wrappin' up summer

My hearts bangin' in my chest and I'm drooIing at the mouth. I'm getting heart palpitations at all the plants yelling out to be eaten this month. 

What a gloriously gratifying month April is. 

Fruit's dripping off the trees, and our senses are hammered with the overflowing flavours of our labour. 
The dehydrator is at full whack and I am eternally thank-full for my fruit flies who know what to do with the produce that hangs out waiting to be stored for the winter months.

They guzzle it fresh. 



Feijoa juice clings to salty skin, figs tossed down whole. Pears, zuchinis, tomatoes, sapote and apples have little chance to be hangin' out together in storeage. 

Bellys rubbed, jiggled and juggled to squeeze in a wee bit more. Tanks topped up for nut foraging expeditions, my four year old's turned squirrel as she disappears into the trees and buries her treasure for another day.

diggin' deep into the belly of harvest

Carving out a pumpkin and warming our souls is gonna be our tiptoptastic craft activity this Easter. Our pumpkin patch that mysteriously gifted itself to us, cradling the compost in its vine like arms, has plenty of fruit to share. 

Highly nutritious and rich in fibre, vitamins and anti oxidants, it's gonna do more than scare the ghouls into submission.

Pumpkins gift us with many things, not only a vine that covers the mess of the ever growing kitchen scraps. 

First of all, a shell to carve out the worlds greatest jack o' lanterns. 

Not just for children, I've seen many a grown up digging deep into the belly of this magnificent fruit, drifting off into the moment, as they carve their dreams into the surface of the lantern. 

Itsa piece of cake!

Easter's elongated into harvest with the school holidays falling after the main celebrations. Not sure why this has involved us, seeing as we neither celebrated in church or go to school, but it does seem that religion and state education rule the nest when it comes to holidays. 

I'm grateful for all, as it means that we're gifted holiday after holiday, reminding us that life's one big celebration. 

And in my mind, celebration equals cake. 

Not needing any other prompting, I can find a celebration cake for any day of the week... happy monday cake, happy outa work cake, happy pay day cake. And it doesn't have to be chocolate. But it always helps!

scrumpin' with the easter bunny

Celebrating Autumn with Easter festivities hurts my brain.
Easter is a Christian celebration, celebrating the rebirth of the Messiah. Oestre or Ishtar is the pagan celebration of the feminine and fertility and the coming light.

So why, down south, do we celebrate Easter in the Autumn when everything around us is decaying, the mornings and nights are magnetised to one another and we are reaching out towards our gum boots, jumpers and fires?
I'm pulled to carve out a pumpkin. Or at least to make mini chocolate mushrooms!
Who wants to celebrate life by eating an egg anyhow?

fartin' around with wind power

Lovin’ life raw allows me to walk my talk about the environment, but I got more than I bargained for living with wind power.

The non-stop media chatter about cows and the amount of methane they produced, brought the word flatulence to our family table

sharing air space,

noise pollution

and a growing sense of toilet humour.

Tummy gurglings, blow offs, pop pops and farting has had the girls crumpled over their plates of plant food, crippled with snorting laughter.

On the other hand, as my eldest struggles with becoming aware of who she is, the laughter subsides and embarrassment creeps in.

Looking closer to our plant eating friends chewing the cud, gave us an insight into what’s missing in our fast forwarded lives.

Chewing!

transitioning through to the other side

Gloating is never a great way to start a day…but feeling good about the varying ways in which I feel better, brighter, lighter and zingingly happier is.

 I never knew what it would be like to experience life now.

 Never felt as nourished, inspired, excited, energised and gratified by food as I do today. 

And it’s so empowering to know that my choice of diet can so dramatically affect the future of my health and quality of life…those choices moving markets, shifting attitudes and improving the quality of life for future generations.

Raw foods have truly changed my life….

sharing the journey

Sharing fantastically-full feasts with friends has helped me to follow a successful path on my journey with raw foods. Finding like minded people on my turned off the main highway kinda life has allowed me to soar, missing a lot of potholes and bumpy times…and creating potlucks instead. My first two years was undeniably hard. With no-one to share my insights, recipes and struggles with, I created a mask of positivity, repeating mantras of how amazing I felt…when the truth was I felt alone, unsupported and misunderstood.

When I finally met my raw food angel, I felt myself metamorphosise.

My wings unfolded, my eyes opened and I stood up to the light.

Meeting once a week at a local homeschool group allowed us to share scrumptious lunches, recipes, books and publications from a world different from the one we walked with others.

A couple of days before our coming together, time was well spent in preparing sumptuous banquets for each other, creating new recipes that kept us on our chosen paths throughout the week.

Spreading our delectable goodies in picnic fashion would get others excited, watching what we’d brought to the table, and we’d share love, inspiration and nibbles with curious friends. Children loved eating from our plates and so, through our friendships, we were able to support others in health-full eating choices too.

Arriving home well satiated with a nutrient full tummy and a clear connected mind, dinner would be swapped leftovers from our feast, and would often see us right for another couple of days.

New inspiring recipes, books and tribulations to share, bolstered up with honest musings over long telephone calls in times of need allowed us to be honest and supportive to one another.

My friend and I shared an important time together and I miss our well trodden path of love.