To Grandmother’s Homestead We Go

We went to visit my Mother-In-Law & Step-Father-In-Law on their 13 acre homestead in Sonoma County, CA in June of this year. It’s a really special place – there are large Redwood trees in the wooded parts of their land and there is also a big creek running through the property. In the middle of it all is their passive solar hand-built house and several large growing areas for their various veggie gardens, vineyard and greenhouse for my MIL’s lavender growing business. The views are beautiful and you can see large vineyards for miles around.

My MIL spins her own wool on her spinning wheel, has a loom to weave it on and showed my son, Leif how to card the fibers and then to spin it on the wheel. He thought this was great fun.

We did many special things while we were there and since my son likes art projects, I thought it would be interesting for him when we took hikes around the property to collect cool looking items we found in nature to build some fairy houses on the banks of the creek. He loved that idea since we have read a few books about this. I think by the end of our trip, he built 5 fairy houses and we took many pictures of them all.

My husband and I took a day off to be by ourselves to celebrate his birthday and go to some wineries for wine tasting and to see some sights around Sonoma County. One place we went to is an exact reproduction of a 12^th century castle just outside of Calistoga called Castello di Amorosa. It was awesome! Such amazing detail work with actual artifacts from salvaged castles – including the stones of the castle – were shipped over from Europe to build it.

Since our son was hanging out with his Grandma and Papa all day on the homestead, they had some fun projects lined up for him, too. My Mother-In-Law knew in advance that we were taking a day to ourselves so she gathered items from local thrift stores to build a “scarecrow boy” the size of Leif. He LOVED this! When it was done, they staked it right in the middle of a new garden bed.

He did a special building project with his Papa, too. My son requested to build and paint “a sculpture.” So my FIL gathered some scrap wood from his workshop and found some paints and Leif said he wanted to build a tree. The two of them laid out the design and then my FIL nailed it together and Leif very carefully painted it green and brown. He decided before we left to give it to his Grandma to hang in her greenhouse “so she could remember him!”

Later that day, they had to gather up some firewood to stack outside their house and my son had a great time helping to load up the pick up truck from the various wood piles in the woods and then help unloading and stacking the split logs by the house.  They would have gone swimming in the creek but it was a little too cool to do that so they built another fairy house instead.  He had a great day alone with his grandparents and we had fun drinking wine, going out to dinner and seeing the sights alone, too.

Café Gratitude opened a restaurant in their town a few months earlier and I was ecstatic to be able to finally go in person! I had purchased their cookbook last year and I think they craft some of the greatest raw food recipes. We ate there 3 different times! Michael and I went to dinner there after our day out alone and saw local musicians play while eating. Such a perfect ending to a perfect day!

On my husband’s actual birthday, we helped my MIL work in her booth at the local farmer’s market. She sells lavender plants of all different sizes and varieties. She cultivates 38 varieties now and is always testing out new kinds to see how well they will do in her area before she will grow and sell them. There is even a white lavender variety named “Melissa” that she grows & sells.  And out of all the herbs I work with, lavender happens to be my favorite. I even had some sprigs of it in my wedding bouquet.

We had a family birthday dinner that night back at the homestead with relatives that live in their area. We drank lots of great wine and I learned so much more about the art of crafting wine this trip since my FIL has been making his own wine for decades. Michael’s Step-Brother-In-Law gave him a bottle of his own homegrown, locally pressed extra virgin olive oil. It is SO GOOD!! I wish we could grow our own olive tree orchard where we live! We learned more about this process, too.

We visited Bodega Bay and played by the ocean (which is always cold and breezy), went to Armstrong Woods State Park which is an amazing place to hike around the giant Sequoias (can you see me in the tree photo below?).  We also visited “Train Town” in Sonoma which was so fun for Leif.

It’s so nice to spend quality time with family and get a fun vacation out of it, too!

Birthday Extravaganza Week

I know I’ve been a bad blogger and haven’t posted in a few weeks. There has been so much going on: I’ve been trying to learn some new technology, learning to use Twitter, as well as working on my website redesign and planning my son’s 5th birthday extravaganza with his buddy! That’s right, it was a joint birthday party for 2 little 5 year old boys.

His birthday was last week, Fat Tuesday, actually. He was born on Fat Tuesday, too. The kid likes to party!

Since his actual birthday was a weekday, the party was this past Sunday. He doesn’t go to preschool on Tuesdays so I had to plan a day of fun for him since he has no family here to make a big deal over him. It’s all up to us to do it. My husband took a half day at work so we drove down to his new office and picked him up, went to a nearby fun playground with really big slides (his favorite) and had a picnic. Did I mention it was almost 70 degrees out and sunny that day? Amazing. We played hard there for a couple of hours then went to a nearby (cheap!) movie theater that was showing 2 different animated kid’s movies and he picked the movie, The Tale of Despereaux. He LOVED it! It was a very cute movie. He ate a giant bag of popcorn mostly by himself, too.

After that, we drove into Denver to a restaurant, Casa Bonita, that is so kitschy it belongs in Vegas! South Park TV show actually did a whole very funny episode about it, too. That is the only thing I can think of when I think about this restaurant. I’ve lived in CO for almost 15 years now and have never been there and after reading about my friend Heather’s experience there recently with her kids, I knew my son Leif would love it and I was right! The food is pretty lame Mexican food (according to my husband) but we had a great time there. There is a wandering mariachi band that plays and sings while you eat and you can get free sopapillas throughout your meal. I was able to “veganize” a taco salad so my dinner wasn’t too bad!

They actually have a little show they put on approximately every 15 minutes on this tiny stage area that is right in the middle of the dining area and there is a 30 foot drop down into a pool of water. There is a waterfall and fake palm trees, too. Leif was mesmerized by the little skits and then the guy diving 30 feet off the platform into the water – he thought it was the coolest thing!

The place is enormous, rooms and hallways leading to all sorts of areas including 2 arcades (with ski ball no less – my favorite – but it’s called “ice ball” here), tons of both new and very old school video games – even Pac Man! – a mini arcade area with rides for little kids, a place to redeem the coupons you win at the arcade for little toys, a treasure chest room, vendors selling different trinkets, etc. It really was so fun!

He then had his birthday party at preschool on Friday and it’s a Waldorf school so it’s a special type of ceremony for the child. The teacher crochets a crown for him and he wears a birthday cape and holds a star wand and she reads a special birthday story and lights candles for how old he is. Each parent/teacher/child at the ceremony says birthday wishes/blessings for him as the teacher ties “wish knots” in play silks for each wish spoken and the silks surround his handmade doll she made for him. He takes the basket and unties all the silks and finds his present at the end. It’s very sweet and loving. We will miss this!

Last Sunday was the big extravaganza birthday party at a local gymnastics place that we shared with his buddy, Jackson who goes to preschool with him and lives down the street from us. His 5th birthday was yesterday.  We carpool to school with him, too and they both have been talking about their party for a few weeks now – it’s very cute listening to them.

We did a flying theme (airplanes, helicopters, etc) and the party was at a local gymnastics place that Leif loves going to. We tried to “green up” the party a little by buying a zero waste event kit from our county recycling office. All the plates, utensils, napkins, cups are compostable (made from corn) and go into a huge BioBag trash bag that we return to the recycling dept. for them to compost. All the food was vegan, too. Even the cupcakes, frosting and whipped cream – it was soy whip.

They both had lots of fun as did their friends and when we went home, his buddy Ava came over to play with both Leif and Jackson at the playground and the 3 of them just had a great time! We made some homemade pizzas (3 different cheeses – cow, goat and vegan cheeze) for dinner and Leif and Ava played with all his new presents only stopping to eat pizza and birthday cupcakes. My son was a very happy birthday boy!

He did get a new scooter (that he’s been asking for everyday!) for his birthday which he was so excited for but he now realizes he can go farther and faster on his bike – scooters are much more work! He still loves it and even let Ava try it out at the playground. Jackson got a new scooter, too. This should be fun watching them scootering around together soon!

Little boys are just the cutest, sweetest things! I love my little birthday boy so much!!!!

My Quest For The “Perfect” Water Bottle

Last year, I wrote about the BPA in our water bottles and my quest for finding the perfect (according to me) water bottle. Since the summer I’ve been using the plethora of different sized, double-walled stainless steel thermoses we already owned and that was great for keeping things cold and avoiding the BPA in the polycarbonate bottles (and there are no plastic liners in our thermoses). But I dearly missed having a straw top on my water bottle like I did with all of my polycarbonate bottles.

Here is my list of what a perfect water bottle would consist of:

• BPA-free
• Double-walled stainless steel
• Straw top
• Cover for straw
• Non-leaking
• Attractive
• Fit in my car’s cup holder
• Hold more than 2 cups of water
• Reasonably Priced

I received a free Camelbak “Better Bottle” that is BPA-free and has the straw top but it is not insulated. It works fine as my household water bottle but is not so good for taking with me when it’s hot out plus it does leak a little when it’s on it’s side which is what happens in the car or in my tote bag. That is a deal breaker for me. At least the variety of thermoses I have been carting around in the car keeps the water cold for a long time and they don’t leak but having to unscrew the top each time I wanted a drink was annoying and time consuming.

I did check out the Klean Kanteen water bottles but never bought one because they are only single walled stainless steel and you have to unscrew the cap, too. What I already owned was better, IMO and I have a variety of sizes.

A few months later, I had finally found my perfect water bottle! The only problem was that every time I went to purchase it at the store, they were out of the nice, attractive bottles and all that was left were ones for kids with characters on them like Dora the Explorer or Spiderman. Even though I was looking for a bigger, better water bottle for my son as well as myself, I didn’t want the superhero on it. So I waited. I kept using what I had while I periodically checked for the bottles I wanted to be in stock at a few different stores. The stores told me they only receive a few of the non-character ones but many of the ones I didn’t want!

Finally, in late October, my local Target had a few non-character water bottles available and I got the blue striped one for my son as one of his Christmas gifts. He loves it and so do I! It does NOT leak, has the straw with a one button pop open top that both protects the straw and keeps it from leaking and it even fits in my car’s small cup holder and holds 18 oz of water (more than 2 cups!). That is good enough for running errands for me and for longer trips, I will fill my big double-walled stainless steel thermos to leave in the car to refill my perfect carrying sized new water bottle. And the price? it’s around 15 bucks. Oh happy day for me!

This water bottle is made by Thermos and it is the Intak Steel Hydration Bottle.  For some reason on the web page it does not say that it is BPA-free but the tag on the bottle itself lists it in a few places. I will be getting myself the purple flower design one since I must have this bottle now!

For little kids, Thermos makes the BPA-free Foogo line of stainless steel food and beverage containers (smaller size).

I have to say, we’ve owned several stainless steel products made by Thermos for many years and they have never failed us in what they are designed to do so I have faith that this new, “perfect” water bottle will provide us with years of drinking enjoyment!

Halloween Parade 2008

Last Saturday was our town’s annual Halloween Parade down Main St. Yes, I live in a town with a Main Street and seasonal parades and other fun events here.  This town also has made Money magazine’s list for the 100 best places in America to live (we are in the top 50) several times, too.

Since we had just gotten back from vacation a few days earlier in the week, I had no costume for the boy and didn’t even have any time to get one before we left.  My husband did make a set of foam swords this summer for them to have sword fights since Leif was obsessed with doing that with anything he could find.  So, I decided to work around that. At first he was going to be a knight in shining armor but then we didn’t have time to sew a helmet and wound up making him a gold crown instead so he declared himself a king – “a good king” to be precise.

I went to the local fabric store and got him some shiny gold fabric to make a cape and I’m sure he will get a lot of use out of that since what boy doesn’t love a cape to play with?   We made him a crown out of an old paperboard sign and painted it and made a shield out of cardboard.  My husband painted him a coat of arms on the shield that had a nature theme – a leaf and vine, what else for King Leif?

It turned out to be a very inexpensive, fast, homemade costume out of mostly stuff we had on hand including the paints.  And he loves it!

Good King Leif

The King and his good friend, the Knight

The King and his good friend, the Obama-supporting Cow.

The King got tired and decided to hitch a ride upon his noble steed, aka Daddy.

Another favorite thing he has been really into this past week was a temporary tattoo we got at our local democrat office of Obama on a postage stamp.  He wanted it on his belly and loved showing it off.  I took many shots of his cute belly:

On Halloween, we plan on going to our rec center’s huge annual Halloween carnival that has lots of fun carnival games for little kids, several bouncy houses and a spooky boat ride across the large pool.  The pool area is dimly lit and there are still more places in there to play games and win prizes.  In another room, they bring in small animals for a petting zoo. We’ve gone the past 2 years and he just loves it.  Yet another great thing this town does for the children that live here and all of the events are free.

After that, he likes to go trick or treating with his Dad and loves the idea of getting things from people even though he really does not like candy (I know, strange) but that is probably because we don’t eat candy or any products with high fructose corn syrup in them so he just doesn’t like the taste. I buy him these organic, naturally sweetened lollipops which he loves so I give him those instead of the candy he collects. I am trying to get him a Unicef box so he can collect money for Unicef instead of candy he (or we) won’t eat.

I hope you all have a very happy and safe Halloween with your kiddies!

Some Pickin’ Fun

We went to an organic “pick your own” berry farm this past weekend with my friend Amy’s family (Crunchy Domestic Goddess) in hopes of picking lots of luscious strawberries and raspberries. Boy were we sorely disappointed! The strawberries were slim pickins but we did get about 4 quarts worth (around 5#) and the raspberries were still 2 weeks or so behind schedule. Thankfully all was not lost and we wound up with a buttload (30#) of juicy peaches instead!

I remember going peach picking when I was growing up and really enjoyed it and it was really fun for my son and his friend Ava to get to pick an abundance of ripe peaches from the trees. They were so cute to watch and of course, we all ate peaches and strawberries as we picked them. Yum. Ava’s little bro, Julian was covered with berries and peaches. Needless to say, the toddler had a great time eating his way through the farm, too!

When we got home, I selected the most ripe fruit to work with that day and made some fruit leather, dried slices for use in granola, cereal and desserts and we also froze a bunch of slices for smoothies and raw ice cream. For my measly 4 quarts of strawberries, I made fruit leather and dried the rest for winter recipe use. Man did my house smell amazing with all of that dehydrating going on!

I am planning on making a bunch of raw peach cobblers and pies and freezing them for future desserts. I bought the low sugar pectin for my husband to make jam but he only wanted to make himself strawberry or raspberry jam and doesn’t like peach jam. He also doesn’t like canned peaches. Figures. So, we will be preserving the rest (that we don’t inhale fresh over the next couple of days) using the methods that work best for me and the raw vegan diet.

This organic farm also grows many things that they sell in their storefront so we also bought a huge watermelon, freshly roasted green chilies, purple green beans, roja garlic, candy onions and a melon (that was marked as a cantaloupe) that was called “Israeli Perfume” and when we cut it open it had green flesh and tasted very similar to a honeydew. I saved the seeds from it because it was so tasty I want to grow it in my garden next summer! They sell many other items but were already sold out of much of it by the time we made it into the store.

It was a fun yet hot day in the sun and Leif definitely was tired by the end. He finally got to experience real fruit picking at a farm. We like to expose him to lots of different activities in nature and especially have him learn about where his food comes from. I know he enjoyed it and would love to do it again, as would we!

photos © Nature Deva

A Free CoSleeping Webinar & A Giveaway

Cosleeping is a very natural thing for humans to do since well, forever. It is very instinctual in us because if you left a baby or small child alone at night in the wild, they would be eaten. It is safer to sleep with your children and be able to easily take care and protect them. All cultures all over the world outside of modern day western society safely cosleep with their children. It also helps children and parents reconnect and bond – especially if the parents have been away at work all day, it’s nice to reconnect even if you are sleeping. Cosleeping helps to allay children’s fears at night, it’s easy to nurse or bottle feed them, and everyone I know that cosleeps gets to sleep more because they don’t have to get up and walk over to the kid’s bedrooms to feed or comfort their children – they are right there and are able to respond right away to their children’s cries (this is also called “nighttime parenting“). And we all know that a well-rested mama is a happy and nicer mama to her whole family.

Also, some children still want to sleep near their parents as they get a bit older. There is so much change happening in their world with rapid growth into toddlerhood, then becoming a preschooler and all that they are experiencing everyday it sometimes is a lot for them to take in and being near their parents is safe and comforting for them. This is the case with our son, who is an only child. Sometimes siblings like to cosleep with each other, too.

We added a twin bed to our bedroom and Leif sleeps in that. Everyone has space and sleeps well and Leif feels safe and secure. We don’t feel the need to force him out when he’s not ready because he truly is afraid whenever we have talked about it and we don’t mind, we love the bonding experience we still get to have with him. One day soon, he’ll want to move out of our room then only want to play with his friends and not us, etc. Early childhood is a very special time and it goes by entirely too fast!

I hope you will join in the webinar and learn more about the truth regarding safe cosleeping practices from the experts. See below for the details about this free webinar:

Join Mothering, James McKenna, Dr. Paul Fleiss and the founders of Attachment Parenting International for an exclusive webinar on cosleeping sponsored by Arms Reach (www.armsreach.com) on Friday, August 22, at 11am Pacific. Registration is free at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/island/webinar/registration.tmpl?id=721965936.

James McKenna is among the country’s leading experts in cosleeping safety. He is a researcher and the director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Paul Fleiss is a pediatrician and the author of Sweet Dreams: A Pediatrician’s Secrets for Baby’s Good Night Sleep, as well as numerous scientific articles published in leading national and international medical journals. Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, Attachment Parenting International cofounders, will share their attachment parenting expertise.

Learn why cosleeping is both a natural and an effective way to foster a safe, nurturing environment for babies. Leading experts in the field will present their latest research and host a question and answer session.

On another note, don’t forget to check out Heather from A Mama’s Blog giveaway for 2 BPA-free Camelback water bottles!

photo © Nature Deva

Refreshing Summertime Healthy Treats – Kid-Approved, Too

I’ve been trying out different recipes for my son to eat that are both healthy and tasty for him. He thinks he’s getting a treat and I’m happy that he’s getting more produce.

Since he’s so picky, I’ve kept it pretty simple. Simple seems to work best and then I try to add on if he will allow it.

His favorite treat of all in the summer is a popsicle. We have some popsicle molds that we use and last year, he would only eat it if I put fruit juice or lemonade in it for him but this year, I’ve been buying so much more fresh fruit and he seems more interested in what I’m doing with it that I’ve made popsicles out of just whole fruit and a little raw agave nectar which has a very sweet taste and is low glycemic, i.e. does not raise your blood sugar like regular sugar does.

So here are a few simple but tasty treats for the kiddos:

Strawberry popsicle:

1/3# fresh, organic strawberries, washed
1T raw agave nectar
1/4 cup water

Puree in a high speed blender til smooth. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

You may need a bit more agave depending on how sweet the berries are. The first time I made this for him, he wanted it more sweet, of course so I just brushed on a little agave on the outside which made him a happy camper and he ate the whole thing. He asks for popsicles everyday and eats at least one a day especially after he comes home from camp.

His new favorite popsicle flavor is watermelon. We got a huge organic watermelon from the health food store the other day and it was so sweet. I could eat watermelon all the time, I love it! Whatever fruit we are eating he will ask me to make it into a popsicle now. It’s really funny to me.

Watermelon popsicle:

2 cups organic watermelon
1T raw agave nectar
Blend til smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.

If it’s not sweet enough, just brush a little agave onto the outside and that does the trick.

I have tried blending flavors and also adding in diluted supplements but that never goes over well and I end up having to eat it so I just stick to the basics. It’s cheap, nutritious, the whole fruit is eaten not just juice and it’s a fun food for the kiddos.

We have also been making lots of raw lemonade. Super easy and tasty.

Lemonade:

1T freshly juiced lemon juice (this is best, otherwise get unfiltered organic lemon juice)
1T raw agave nectar
Water to fill glass
Ice
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt (or Himalayan crystal salt is better). Add this if it’s really hot out for more electrolytes and water retention

Mix really well and drink. Tastes great like regular lemonade but you are using a low glycemic sweetener so your child won’t bounce off the walls and it’s also an electrolyte balancer to prevent dehydration. It’s really like a healthy Gatorade. Lemons also replenish electrolytes. This too, can be frozen as a popsicle.

We have been making sun teas, too. My favorite flavor for the summertime is Mint. Just put a bunch of washed fresh mint leaves in a gallon sun tea container, fill with filtered water and let sit in the sun all day. Refrigerate in the evening and the next day you have really cold mint tea which really cools you off when you drink that on a hot day. You can sweeten it, too but we all like it plain. Even my picky son loves cold mint tea. If you combine that with eating some cold watermelon, you will really cool down pretty quick.

Some cultures drink hot mint tea for cooling down in the heat but I still prefer the cold version best. Mint is a diaphoretic herb so drinking it hot opens the capillaries and helps you sweat which cools you down. It is also very good for the digestion.

The other snack my son Leif is loving is actually going into the garden and picking his own cucumber or greens, etc and we bring it inside and I wash and cut it up and he’s so happy to eat the food he’s watched grow. He will eat large amounts, too. He’s ecstatic that his little yellow pear tomatoes that he planted the seeds in a container himself in May and watered (a lot!) all summer are now bearing fruit and so are the cherry tomatoes growing right next to them. He goes and looks everyday and sees if they are yellow enough and when they are he picks it and pops it into his mouth. He does the same with the red ones, too. I think it’s the cutest thing ever, of course! He’s really into living foods and likes having them around him, just like his parents. The garden is one fascinating place to him.

A Real Testimonial

Yesterday, I went to a trade show that I go to every year. It is a metaphysical show which is perfect for the work I do and I look forward to going every year. One company that I absolutely adore has not been at the show for the past few years and was there yesterday. I have known about this company and the work they do all over the world since 1996 when I used to be a part owner in a metaphysical store and healing center for a few years. We sold the healing tools they make which helps others to shift and heal by the high vibrations emanating from the crystals, metals and sacred geometric shapes used. They are not cheap but something you will have for life. My then-boyfriend (now husband) actually purchased my first tool from them from my own store as a surprise for me.

This is an American Buddhist organization, non-profit, of course (they help feed and care for people as well as build new monasteries and are rebuilding the destroyed ones in Tibet) and I am not a Buddhist (I am a Universal Spiritualist, not defined by any one religion) but I am so drawn to the incredible energy that emanates from all of the monks and from the tools themselves. I won’t go into all of it now but I decided to gift myself a new healing tool for not only myself but to use in my healing practice.

The person who designs and blesses these tools is called Buddha Maitreya – a reincarnation of the Buddha, Krishna and the Christ among others. He has been recognized by the Dalai Lama and has a Tibetan title, too – His Holiness Jetsun Gyalwa Jampa Gonpo. I have been told that he is here once again to help shift humanity, integrate the soul into the body (this is the most basic of definitions by me) and has been here doing the work quietly for some time now. He emanates his teachings through these different healing tools and even has them in small jewelry form, too. All the money raised goes to help others, of course.

Being non-religious, I just connect to the high, loving frequency and am so excited every time I can spend time with anyone in this organization. It’s hard to explain but if you are sensitive to energy, you will feel it right away (even if you’re not, I have seen so many people drawn to these tools over the years). Of course the tool I wish to have the most is this large, geometric design called the Solar Cross that wherever you hang it, that space (and beyond) will emanate energy like a monastery – a very high frequency. Someday I will have one.

When I got home last night and showed my husband and 4 year old what I brought back, as soon as I took the healing tool out of the case, my son’s eyes got so big and he immediately grabbed it from me with both hands, clutched it to his chest for a few seconds then pulled it away and looked down at it feeling it all over and says, “God is in this”. Michael and my jaws dropped and we were like “what did you say?” and he again said, “God is in this.” I literally was like holy sh*t, my kid immediately picked up on the connection to the living Buddha. Of course it’s real and powerful.

What a pure state of being a young child is always in and to be able to connect in just a few seconds of feeling it I can’t tell you how blown away I was. Besides that, I think we have only mentioned the word “God” a very few times because we say it more as Great Spirit or the Universe or Nature or something of a more open connectedness to spirit and less defined by society and all those different religious connotations placed upon certain words. So for him to pick that word really amazes me (unless he’s learned it at school which is possible).

I think any child would pick up on this but I know my son is very attuned to this already. I’m glad I can help guide him on his path and have these tools and many other things around him while he’s young and still so connected to the spiritual realm. It’s so easy and natural for them at this age but it does start to fade around age 7. I’m really excited to hear what else he is going to enlighten me with on this topic in the future.

My Twilight Zone

We went to a wedding for an old friend this past holiday weekend which was in Omaha, NE. We live in CO so we had to basically drive through the entire flat section of CO as well as the entire state of NE.

Now I know I live a semi-sheltered existence in my county of many aware people who keep up on things, are concerned for the environment, what they eat, getting out and exercising and even spiritual enlightenment for some. I guess I’m just not comfortable witnessing the devastation of the earth by large, corporate mono-crop farmers (most likely all using evil Monsanto seed and products). It was tough for me to drive through all of that and see hardly any trees, just mono crops and then feedlots of cattle who were crammed inside the fences and we saw very few areas in the state of free grazing cattle. I kept thinking, we slaughtered the Native Americans to do this? I just felt so bad for the earth and the animals. There was so much sad energy emanating all over the place there. My husband felt the same.

We finally get to Omaha and it’s more of the same except with small clusters of new housing communities and strip malls and office bldgs. It felt to me like everyone was walking around asleep, completely unaware and just towing the line and believing all the b.s. fed to them. I did hear that there was a Whole Foods somewhere in the city so that gave me some hope for some conscious people but then I heard there are a bunch of transplants living there for big corporate jobs like our friend moved there for.

The wedding itself was on this very nice horse property and there was a pond with ducks, geese and bullfrogs, big trees to climb and of course, lots of horses. All the little kids there had a blast just from engaging with nature. Leif loved the bullfrogs in the pond.

There was a woman there with 2 kids. She was our friend’s next door neighbor. Her son was the same age as our son and they kept running off and were constantly standing at the edge of the pond. She was with her 1 year old daughter by the pond and told us she’d watch Leif while we went in the lodge bldg. for food. A few minutes later, her daughter falls into the pond so she scoops her up and leaves the 2 boys who were all the way on the other side of the pond alone, says nothing to them or us. Michael and I were watching them all anyway because she seemed odd, like she was heavily medicated or something (but I later found out that she was not, many people there acted like this). I take off my heels and run all the way around the pond so as not to have my very clutzy child fall in the water and drown before I get there.

Needless to say, I was a little annoyed that this mother would just walk away and when she saw me running, she was like “oh, my daughter fell in the pond, I have to dry her off!” Man, I just felt like shaking her to wake up and pay attention and wound up taking turns with Michael watching both boys all afternoon until she left.

I was surprised about the food at the wedding. We thought it would be something amazing because this friend is very gourmet – loves to cook and loves coming back to CO and meeting up with groups of people at different ethnic restaurants because he says the food sucks in NE – all steakhouses! Clearly, it was his wife’s choosing of the caterers.

There was not one thing there that I could eat – not even a carrot stick or lettuce leaf or piece of fruit it was all barbeque! I wound up eating a little of the coleslaw because I was starving and the only veggies were coleslaw or egg potato salad. Mr. Picky was not happy with any of the food choices and ate the pretzels that were out on the table and that was it until I went and got some of his snacks in the car.

Personally, I think from all the massive chemicals used on crops, all the crap in the meat from the factory farming practices (and their large consumption of meat) and the polluted water, air, etc it’s no wonder people acted the way they did. I felt like an alien in that state. Just watching that woman feed her (wet) one year old, the kid had food stains all over her (and I mean bad) and she was wearing a white dress. I wanted to give her a napkin to put on the little girl but I didn’t. I tried to talk to her but it was like she wasn’t there, even when talking about her kids – always a safe topic with strangers. Thank God for the wedding people that flew in from the coasts and the fellow Coloradans.

Many of these people were from my husband’s old job many years ago and they all remembered us as the couple who lived in the yurt. Some of them asked me so many questions about living off the grid in a yurt in the mountains. It was fun to reminisce since we sold it 5 years ago now (for work reasons). One guy that worked with my husband that I never met before told me that we so inspired him and he had pictures up all over of yurts and solar power and did lots of research on it and wanted to live in one and then he had to move for a job to OR and his girlfriend (now wife) was not into living an alternative lifestyle. He really was into talking all about it which was so fun for me because we really loved living like that for 3 years plus all the years we spent beforehand planning it all. One day again we will buy land and build an alternative home and compound. (I will post all about living the off the grid life in a yurt soon).

I mean no disrespect to anyone from NE that may read this. I was only pointing out the vast differences in consciousness and lifestyle that we noticed. I really got a good look at “You are what you eat” firsthand once again and it just reaffirmed to me personally how happy I am living on live, organic foods and how lucky I am to be aware of that fact and have that choice.

Leif kept asking in the car ride home, “Are we in Colorado yet?”. And we would tell him “No, still in Nebraska” and he’d say, “I want to be in Colorado”. Even the 4 year old felt it. All 3 of us were just so happy to return home to our slice of reality which is just oh so nice we are not leaving the state all summer!

What Helps The Environment The Most?

YOUR DIET.

I came across this blog post recently on greenlivingbuilding.com that is something I’ve been thinking a lot about myself since I’ve gone raw. This person said it so well, I thought I would list some of their facts from the post in italics with my comments on this thrown in as well.

Raising food for human consumption creates 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than 130 times the total of human generated greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of pollution created just to grow and deliver animal food to our tables is extraordinarily high.

And water used to raise animals for human food is equally high. Here are some of the worst offenders:

• 4500 liters of water for one steak.
• 1000 liters of water for one liter of milk.
• 1170 liters of water for one chicken breast.
• 1440 liters of water for one serving of pork.
• 840 liters of water for one pot of coffee.
• 2500 liters of water for one piece of cheese.

Compare that to 70 liters of water used to deliver one apple.

These stats are so shocking when you read that in black and white. 4,500 liters of water for one steak? That’s not even 1% of the cow! It’s crazy, really. Plus, all of the grain to feed the cows stuck on those cruel, barbaric factory farmed feedlots. It gets expensive so the feedlot owners went the cannibalism route – it gets the cows weight up faster so more money for them. You do know that they feed cows, who are herbivores, rendered dead cows and other animals including cats and dogs, don’t you? Mad cow, anyone? I wonder how much water is wasted on that heinous act. If you eat red meat, at least buy pasture raised (grass-fed) beef from companies you can trust!

Reducing the percentage of animal foods in your diet is one of the most effective ways to help our environment. It’s also one of the best things you can do for your health at the same time. Two benefits in one!

Eating a diet of mainly raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and living grains is also:

• waste free
• better than driving a hybrid
• healthy
• sustainable
• eco friendly

Since I’ve gone raw, even when I was only 80% raw in January, I realized that I make so much more compost everyday and that I myself hardly throw away anything and only have to recycle a few things. I make very little garbage now. It feels so good to know that whatever I’m eating, if there is any waste it can go feed the squirrels outside or go on the compost pile. My little Bio Bag compost bin and bags we have been using the past several years is way too small for what our needs are now. I need a trash can sized compost bin nowadays!

Another benefit (to me, anyway) is that my child sees me eating all these different veggies, fruits, nuts and sprouts prepared in different ways and is very intrigued. He calls me “the cooking guy” since I’m always whipping up some new recipe and oohing and ahhing over it to him. Even though he is very picky about eating combination foods, his intake of simple fruit and veggies and raw nuts and seeds has gone up so much everyday now. This is huge for me. I can put a pile of spinach leaves in front of him and he will eat it. An entire apple or pear, he eats all of it and bananas, forget it. He can eat 3 or 4 in a day (and no, they are not constipating). Tonight, he tried some raw asparagus we got from the farmer’s market (which was so delicious!). He even drank some of a green juice I made last night which consisted of: collard greens, cucumbers, celery, wheatgrass and an entire lemon and he drank at least 2 ounces of it. That’s so amazing!! He’s really trying out new foods in the plant world and I couldn’t be happier.

And, my husband, a determined omnivore, well his increase in vegan meals and raw vegan foods (he’s so into juicing now) has gone up greatly and the cooking of flesh foods has dropped tremendously. All his choice, I don’t push my food on him but I do ask for him to taste the recipes I make and give me his opinion because my taste buds have definitely changed from detoxing these past 5 months. I have sampled some bites of cooked vegan foods recently when I was cooking for them and I thought, “yuck”. It felt heavy and dense and slow. I know that sounds weird but that’s how it felt and it was some of my favorite cooked foods like couscous and quinoa. I can just imagine what I would think if I ate some chicken or red meat now.

I am so into the high frequency I feel off the living foods. It’s kind of hard to describe but it feels like this total connection to the plants and the earth and to being part of the cycle of life itself. Raw, living foods took the blinders off my eyes and my mind and I feel re-awakened, balanced and more clear again.

And do you know what is the original raw food we mammals get to eat? Breastmilk!