Anyone else celebrating bonbon week?

LOL.... didn't you know it was bonbon week this week? oh, if only. I'm afraid it wasn't truly bonbon week, but you'd never know it by the number of raw chocolates I consumed. honestly, you'd think it really WAS bonbon week around here. and it's not just me - i make a batch of raw chocolates and they are gone gone GONE soooo quickly. EVERYONE loves them. :) ohhhh, but they're healthy, I keep telling myself. I'm sure one would be, or maybe two. But four or five? Probably not so much.

But now I'm out of raw cacao butter (which is probably a blessing!) and payday's not for several days, so I'm thinkin' there's gonna be some withdrawwwwwwwwwallllllllll comin' on soon.
boooooooooo hooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
that makes me sad.

but seriously. i've been reading Duane Elgin's Voluntary Simplicity book lately and it's really resonating with me. The concept of simple living - of, first of all, living a life in accordance with one's values... Naturally, this requires actually spending time thinking and discussing what values you'd like to live your life by... and I wouldn't hesitate to say that there are any number of people who live on automatic, who don't ever self-reflect or take the time to set meaningful personal-growth goals in life. I wouldn't doubt that there are people out there who really couldn't articulate what values they are aspiring to live by. Voluntary simplicity - living not in poverty, but with conscious respect for the finite resources our planet has to offer (i.e. taking only what you need, ensuring everyone on earth could theoretically do the same) - this type of lifestyle creates the space in our lives to examine our values. It allows us time to reflect on concepts like right-livelihood, right-speech (one I see I need to think about more as I prattle on here... honestly, which words here are superfluous to the intent of my message? How could I pare down my thoughts to essentials?), relationships, and more. Yes, choosing voluntary simplicity is very thought-provoking.

I liked the message in the book that it is in the small things - the seemingly insignificant things - that we each do that make the collective difference. It's nice to remember that. Sure, it might not seem like we're making much of a difference, but collectively we are.

LMAO... okay, I start the post talking about gorging on chocolates this week, and go on to talk about voluntary simplicity. IRONY, people, IRONY. And no, it's not lost on me. LOL Okay, well, I will admit that part of the message I am getting from Duane's book is also about moderation in food consumption. About eating only what your body NEEDS to replenish and fuel itself. (er, where does chocolate fit into that?! besides, cacao, VERY sadly, is not locally grown) Recognizing that with each indulgence I become a "have", which creates a "have-not" somewhere else on the planet. Being mindful that there are others who live their entire lives without their basic needs being met. Recognizing the interconnectedness of us all on Mother Earth, the impact of our choices on other living beings, on the Earth itself. Yes, our choices do indeed have an impact. You - your choices - are not insignificant.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant?"
Actually, who are you NOT to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others...
~nelson mandela~

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.