A Day of Plenty

I’m still beside myself about the oranges. I’m feeling like we have so much to be grateful for. Today we made orange strawberry juice—my absolute favorite! I use the fresh frozen strawberries that we got at the local farmers’ market this year and it’s like adding ice, only yummier. MMMMMmmmmmmmMMMMmmMMMM!!!

Rowan’s been such a great helper today. She helped with the dishes by drying (only unbreakables of course). Then she helped make some more bread for daddy—the first loaf I made a few days ago came out good, though a little heavy. Next, she held the dustpan while I swept the floor. After that, she brought over all the oranges from the fridge so I could juice them. Following a strawberry-orange juice break and Happy Dance, it was time for a much needed nap. Guess I tuckered the tike out! I managed to get in a load of laundry, a couple phone calls, and some seed collecting (yes from outside) while the wild child was down. And after a quick run to town, Rowan helped with putting groceries away and getting hor d’orves ready for the evening. Later, we did manage to pick up all the toys in the playroom (and living room, and kitchen) and put them away. Whew! Couldn’t have done all that without you Ro! ~~kisses~~

So 2008 is at an end. What a year! I miss Michigan and The Fellowship For Today. Every year they have a burning bowl ceremony in which you write down two or three things in your life that you wanted to have more of or focus on, like more smiles, or seeing friends more—self improvement type stuff. But with the law of energy, if you move something in, something else has to move out to make room. For the burning bowl ceremony, we would write a quality that we were ready to let go of—uptightness, depression, what have you—on a small piece of flash paper, and would each go up to a lit candle at the front, say our goodbyes to this quality, and light it. It would then flare for a second and be gone. (Flash paper is a very thin paper that leaves no ash and burns verrrrry quickly, hence the name. Magicians use it sometimes.) After that, we would meditate a moment, and then continue on with the evenings activities. It was always a night of reflection and inspiration for the upcoming year.

I love the idea of this, similar to setting goals or resolutions, but on a deeper and more personal level. ~~giggling~~ And of course anything that has to do with fire . . . pyros. (That’s to you, Mike.) ;o}

My evening ended up being quiet and uneventful—both Ro and daddy went to bed early, dad at 6:30 or so. Tired puppy! So I watched a movie by myself cuddled up in my new blankie, sipped fresh OJ and did a crossword/sudoku. Later I worked on garden stuff and this post, which I’m currently writing at . . . 4:58AM. Just one of those sleepless nights I guess. Maybe it was the carrot juice I had earlier. That stuff always gives me a ton of energy. Perhaps I’ll get a nap in before Rowan gets up.


Today Ro-Ro ate:
coconut-banana smoothie-1 whole baby coco & 3 nanas—and she didn’t leave any for mama :( LOL
strawberry orange juice
raisins
carrot cake
orange carrot juice
munchies—mostly fruit, some more bits of cake and raisins, couple crackers
Bath and Bedtime :o)

Boy, what an orangey day!!
Happy New Year to everyone—May your coming year be greener than the last!

Orange Love,
Sharilyn & Rowan

Raw Carrot Cake

Today Rowan and I made carrot cake. She did her “Happy Dance” that she just naturally performs whenever she eats something that she loves and that resonates with her. It reminds me of the gratitude dance I saw once on YouTube. Hers is completely her own though—no one taught her.

I also LUV this carrot cake recipe. It is so soft and cake-like in texture, not like the cakes that use nuts. The secret (I think) is that I have a centrifugal juicer and I use the carrot pulp from one pass i.e. the carrots are only put through the juicer once. I tried using the pulp after re-running the carrot pulp through, but the cake turned out to be a hard lump, so I’m pretty sure the pulp texture is key. Well that and how hard you press the batter. I obtained this recipe online in my earlier raw days, and unfortunately haven’t a clue what site I found it at. An Australian site I think. Anyway, I don’t mean to step on anyone’s toes or not give credit, and although these are tweaked a little from what I originally printed off, if they were yours, dear reader, let me know and I will add your name to them.

Raw Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
pulp from freshly juiced carrots, about 3 cups
½ cup finely ground almonds
½ cup dates, chopped
½ cup psyllium husks
1 T. cinnamon, or other herbs of choice, like nutmeg
2 T. raw honey or agave
Icing

Directions: Put everything in the food processor (except the Icing of course!) and blend until well mixed. Gently press batter into a bowl to mold. I like to put ½ in, gently press, then the other ½ and gently press. That way, it really retains the softness of cake. Turn the cake onto a serving plate and frost. I also like to press the batter directly into storage containers with lids, frost it, put the lid on, and pop it into the fridge. Keeps GREAT—a few days at least.
Note: Psyllium husk causes peristalsis, the movement of the large intestine that helps to eliminate waste. My husband loves this cake, but I either have to omit the psyllium husk and up the almond flour, or he has to eat it when he doesn’t have to work the next day! LOL. I don’t notice any similar effect, but then he eats a SAD and I have access to a restroom anytime I need one.

Here’s a great Icing recipe:

Ingredients:
½-3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked. Or you can use raw cashew butter if you don’t have a high-speed blender. Or grind dry cashews in a coffee grinder. Or eat it lumpy. Whatever!
½ cup soaked pitted dates, or 3 tablespoons raw honey or agave
½ tsp. vanilla
squeeze of ½ lemon, maybe less

Blend it baby! The lemon gives it a reminiscent flavor of cream cheese, though it is definitely lemony.

Today Rowan ate:
banana
tahini milk
green smoothie—OJ (of course!), apple, banana, spirulina
salad—parsley with cukes, carrots, onions, apple, rosemary, thyme
raw carrot cake
coconut milk
carrot-orange juice

~~~Rowan & Sharilyn

Free Organic Fresh From Florida Oranges!

Today we received a better than imagined gift. Rich works at a cold shipping factory. Ever wonder where all those semis that you pass on the highway are going? This is one of their destinations. Anyhow, one of the drivers just came up from Florida with two huge crates of organic oranges and left them for the taking. No one else wanted anything to do with them *cuz they’re not super pretty like the over sprayed, fertilized, irradiated oranges you see in the stores* so he brought home both crates. I had to weigh them. Together, they’re 90 pounds! And as we also have over half the crate left from Nanna’s, we are in orange heaven!! I tried to put a pic here, but it got corrupted in the transfer on the floppy. (Yes, a 3 1/2" floppy. Dino ages I know, but I haven't gotten a usb stick yet.)

Now I have to add in here the power of intention and manifestation, and how once again it works every time. Here’s the story:

So last year, Rich was working in Chicago and commuting home once a week. Throughout the winter months, Nanna receives huge boxes—30 to 40 lbs. each—of organic oranges and grapefruit from her 90+ year old ex-father-in-law. She usually gives most away, as she’s just one person and can’t eat them all. Knowing how much we went through oranges at that time (at least a crate a week) she would lovingly send them home with Rich. What a gift!!

Now that Rich is working closer to home, he doesn’t see Nanna regularly anymore. You get the drift. After we returned home last week, I was deeply wishing, as money is super tight right now, that we could somehow still pick up the oranges Grandpa’s sure to send, but couldn’t see a cost-effective way, either through posting or driving, so I figured, “Bummer,” and left it at that.

~~~smiling~~~ Thank you spirit. . . . Now where to put them all . . . . . .LOL . . in our tummies of course!!

Manifestations to all,
Sharilyn

Snuggly, Wuggly

Today involved a bit of running: bank, P.O., library, store for bananas (what else?). Thankfully, Rich made some fresh OJ for Rowan’s smoothies last night, so that saved me a lot of time. And after trying to figure out all the nuances of blogging, as I’m quite green at it (though a great color to be!), I managed to get the previous week and a half’s worth of postings online. I usually use the library on Thursdays as they’re open ‘til 7, but as x-mas and new year are both on Thursdays, he-hee, the berry was/will be closed. Makes life motivating that way. So I managed to post while checking e-mail, checking other blogs I follow, waiting for pics to download, looking up some info I needed, surfing the book shelves for non-electronic books, and entertaining a 19 month old QUIETLY in the public library (which had quite a few people NOT so happy with Miss Ro-Ro). All that in a scant hour and a half. Thank source for the puppet grant that the library received. LOL.

After returning home (Yeah!) I worked on a put-off project: A no-sew fleece blanket, for me!! I’ve already made one for Rich and for Tris. The best thing is that it doesn’t require tying either. A woman at the store showed me a way to connect the front of the back without the lumpy uncomfortable knots. Here’s how:


After you cut your “fringe,” cut a tiny slit through both layers at the base—where the “fringe” starts i.e. 1” deep “fringe” = slit centered and down in 1” from end of the “fringe”.


Next, push one layer through the other and pull it through. Here the rust colored layer is being pushed through the brown with my thumb.

Then take the other layer and push IT through the same way. The brown is now being pushed through the rust layer with my thumb in this pic.


I went ahead and did this yet a third time, as I wanted the colors on opposite sides.

Rowan loved helping by pulling the material through the holes. She also loved to run back and forth across the unfinished blanket. When I finally had to tell her to stop, she tried tip-toeing around it. LOL it was soooo cute! Now if only the fleece was somehow organic . . . .

Today Rowan ate:
raisins
LOTS of green smoothie— parsley, OJ, apples, bananas
tomatoes
grapes
more green smoothie (all-day total of 1 ½ blenders full for the day! Wow!!)
raw apple cobbler-like stuff—chopped apples, hemp oil, honey, cinnamon, dates, ground hazelnuts all mixed together

Warm and Cuddly Love,
Rowan & Sharilyn

More Snow

December 27, 2008

Another 3” or so fell today. I’m so glad Rich doesn’t work until Friday.
Today I made a sprouted oat, wheat, and caraway seed bread for Rich. After reading all the recipes I figured if I was going to make cooked bread, I’d at least soak/sprout the oats. Hope he likes it, but then he’ll eat just about anything, except spinach. And asparagus and mushrooms. It was fun to knead the dough and I worked up a little bit of a sweat. Rowan helped, and then enjoyed playing with her play dough for a bit.

I’ve been having strange dreams lately. I remember only bits and pieces and that they struck me as odd. The other night I dreamt that I went to a raw food restaurant/supply store and tried a Tootsie Rawl. Then, I was looking everywhere for mesquite, one of the ingredients. As I was in one of the many storage rooms, I saw Brad Pitt talking with one of his kids and Tristen. Moving on, I passed Angelina in another room. That’s all I remember.

I don’t usually dream about celebrities, although I always thought that perhaps these two particular people must eat a great deal of raw food with all the kids, work, and charity functions they each attend, as well as looking so healthy. Plus, I just visited a raw food restaurant, and I’ve been wanting to get mesquite for the longest time so I could make Tootsie Rawls, but A: Haven’t found it anywhere, online or otherwise, and B: Probably couldn’t afford it right now anyway. I came across this recipe quite a while ago and if it’s as good as a Tootsie Roll, I’ll be in heaven. One less food to miss and a treat for the kiddies. So, if anyone knows where to get raw mesquite, please let me know! I’d love to post the recipe here, but as I can’t seem to find it, it will have to be another day.

I’m so enjoying being at home with Rich. When Ro-Ro’s down for a nap it’s almost like we’re alone, which is great. We need some alone time now and then. Maybe we can get the shelf for the front window built during his time off. I’m getting anxious to start all the babies for the garden!

I’m also contemplating what to do with all the coconut shells. They’d make great candle holders if they weren’t so flammable. Anyone have any other ideas? I’ve got 27, and it seems a shame just to toss them for composting.


Today Rowan ate:

oatmeal w/ honey
orange-strawberry-black currant-mulberry-blueberry-banana smoothie
salad left over from yesterday
raisins
more smoothie
pieces of coconut
potato

Coco Heaven (or Hell??)

Yep. Still working on the coconuts. That’s ok, cuz when I need a refreshment break, I drink some coconut water! It’s so good for you. I read some where that you could live fairly healthily on fresh coconuts and sunlight. Not sure about that, but it does speak volumes about the nutritional levels. I’m also going to attempt to bake some bread for Rich, since $$s tight and hey, warm, home baked bread to smell, and we have all the ingredients.

There’s a book I have called Stocking Up, by Carol Hupping, which is like the bible of food preservation. If you want to know how to harvest, freeze, and can fruits and veggies from your garden, this is the book. In it are also some great bread recipes, most with sprouted grains, that incorporate ingredients different from the norm, like sunflower seeds and split peas. One, Banana Corn Bread, sounds interesting, and as we collected all the missed ears of corn that we could find after they harvested the fields, we’ve got plenty of corn to make fresh meal. So many other great recipes are in there too, and many easy to transform into raw versions. I expect I’ll be posting some creations later.

Here’s the salad we ate today.

Today Rowan ate:

Coconut milk
banana almond milk w/ olive oil, spirulina, and OJ
coconut banana milk
herb taboli like salad—parsley, cukes, tommies, celery, ground wakame, and ground sunflower
and pumpkin seeds in a lemon-EVOO-honey dressing
more coconut milk!
banana
two oranges

~Sharilyn and Rowan

Home Again, with Coconuts!

What is it about returning home after being away for a couple days or more that just makes you all warm and fuzzy? Ahhh, parsley and coconuts to take care of. The parsley, easy. The coconuts however, will be a little more time consuming. Thankfully, I’ve learned the easy way of opening a coconut, as I’ve depicted below.

First, trim off the soft white husk just from the pointed top of the coconut. I don’t even take off the plastic wrapping; I just cut right through it.

Next, take the point of your knife and try to find the slightly softer spot—between two of the three ridges—and insert it carefully. It may take a couple pokes to find the softer area.

You then twist the knife and the cap should pop open. You may need to make the initial knife opening bigger a little at a time by carving around, like you do to open the top of a pumpkin for jack-o-lantern carving. Just go slowly and carefully.

When you’ve drained out the water, grab a long-handled spoon and start scraping. Easy-peasy not too squeasy. No hammer, no cutting board, no machete.

Today Rowan ate:
Oatmeal w/ honey
banana almond milk w/ olive oil, spirulina, and OJ
ka-krs from Nanna
banana
coconut H2O from 1 coconut
meat of a coconut and some apple pieces
½ the milk from a coconut—water and meat blended = milk (mama drank the other ½, YUMMY!)

~Sharilyn

Winter Solstice

Today we celebrated the Winter Solstice, a holiday that honors rebirth and the return of daylight. Last year we were able to attend a drum circle and ceremony honoring the solstice. I loved watching the kids beat the drums or use the other acoustics to add to the music and rhythm of the night. Rowan was 7 months at the time and loved to hit the drum! As I recall, she was always a boxer, never a kicker when she was in the womb. Tris was just wiggly.

My favorite part of the ceremony was when we each (everyone there) got to come up and light a candle and say what they wanted to honor or bring more of into their lives for the coming year. People said things like laughter, love, and happiness. Some were more creative. Then the candle was placed in a big bowl of sand in the center of the room. When we had all had a turn, the room was lit!

Rowan ate:
pineapple
banana
LOTS of cherry tomatoes, munched all day
cucumber pieces
carrot slivers
green juice w/ banana, spirulina, handful of mixed greens
almond milk
celery

Karyn’s Raw Food Restaurant in Chicago

We finally made it to Karyn’s in Chicago! I’ve been wanting to go since I first heard about it almost two years ago. Wow, do they have great looking (and I’m sure tasting) food. There’s a small café adjacent to the restaurant called Karyn’s Inner Beauty Center that has all kinds of raw/vegan/green things, like books, personal products, ala cart food and a salad bar, nut and seeds, butters—even black tahini. They also have all kinds of services like classes for detox, food prep, yoga, and ballet, lymph draining, colon hydrotherapy, oxygen bathing, live cell analysis, endermologie, ear coning, and chiro and acupuncture services. What a great spa day this place could make!

I would have loved to eat at the restaurant, but as money is super tight and we weren’t really hungry anyway, we opted to just look at the menu. Apparently, Karyn’s has just begun a food delivery/pick-up service that provides 5 meals, each meal including a soup, salad, app, entrée, snack, and dessert. Those of you who have ever eaten raw for any length of time know that this sounds more like 5 days worth of food. Anyhoo, the restaurant also had organic beers and wines, including honey wines. Now I have to ask, is beer/wine raw?? I’ve never looked into making either, so don’t know if it’s just fermented or if it’s heated.

After Karyn’s we went to the Asian market and got 27 baby coconuts that had just come in. $30.00. Can’t beat that. Then we cruised to Stanley’s for more cheep organic yummies. I got about 10 bunches of parsley/cilantro to freeze, a TON of carrots for juicing, cherry toms, sweet potatoes, cukes. Basically a full cart of food for about 23 dollars. All added up, Tristen, Rowan, and I can be fed for at least two weeks.

Today Rowan ate:
couple bites of oatmeal w/ chia—didn’t really want it
cherry tomatoes
banana hazelnut milk
walnut-date brownie bites
munched from mama’s salad—cukes, carrots, mixed greens, tommies, g. onions, red cabbage w/ vinegar, oil, garlic, and mixed Italian herbs
more brownie bites
2 bananas

BIG Snow

We got hit last night, boy did we ever, with about . . . 9-10” so far and it’s still coming down. Figures. The day we plan to travel to Chicago. Rich tried to make it out the drive last night when there was only 4-5” but couldn’t make the last hill. When he backed down, he went off into the ditch and got stuck. Needless to say, he didn’t make it into work today. We’re hoping that they get the roads plowed/salted before we’re slated to leave this afternoon. The farm workers will hopefully tow the car out of the ditch. We’ll see. I’m sure the kids will have fun in the snow later.

Yesterday Rowan ate:
green juice—mango, apple, banana, chlorella, wheat grass, pineapple, barley
grapes
tomato soup—tomatoes, garlic, EVOO, salt, herbs
celery pieces
oranges
bananas
hazelnut milk w/ coconut oil


Tristen ate:
oatmeal with raisins
green smoothie
tomato soup with celery pieces
chocolate hazelnut milk with coconut oil
oranges
some of his candy from his school holiday party

Post script: We made it out and to Chicago, no problem. Tristen is off to his dad’s for two weeks, and Rich, Ro, and I are off to Rich’s mom’s, affectionately known as Nanna.

Cold Snap

Today it was 2ºF with a wind chill of about 25ºF below zero. Whew!! The heat turns off and then turns right back on. I drove Tristen to school, as I didn’t want him walking the ½ mile to the end of the drive and then wait up to 10 minutes for the bus, BRRRRRR!!!! That was fine, because I wanted to speak with his teacher anyway. What really doesn’t make sense though is that yesterday it was 42ºF. Wish we had had the equipment to tap the maple trees. I think that’s what you call sugar snow, when it warms up for a day or two early in the winter, then freezes again. That way you can get an additional tapping for syrup during the winter instead of one.

Rowan and I kept warm, playing roly-poly and somersaulting. We also took care of the big potted parsley plant(s) by pulling out all the dead or yellowing leaves. Ro-Ro likes to yank handfuls of the green parsley off and munch. She eats the rosemary a little, and the mint, but prefers the parsley. Go figure.

I also repotted the basil that I had started from seed earlier. I’m excited to start seeds for next years garden and can’t wait until January/February. I have so many different plants to start. I’m still waiting on my seed catalogues, which is probably a good thing, as I have soo many seeds to contend with right now. So, I’m starting to plan the gardens for next year. I want to do a children’s garden as well, and plant things like cherry tomatoes and mini cukes. Maybe some mini cantaloupe. Last year, Rowan’s favorite thing to eat was the cherry tommies right from the plant. She’d plop down and start munching. She loved the asparagus too, come to think of it. Anyway, I’ve decided to start as many plants inside as I can, but need to build a shelf to hold the flats first. Rich and I were discussing building the shelf to go in front of our big south-facing picture window in the dining/pool table/library/music room. I think he had some good ideas and know how. Now I just need to find all the materials. Yeah! Project!!

Lentils and a sprout mix of alfalfa, broccoli, etc. were soaked yesterday for sprouting (to eat). Tomorrow or the next day I’ll start some sunflowers for the baby greens.

Rowan ate:
oatmeal with honey and flax seeds
banana milk w/ hemp oil and chia
pineapple
orange pieces
parsley
carrot pieces
apple pieces
pineapple apple banana smoothie w/ spirulina
grapes

Hugs,
Sharilyn

Pass the Beer, Mama

When asked what she wanted to eat today, Rowan went to the fridge and pulled out grapes, an orange, a watermelon, a pomegranate, and 5 beers, and pointed to the bananas on the counter. I didn’t feed her the beers, of course. Whether she couldn’t make up her mind or wanted everything, I don’t know. It was cute though.

Today Rowan ate:
Fruit!!- ½ banana, orange, grapes, watermelon, pomegranate seeds
green smoothie—herb salad, banana, apple, mulberries
herb salad—fresh parsley, dandelion, oakleaf, rosemary, thyme, chives, wakame, garlic, w/
ACV dressing
caramel coconut cookies (recipe from Living Nutrition)
more green smoothie
hazelnut milk w/ hemp oil
carob banana pudding (avocado, carob, banana)

☻ Sharilyn

Key Lime Pie

Last night I made key lime pie and pumpkin milk. I got the recipe for the pie from a raw food group in Michigan. They post many of the recipes online at www.livinghiho.com. The pie is soooo easy! I do everything in my blender—an ostercizer. It’s not the powerful vita mix I’d like to own some day, but with the aid of my coffee grinder, I do O.K. Here’s the pie recipe:


Raw Key Lime Pie

Grind in blender:
a cup of nuts, I used pumpkin seeds this time
½ cup dates

Pour and press into pie plate, or I like to pour into portion sized containers with lids.

Then blend:
3 avos
juice of 3-6 limes, depending on how tart you like it. 5 is good. I’ve also used lemons.
½ cup honey
Pour onto crust. You can top with sliced fruits, like kiwis or strawberries. Or not. Whatever. It’s a sooo simple, one appliance clean-up meal.



Today Tristen ate:

Cereal: sunflower and pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans, dried coconut and pineapple, and goji berries in pumpkin milk.
Carob banana pumpkin milk w/ flax oil
Raw key-lime pie
Carob banana pumpkin milk w/ flax oil
Herb salad w/ strawberry dressing

Today Rowan ate:

Pumpkin banana milk w/ flax oil
frozen apple pieces sprinkled with cloves
green smoothie—mango, banana, orange, herb mix
Raw key-lime pie
More smoothie
Pumpkin banana milk w/ flax

☻ Sharilyn

New Snow

New snow. Enough to sled on. Tristen was outside all morning playing in it. I bundled Ro-Ro up (think A Christmas Story) so she could barely toddle, and we joined him for a while.

Tristen and I came up with an interesting spread today. I had sprouted some garbanzo beans, and was going to make the usual chopped beans with EVOO, garlic, herbs, and salt. He didn’t really want that, so instead we came up with this. I’m calling it Cheezy Hummus.

In a blender I tossed in:
About ½ cup garbanzo beans
clove garlic, pressed
squeeze of ½ lemon
few dashes sea salt
dash turmeric
a tablespoon chia seeds
little water as needed to blend

To this I added a couple small handfuls of cashews and about a tablespoon of hulled sesame seeds that I ground in the coffee grinder. We added this last so we could blend the other stuff first, then thicken it to a cheeze sauce consistency with the powdered nuts. We put it on some cut up Romaine—the crunchy base. Cheeze and Crackers! Sort of. I would have added parsley and thyme or some other herbs, but Tris just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe next time.

Today Rowan ate:

Green smoothie—pineapple, mango, herbs
Cheezy Hummus with ca-krs (cut up Romaine)
Almond milk
carrot chips
more green smoothie
brownie bites
potato slices
more green smoothie
almond milk

Tristen ate:

Banana
Herb salad mix with maple fig dressing
Cheezy Hummus with Romaine lettuce
brownie bites
Almond milk
walnuts and almonds
potato slices

☻ Sharilyn

Manifestations

Today was spent at home, since Rich took the van as his alternator decided to crap out yesterday. So hopefully he’ll get it fixed 2nite when he gets home. He’s had more trouble with his car. Last month, a deer, this month, ice and an other truck, now, the alternator. What next?? Personally, I think he’s really wanting another vehicle and hence, spirit is trying to get him one—one which he won’t get until this one dies or totals out. That’s how I got my new red caravan. I rode in a friends new red Dodge caravan and just LOVED everything about it—the room, the better road vision, the upright seating—and started thinking about how much I really disliked how painful my back was after sitting in the bucket seats of the prism or cavalier (I’m not a car person, it was low and reclining and blue) and how I couldn’t see very well, and how I missed my caravan(s), and started wishing (not really consciously though, just ho-hum, but with feeling) that I had a red caravan that I could get in and out of easier too (I was 4 months prego with Rowan) and wouldn’t you know it, I totaled the car. Had to get a new one. Wasn’t even thinking about red caravans when I went looking, just needed something NOW and Cheap. It occurred to me about a week after getting the van that it was exactly what I had pictured. Didn’t plan it. But that stuff ALWAYS happens to me. I trust in it and know, deeply and truly know, that I will get exactly what I need, and often what I want, when I ask. I’ll get off-handed wishes quite frequently too. Like the parking space right next to the cart return. Or someone gifts me something I need, without them even knowing I needed it, like light bulbs. They just overwhelmingly thought of me and wanted to send it to me. It’s actually quite a great way to live, having no fear. I know if I need anything, anything, it will come. Anything. Huge load off.

So I’m expecting a new car for Rich in the near future. One with heat and snow tires and front wheel drive and maybe not so much power as what he has now. (He’s quite aggressive on the road when alone, and too speedy for his own good. I sooo worry every time he goes anywhere!)And better than affordable—more along the lines of ‘leaving a bit extra without losing quality.’—in other words inexpensive to get and keep, but not because it’s junk but because of some higher power reason, like our standard of living going up or something. Winning the lottery. (Course it helps to play if you want to win.) We’ll see what happens.

Tris had scouts 2nite. I love scouts; they learn so many useful skills: how to use a knife safely, how to build fill-in-the-blank, how to work together to achieve a common goal, how to include everyone, how to be loyal, trustworthy, brave, helpful, cheerful, obedient, and kind, leather works, knots, beadwork, crafts, fire building, fire starting, general safety for numerous situations, what to do in emergencies, CPR and first aid. You name it, there’s probably an area in scouts that covers it. Even health and food, although Tris’s scout handbook totes the FDA food pyramid as healthy. I was so proud when they cut out pictures of what they (the scouts) each ate and placed the pics in their own pyramids. Tristen had lots-o-fruits n veggies. Good on ya, son.


Today Rowan ate:
Oatmeal w/ honey
Almond milk with hemp oil
Cut up orange and banana sprinkled w/ chia seeds
green smoothie-mango, pineapple, herb mix, kelp
brownie bites
munched on “ca-krs”—the crunchy pieces of romaine
more smoothie


It’s so funny to see other peoples’ reactions when they see Rowan munching on plain raw broccoli or cucumbers, like it’s the strangest thing in the world to see a baby eat raw veggies. LOL.

Hugs,
Sharilyn

Introductions

December 4, 2008

Greetings and salutations! This blog is to be a window into our lives for those who wish to peep, ‘us’ being my two kids, Rowan, 18 months, and Tristen, 7 ½, and my husband and I, with a focus on the Rawsome Rowan’s raw diet, and a touch of her big bro’s semi-raw transitional one. I’d like to try to blog daily on my computer, but as I’m not connected to the internet, I’m planning on saving a few days to a week at a time at home and trans-posting each weeks worth all at once using the library’s computer and subsequent internet connections.

About us: We live on a 260 acre farm in a house that was built about 1946 or 47. The original foundation is from 1830's I think. Lots of wood, plaster walls. It’s such a blessing and literally an answer to an extremely urgent prayer (we needed to vacate, and the day I got the notice of the $250 rent increase, I literally said, out loud, “O.K. spirit, we need a new place w/in the school district, preferably a house in the country, that meets our budget, by Saturday,” as I was walking the one block from the P.O. to the library. This was Friday. At the library, I got online and checked the classifieds for the local weekly paper. Saw the ad, called, met that day, had the place the next. The super amazing part? We’d been checking the ads Every Week for a year and a half for a house in our school district that we could afford. Nothing but 1-2 bedroom apartments, and often out of the school district area. Until we really needed it and asked. How cool is that? As a bonus, all the other things I wanted in my house—the organic acreage, the awesome landlord, the space IN the house (5 bedroom, huge living, dining, basement, attic, kitchen, room to add one more perhaps in the near future), the garden area to be, all the wild foraging opportunities—came along with it. Thank you again, spirit.

So anyway, there are about 250 head of cows/bulls running around in the pastures at any one time—not ours; the fields are rented out—and lots of barn cats. Occasionally deer trapes by, and we hear coyotes almost nightly. This winter is proving to be interesting, as it’s our first year here and the driveway is almost ½ mile uphill on a verrry slippery twisty fall off the edge dirt path to get out. But town is only 7 miles so if I have to I can hoof it. There’s a small creek that winds all around the house and all over the property, with occasional waterfalls and a snapper (turtle) or two, and sometimes the occasional cranes and geese and ducks.

So the superest coolest thing about living here is ALL THE WILD FOOD!!
Here’s a general rundown on what I’ve found so far. We have: over 50 apple trees scattered wildly about, 1000s of black currant bushes (for those of you who don’t know, black currants often die from blight or disease, so red currants are the usual fare), 5-6 wild pears, I found a wild plum one day, red raspberries, blackberries, tons of both red and white mulberries, may apples (though we haven’t eaten these yet, as I want to be SURE of which parts are poisonous, how to prepare, etc. Anyone know??), nut trees—hickory, walnut, oak, and maple trees, lots of wild edibles like lambs quarters and chickweed and such, hemp (and thus seeds), lots of wild herbs, and some “already-done-been-growin’-here” veggies—asparagus and rhubarb. I’m told that there’s lots of morels in the spring (though I’m not much of a fungus eater) so I’m looking forward to at least hunting them.

We moved here in June, and had a once-every-twenty-years-or-so flash flood that washed my newly planted garden right on down the creek, though I managed to save a few plants already sprouted and rooted and the transplants. So this year we had lots-o-lettuce, spinach, arugula, red cabbage, parsley, cilantro (didn’t come up), basil, oregano (didn’t come up), thyme, rosemary, sage, lemon balm, and mint, mini tommies, tamales, carrots, radishes, celery, onions (didn’t do so well), garlic (all died but 1), leeks, green beans, nasturtiums, jerusalem artichokes, yellow squash, and I can’t remember what else. My herbs are now in the pool table room, temporarily camped out on the floor until I can get a window shelf built for them. I am already planning the garden for next year, and have prepared four beds to plant in the spring. The greatest gift: that once-every-twenty-years-or-so flash flood that washed about an inch and a half of manure/soil/compost from the barn area onto the drain field where the garden is located. ;} Everything’s got a blessing in there somewhere! So that saved tons of work this fall, though I still turned and dug all the planting areas down a foot and added peat and some shredded maple leaves for all the wormies to work on until spring. Yeah! Hopefully all the prep work will help me, the novice veggie gardener (this was my first year having a garden since I was a kid!), help all my babies grow into yummy super nutrient rich sustenance for my kiddos. And for me and my hubby as well. January’s coming way too soon, and I need to get my starter area ready and start my babies off. I wanted to grow stuff indoors this winter, but haven’t gotten to it yet. Just the herbs I brought in from the garden that Rowan likes to munch on whenever she passes and whatever sprouts I have growing in the kitchen. This summer I plan on having melons, peppers, cukes, peas, squash, kale, chard, you name it. Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries that are closer to home. I’d like to try wolf berries too (goji berries) and have just sprouted some seeds to start indoors. Also trying an avo tree, though this one will have to stay potted and come back in in the fall. We’ll seeeeeee. Perhaps a lemon tree down the road.

So that’s the low-down on this strikingly beautiful hilly paradise we now call home. I’ve been reading up on homesteading and food preserving and hope to cut our food budget by 80% next year. Now to figure out how to cut heating costs and still keep warm, especially when I’m fasting! Temps dropped to the teens yesterday--yikes! I’ve got some pumpkins stored in the basement, so maybe I’ll try pumpkin noodles in a sauce or a soup or something tomorrow, as it’s supposed to be a warming food.

Today Rowan ate:

green chia porridge-spirulina, soaked chia seeds, mashed banana
pomegranate orange grape juice
chia coconut walnut banana kelp spirulina “cookies” dehydrated 4 hours
walnut-date brownie bites
avocado
more chia cookies
almond milk

Today Tristen ate:

raw oatmeal with spirulina, chia, honey, cloves, and cinnamon
banana carob almond milk
herb salad with maple fig dressing, pumpkin seeds, and chopped dates
banana
orange
almond milk
chia cookies
avocado
brownie bites
another orange

I gotta add that the chia cookies we made looked just like something from a dog’s hind end, what with the spirulina and all, and as Rowan has just learned to say “yeah” and does so whenever asked any question starting with, “Do you want . . . ?” we couldn’t help asking if she wanted to eat more doggie poo, to which she of course replied, “Yea-ah.” ROFLOL. Tristen got a real kick out of that one!

Hugs.
Sharilyn