Wish List

On one of the rainy afternoons this week, my son was perusing his Lego catalogues and started circling things he wants to get. He has his own business building and selling birdhouses - he markets them through the local corner store at the moment - so he does actually have plans for acquiring the money. I helped him type up a wishlist on the computer, and then that evening, got to thinking, what if I posted a wishlist on the blog - things I'd like to bring into my life in the next year? It's all about putting your intentions out there into the world, so here is my list of things I'd like to - no, no, not like to - here is my list of things that I will have come my way in the next year (even if I am struggling with putting my intentions out there, as it seems all consumerist):

• an Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator
• a Champion (or Green Star) juicer
• a Saladacco/Spirooli slicer
• a Reverse Osmosis water filter and/or a whole house water filter system - AquaSmart has one RO with a ceramic Alkaline filter ($735 in case you're wondering; http://www.aquasmart.com/). (I put a chlorine filter on the shower not long ago and wow, it makes a big difference in the quality of the water you're bathing in.)
• Raw Vegan 'cook' books - Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people; Fresh by Valya & Sergei Boutenko; Angela Stokes' Juice Feaster's Handbook, and Raw Emotions e-book; Bryan Au's Raw in 10 Minutes; Raw Revolution Diet (Cherie Soria, Brenda Davis & Vesanto Melina), just to name a few.
• a trailer hitch for the Subaru ($399 installed), and a bike rack that will fit the hitch so we can take the bikes out (we don't live near many bike trails & the "Hwy" is not child-biking-friendly). And at some future point, how about the top rack for the kayak.
• TIME. Is there ever enough?! Just a few hours to myself, I think, just a few more. But really, life is grand just the way it is.
• Let's just, overall, wish for health & abundance to frow freely into my life in the next year. Abundance of time, abundance of money, abundance of unconditional love and positive regard and goodwill...

For what it's worth, in the next month, I've committed to donating blood and going to a naturopath, not because my health is poor, by any means, but just to see if we can't tweak me into the supremely vibrant health that is our birthright. I am also committing to more exercise - rowing more often (5 kms, 4x a week) and doing tai chi more regularly (more than the once a week class I'm doing right now, anyways), and I'm committing to maintaining the raw vegan lifestyle. I am also going to look into a continuing education night-class at the local uni in November I'm interested in taking, and in the next month, I'll begin assisting teaching a Tai Chi beginner's class as well. I'd like to make the time to go for a massage, check out that new raw restaurant, and also perhaps go for accupuncture. So there you have it - I've put my intentions out there, so now let's...

BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winter Veggies...

Spent a good deal of time yesterday afternoon in the garden... finally for the first day in what seemed like weeks the rain had ceased and the sun was shining (I felt like a reptile as I sat with my back against the south wall of the house, the warmth heating me up). I harvested potatoes - about 8 whole pounds worth! Not a bad harvest at all, considering I had only planted about 8 sq ft of potatoes - so I guess you get about a pound for every square foot? In the spot where the potatoes came out I planted 3 dozen kale starts - green curly, red russian, white russian, and rainbow tuscan kale (just like aleesha over at http://aleeshasrawlife.blogspot.com/, I love my kale!! I usually blend it into a green smoothie, but I'm looking forward to kale salads, too - and last week I dehydrated some and added it to my veggie soup mix). I am so excited at the thought of harvesting fresh greens from the garden throughout the winter!

My next step is to close the garden in for winter - to turn it into a greenhouse of sorts. I have the framework in place - and I have some 6mm poly that I am planning on putting over the existing fence/frame structure. All I need is 7 - 10' 2x4s that I can make rafters out of. Sounds simple enough but I've been procrastinating on this for many weeks - nay, months - now. But now that we are at the end of August I am wanting to get on with it.

I picked up the veggie starts at a plant sale earlier this week. I got cress, the different types of kale, broccoli (purple sprouting & green goliath), cabbage, a couple varieties of chard, silverbeet, raddichio, spinach, cilantro, bunching onions (apparently like a perennial green onion), and others I can't even remember. Greens, greens, greens! I also planted two packages of lettuce/mesclun mix yesterday (mild & oriental), but realized afterwards I should've maybe planted them in what will be the "covered" garden, as opposed to the herb garden that I usually leave uncovered in the winter, but which is next to the house and doesn't usually freeze (not that we get your typical Canadian winter where we live - at most we'll have one week below 0C). I'm not sure how the lettuce will manage uncovered.

Put the potato plants on the compost, which incidentally is hovering at a lovely 110F at the moment. I am intending to add some horse or chicken manure to it and with regular turning and adding, am hoping to get OVER 110 at some point! Wouldn't it be nice to have it heat up to 120 or even 160 or 170 like in hot composting? Well, okay, so maybe you don't share my enthusiasm for compost (I am a Master Composter, after all, LOL). Still, it would be kinda cool. I toy with the idea of getting 3 or 4 chickens every now and again - just for the manure that I'd have on hand to add to the compost. But I chicken out every time I think of it (collective groan for the bad pun there, please). Still, I might one day...

And today I stopped by the local farmer's market and picked up some lovely carrots, celery, onions, cucumber, and heirloom tomatoes. I was about to make some flax crackers last night when I realized I had no carrots for the recipe (actually, they're the Pizza Crust crackers from RawRose's Uncook book - check her out at http://www.rawrose.com/, and they are delicious).

Hope you're enjoying your Saturday!

Hurricane Gustav

I have family who live down in the Carribean and Hurricane Gustav is, as we speak, heading directly for their little island. It is particularly worrisome, as the news reports I've read indicate it is gaining strength as it heads for their home. It reminds me of the winter storms we have here, with the unrelenting high winds and rain, snapping tall fir trees over and leaving destruction in its wake. Never underestimate nature's brute force - Dec 15/06 we had one of the worst winter storms I've ever experienced pass this way, and it was really amazing to see the aftermath. And Tropical Storm Fay just hit their island - was it last week? - and now another one?! Sure it's a tropical paradise but to have to deal with hurricane season every late-summer would get old pretty fast. The opportunity here is to think about how our lifestyles are contributing to global warming (which may be contributing to wilder weather worldwide, depending on your POV) and to see the repercussions of our choices - to take some responsibility for the nearly 70 people that have died because of this one storm in the Carribean, and this storm hasn't even ended yet! We are all one, people, we are all one.

Anyways, wishing everyone in the path of Gus a safe journey through. My thoughts are with you.

Heal Thy Self this new Moon...

This New Moon (30 Aug) and the subsequent waxing two-week phase to the Full Moon (15 Sept) is a time for serious inner reflection and toward healing for yourself and the world, a time to express the values of service & selflessness. Though it can be hard to do, this is the New Moon to realize that we each have a duty to heal ourselves by reaching out to heal others.

This is the time to take your commitment to health and healing very seriously. Health, well-being, seeing the body as a temple of the spirit. Viewing the body as a sacred vessel to house the mind and heart, it becomes almost impossible to consider doing it harm. (Why not have a colour bath - a pink one - to facilitate healing?!) "A healthy body creates a healthy mind.” Be attentive to good health and ingest delicious, healthy foods in moderation. Getting healthy is one of the highest forms of self-love, and this new moon is all about the mind-body connection; the most powerful medicine for healing. Achieve total health through activities like Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or Aikido, all of which simultaneously heal the body and center the mind.

This is also the time to tame your inner critic. Deal with unrelenting self-criticism, perfectionism, from the sense of never being good enough, of not feeling worthy. Instead, meditate on the idea that all that you are, existed 15 billion years ago at the beginning of time. Think of the interconnectedness of life - we are all sourced of the same energy, we are all made of the same material, we are all one. We are all radiant and divine beings and yes, you really are that important to the continuing unfolding of the universe. What I do for one (like healing my self), I do for all.

And remember, "the only way to transcend tragedy is to laugh." (Deepak Chopra) If you can view 'tragedy' as 'that which requires healing in my body', then it's clear - laughter is valuable medicine. Laughter brings both a certain tension & an elasticity into our lives. It releases pent-up energy. With laughter, we become self-aware. A little Laughter Yoga, anyone?

In order to make your commitments stick you must continue to give your goals lots of attention and energy during the two weeks while the Moon is waxing to full.

Namaste.

Vegan Diets

There was an article front-and-center on MSN today. The article, entitled "Going Vegan" by Flannery Dean (2008-08-18) had some solid information in it, but I would dispute the claim that "there’s no substantial research to suggest that a vegan diet is healthier than a regular diet." While I didn't have a pre-vegan medical, I can tell you from my own experience that adopting a vegan diet helped me shed many pounds of excess weight, and my post-vegan medical tests (cholesterol, blood pressure, & others) indicate I have the health of someone many years younger. And yes, there are vegans out there who eat vegan junk food, and a lot of it. But overall, I think many vegans are a lot healthier than their SAD-eating counterparts, but that's just my opinion. I guess I'd like to see more research done on the benefits of vegan diets - but I can't see that happening much because big business that produces all that cheap mass-processed food (and I use the term "food" loosely there) isn't about to financially support research that shows that eating food in as close to its natural state as possible is healthier for you than a box of Kraft Dinner or Hamburger Helper.

I *did* like that the article cited this research: "In fact, in 2006 a University of Chicago study published in the journal Earth Interactions concluded that adopting a vegan-inspired diet is more significant in the fight against global warming than driving a hybrid car."

Overall, I think that eating local, in-season, organic, raw, vegan foods are probably our best choices, as much as is possible - at least it's *my* best choice. But then more attention needs to be paid to ensuring balance and nutrients in a diet like this, I suppose. Me, I'm not quite ready to give up some of my non-local foods just yet... but mentally I'm working towards it.

Farmer's Markets...

Yet another beautiful sunny day here... three in a row!! We're spoiled. We hit two different local farmer's markets this morning... and what a SCORE of beautiful produce we got! Artichokes, corn on the cob, Peas, Garlic, Basil, Strawberries, Cantaloupe!!! And there was SOOOOOOO much more for sale. On top of our weekly box from the organic farm, we have an abundance of fresh food to eat.

I just finished reading The 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith & J.D. MacKinnon, two Vancouverites who, in March 2005, decided to eat nothing but local foods (i.e. produced within 100 miles of their home) for an entire year. The book chronicles their adventures. It was very inspiring to read. They really emphasized what an ABUNDANCE of food we have available to us, especially where we live, here in the Pacific Northwest. And if this isn't a testament to the popularity of the 100 mile diet - there are 17 copies of the book available in the local library system and 89 - yes 89 - hold requests for the book. Craziness. So many many people are becoming educated about the importance, the sustainability, of eating local, in-season, (preferably organic) foods. So nourishing for both the earth and body. And I guess it was really interesting that so many of the other books mentioned within theirs, I'd read already. I don't consider myself a voracious reader, but any stretch of the imagination, but I guess local food security is a pretty strong interest of mine it seems.

Blessings to you on this most beautiful of days
~n~

Tai Chi

Last night at tai chi class, it was amazing that after nearly 3 years of practicing tai chi, i am still learning something new each week. I mean, it doesn't take 3 yrs to "learn", in one sense, the 108 moves. Within 6 months, I had those down pretty good, really. But now, with every class, my understanding of how much awareness can be brought to each move deepens. This week as we were working on this one particular move, I realized how before I've completed the move in its entirety - like before I've completed the stretch forward, for example - I'm already giving it away and beginning to go on to the next part of the move, where you turn to 45 degrees. It was amazing to think of how that relates to the rest of my life - how many times do I not see things through to their natural completion? How often am I already thinking ahead to the future, and not FULLY present in the moment? Oh my, if only I had penny for every time I can think of! It was an awe-inspiring realization. Huge. I'm giving away the full stretch. Why?! Why?!

Today I am grateful...
for my tidier-than-normal house at this moment, for my health and the health of those around me, for the unconditional love and big hugs my dd gives, for my ds's giggle and snuggles, for the voice of my husband and his near daily phone calls which keep me feeling supported and cared for, for foraging for huckleberries and super-fresh and super-local berries, edible flowers and vegetables from the garden, for clotheslines and sunshine, for the sound of the waves on the pebbled beach, for the sounds of children playing on the playground, for the gift this moment is.

namaste
~n~