out as well (we're on dial-up; no, not by choice), and no local radio stations come in clearly (except for one American station, NPR, which plays Jazz and the other NPR station that plays classical). This all added up to one mama feeling cabin feverish for a couple days, despite getting out in public for a quick fix each day. Completely filled with gratitude that the phone company came this morning and repaired it.
• Loving the new Excalibur dehydrator!! Made fruit leather today (strawberry-banana), coconut macaroons, and some raw pizza crusts. Love it, love it, LOVE IT. Thinking it will become indispensible very quickly... quite like the VitaMix, which is used EVERY DAY around here. Worth the investment. Totally worth it.
• Did soil tests yesterday for the cob oven and today made test bricks. Will do more tests on those tomorrow and then hoping to start mixing up small batches to proceed with the cob oven. One friend laughed heartily that I won't be eating any of the goodies that come out of the cob oven, nor will I be eating any of the potatoes we planted last weekend. (There's a good question: can you eat potatoes raw? I think the excalibur manual has a recipe for dehydrated (soaked) potato chips. What's your take on this one? You sure don't see many recipes calling for raw potato)
• Gardens are doing very well. The plants are *loving* the comfrey compost tea I've been watering them with. Many seeds have sprouted (which is promising!) and we are looking at more sunshine long-range, so it's all good. All good.
• Went to chiropractor & tai chi today. But now it's nearly midnight and I think I'd better get to sleep. I've been getting up pretty early lately (like 5-ish), but a few days managed to sleep in 'til 8.

Heading off for what will surely be a most rejuvenating slumber and wishing you likewise,

~namaste~

Cob Oven

Today I officially started building the cob oven. The foundation, which stands about 35" high, is made with sandbags filled with concrete. They were being thrown away after being in use for about 30 years on our local water system, so I snatched them for free.

Next step, I filled the centre with about 15 wheelbarrows full of the really rocky subsoil we had trucked in 2 weeks ago. Again, got that for free. Tamped it all down as I went by stomping on the subsoil. I'll let it settle while I figure out what the next step is. Actually, I already know... I need to make some clay slip or cob and level out the base and then make a ring of bricks, put a bunch of empty glass beer bottles in it for insulation, and then more sand... probably silica. Level it off, and then I think I'm nearly ready to place the fire bricks down for the hearth floor and then we can proceed from there. I'm hoping to coerce someone into helping me mix cob for the next step. LOL

So far the oven has cost $50... for 2 yards of road-base which it is sitting on. It made a good level ground on which to build, and covered the salmon berry roots which will shoot up through pretty much anything (except 6" of roadbase, I'm hoping).

Alright. The computer says 30 seconds left.
Namaste
~n~

SUNNNNNNNNSHINE!

It has been GLORIOUSLY sunny the past week here... inspiring me to spend as MUCH time outdoors as possible. (Last week we had a couple 30+ degree days, and although we're close to the ocean, it was still a heat wave here. HOT HOT HOT!!! It cooled off on Friday to mid 20s and has been low to mid 20s since then, I think. Just beautiful weather we're enjoying.) Yep, I'm usually outside by 6 or 7 in the morning, letting the hens out of their coop (they moved in last monday and seem perfectly content in their new digs), watering the various garden beds and hanging baskets, and generally just doing yardwork. The yard is starting to look really great; I wish our computer was fixed so I could share some pictures with you. I picked up 2 yards of SeaSoil (somposted forest fines & fish, organic) and have been top-dressing all the gardens with it. The plants LOVE SeaSoil, and it's locally produced on the Island. I *had* been buying bags of it, but bulk is much cheaper. So lots of gardening going on around here.

Went to a raw food potluck Friday night with guest speaker Vesanto Melina, co-author of the books Becoming Vegetarian, Becoming Vegan, and Raw Food Revolution. Really great company, fantastic food, excellent presentation by Vesanto... an all-round glorious evening! :) Loved it. I took Mediterranean Kale (recipe in Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People) as well as Tropical Fruit Tart (mango pudding in a coconut crust, recipe also in Jennifer's book). Delicious.

Planted 200 lbs of seed potatoes in the field at my in-laws on Sunday morning. THANKFULLY (and I am SOOOOOOOO grateful for their help), my dh and ds both helped, and we had it done in 3 hours (what would've probably taken me 10 alone). I cannot thank them enough. Working with someone is so much more delightful than working alone, imo... when it comes to back-breaking labour and repetitive tasks, anyways. LOL 3 bodies kinda-sore is better than 1 body completely incapacitated-sore, don't you think? LMAO

OHHHHH!!!!! Guess what just arrived in the post this morning? Okay, okay, you'll never guess. My new Excalibur 9 tray Dehydrator!!!!!!!! OMGosh I'm SOOOOOOO excited. I can't wait to go into town and pick it up this afternoon.

I'm going to put a small raw food order in and then get the kids some lunch.

Wishing you some sunshine, because it feels really REALLY nice. My dd and I snuggled on a deck chair this morning around 9. It was so soothing to soak in some early morning rays. One of the cats came and snuggled with us, too, which dd found hilarious. Lots of giggles.

Sunshine and happiness to you,
~n~

Canada's Hot Spot

It was apparently 28 degrees here today. Sure didn't feel like it. But then again, we live very near the ocean, and the breezes off the ocean make it seem about 22 instead. This means you have to be extra cautious to protect yourself from sunburn. Just because it doesn't FEEL 28 doesn't mean the sun isn't going to get you good if you're not careful. Everyone in this house is fair skinned and burns easily. So on my list of things to do is to pick up a straw hat I can wear when I"m working out in the yard.

Today I spent most of the day in the shade, working on the chicken coop. I'm really excited about it's siting. It was sort of a fluke, but in the summer it is shaded by the alder trees and in the winter, those trees will drop their leaves and the winter sun will shine on the hens just perfectly. Really, it's got good siting. Yep, today I worked for about 6 hours on the hen's pen, finishing the fencing around and above (to give them some protection from eagles/ravens/other predators). It's quite the work of art. The coop is now finished, apart from the siding which we are going to put on (so it matches the house of course, LMAO). Oh sure, we might live in the Sticks, but that doesn't mean your chicken coop can't be artistic. LOL

Now that the coop is kinda done, I can turn my attention back onto the gardens. Now is the perfect time to be sowing seeds of winter crops - both ones that will feed us during the winter (like beets, kohlrabi, parsnips), and others that are very early spring crops (like purple sprouting broccoli, kale, collards). Now's the time to get them in. And the 28 degree weather is seriously drying out the gardens. I watered tonight but am hoping to water again in the morning to make sure they get a good soaking (I'm terrible at remembering to water my gardens. They frequently suffer from gardener-inflicted drought).

Let's see how I did today:
- exercised? yep - not only did I do 6 hrs of work out on the coop/pen, but I also rowed 5 kms tonight
- nourished my body with raw live vegan foods? yep - had 1L of green smoothie this morning (spinach/banana/mango), some raw crudites & raw ranch dip in the afternoon, a chocolate pudding popsicle for a snack (I froze the chocolate mousse recipe from jennifer cornbleet's book into the little tupperware popsicle molds; one batch of mousse (which uses 1.5 avocadoes makes 6 popsicles, so each popsicle has the equivalent of 1/4 avocado, 1 date, and 1T of raw cacao powder, basically), and a collard leaf with mung bean sprouts in it and a little raw mock peanut sauce, and a banana later. And over 3L of healthy, healing water (108 oz). :) And I want to point out that none of my meals today required more than 5 minutes to prepare (I'd made the ranch dressing & mock peanut sauce ahead of time). I *love* quick-to-prepare meals.
- mental stimulation? i'm off to read Busy Bodies or Flow as soon as I'm done this post. That counts. All the self-reflection I continually engage in must count for something to, LOL.
- love? - i felt the love today, definitely. When my daughter gave me a kiss and then we pressed our cheeks together before she ran off to play... the way her eyes met mine so unequivocally. There were definitely moments of flow... moments the Divine was clearly felt in my day. The way the sunlight dappled through the alder leaves as I worked on the coop. The green-ness of the leaves. It was stunning. The little peeps of happy hens scratching and pecking in the earth. True happiness just being with them. And when we were driving into town this morning, the sun was shining through hazy high clouds, and you could see the radiating light from the sun so clearly in every direction. Absolutely beautiful.
- compassion? well, i feel like i was lacking in compassion towards my children today. they just wanted to play computer games all day, and I didn't think that was a healthy way to spend the day, so I wasn't too yielding to their desires. That's tough. Sometimes you just have to lay the law down as the parent, and to be truthful, I hate that. I'd much rather they self-regulate, but that doesn't always happen. And I suppose I wasn't overly compassionate towards myself, either. I really wanted to get the coop pen done and was single-mindedly focussed on that task most of the day, to the exclusion of much else. Boy it feels good to have it done, though. There is a definite sense of accomplishment there.
- laughter? not enough, i'm afraid. but, being compassionate towards myself, it's all exactly as it should be. :)
- remained mindful? hmmmm... i feel like i'm falling a little short on this one, but again, being compassionate, it's all good. :) the journey is filled with bliss.

All in all though a very very good day. I'd better sign off though if I think I'm going to be out watering the garden by 7 in the morning. :)
Namaste'
~n~

Checkin' In...

Just a quick check-in. Our computer is still down so I'm using the back-up, extra-slow computer (and we're on dial-up internet which makes anything like this painfully slow)....

Today was moving day for our hens. At 8 weeks old they have officially been moved into the new coop. The kids and I worked on it most of the day (about 8 hrs) and this afternoon we were able to move them all down into the new coop & pen. They seem happy enough down there, although right now I hear a few worried peeps about their new abode. Still learning about perches and just the unfamiliarity of a new space... it's worrying for a few of them. The others seem to be fine with it. :) They've been so happy today, pecking and scratching around in the pen. Lovely to watch.

Apart from that, I've had a crazy busy past week. Just crazy. But I've been getting so much done!!! Funny.

Anyway, there's so much more to share, but alas, no time right now. Priority is getting children to sleep. :)
Blessings to you this beautiful late spring evening,
~n~