Land, Land-partners...and an upset, funky tummy!

We just spent another weekend on Lasqueti Island, where we're building a house...so another few days of back-to-the-land livin' and lovin'! And...for the second time ever we had a gathering of all of our land partners (as we cooperatively own 100 acres - 5 couples!) -- so, I'll include a photo of us happy bunch!

Along with our splendid weekend came a funky tummy! And this has been carrying through for the past few days. In fact yesterday after having a 100% raw meal downtown yesterday, I got out of the restaurant, and felt like I had to throw up. I made it out, on the bus, and home...but then could only lay on the couch with no energy while the food passed through. Hmmm? Today was a lot better...but still, my body seems not to want to accept food.


I made a fresh batch of sprouted chickpea hummus and a raw dip with soaked sunflower and pumpkin seeds, two juice from limes, salt, water, tons of fresh basil, and blend it all together. Yum!

Been craving fruit! The corner store only had non-organic fruit, but I went for it! It did the trick!

Am considering doing a Fall tune-up juice feast starting at Equinox. Maybe for a week. We'll see. I'd love to do it with the whole Juice Luck crew.

Planted some kale transplants and purple sprouting brocolli starts. Hopefully they'll offer something this winter.

Spent the day sewing Simi a back to school polka-dot skirt! Fun! and Satisfying!

Metabolism Superb!

I'm just back from 6 days on Lasqueti Island, which entailed a mixture of house-surfing, couch-surfing and tenting for my daughter and I. It also entailed gardens full of vegetable and fruit bounty! Greens galore, bleuberries, plums, all-around goodness -- peas, basil, tomatoes! Just fabulous!

So, I'm resting now (according to my scale) at about 99/100 pounds in the morning, before eating anything! I feel great! Now, it's time to start rebuilding muscle -- I've started with some abdominal strengthening exercises (I've got a lot of distended belly skin and muscles from pregnancy)!

So one thing I've noticed is just how finely tuned my metabolism is now! I'm getting the direct energy from my food -- and I'm eating a lot! I'm eating way more now evidently than during the juice feast, but Ive lost another 2-3 pounds! My eliminations are regular and usually a couple times a day -- and very green! My friend Anna, in the photo - my cooperative land-partner and salad-maker-extraordinaire would create masterpieces for me...and my friend Jenna made a special raw dip with soaked seeds for me for when I came over! Wonderful times!

BC Day and Cracker recipes!

Yesterday was BC Day -- and it was a grand day with 60,000 people in the Inner Harbour! I saw Sarah MacLaughlan -- a tremendous set -- then left before Feist -- the sun was going down and it was getting chilly!

So, I had a request from Audry to post the cracker recipes:

Black Sesame Sunflower Seed Bread

1 cup ground flax seeds
1/3 cup whole flax seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp yellow onion chopped fine
1 1/3 cups water
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 black sesame seeds

Mix well. Spread evenly on a dehydrator tray. Dry for up to 24 hours (tops!), likely way less depending on thickness at between 105-115 degrees F. Score the crackers several hours in, so that they will break off in the sizes you want easily!

This recipe is fairly basic in terms of taste -- I tried options where I added a lot more onion and fresh ground pepper - YUM! Plus, ones where I sproated red quinoa (replaced the sunflower seeds with that) and soaked sundried tomatoes (making sure they're organic...no sulfates!), fresh basil and oregano!

HAVE FUN - EXPERIMENT!

Biking-Sauerkraut-Dehydrated Cracker-Mumma!

Big news for me! I CAN RIDE A BIKE AGAIN! Yeehaw! My balance is back -- and when I jumped on, I felt like I'd never stopped biking (except for untoned leg muscles!) My first ride? My daughter Simi and I biked across town to the Moss Street Market Farmers Market! It feels amazing - healthy, outdoorsy, freedom-regaining, and carbon footprint-lowering! So, I've always wanted a cruiser bicycle, one which I can sit up straight on not hunched over on a road or mountain bike. And then, as if there was some cosmic interferance...I found a beautiful cruiser bike: an Electra 'Daisy' being sold used. And it is now mine! A 3 speed with coaster brakes! I just love her!

So...I took my first batches of sauerkraut out of my crocks! Delicious! The batch made with red cabbage and cumin seeds is positively brilliant - in taste and colour! The other batch is good too - cabbage with carrots and carroway! Another success!
And I've started experimenting making dehydrated crackers - YUM! I followed the basic recipe that my friend gave me firstly...but me, being me, started experimenting madly -- and made two amazing variations so far: an onion-pepper cracker and a sundried tomato-sproated quinoa-basil one -- great stuff!
Last night we headed downtown to the Symphony Splash -- where the city's symphony is floated on a barge in the inner harbour, and about 30, 000 people gather on the grass to listen. I unfortunately did not enjoy it as much as in past years. Tonight, it is another big night of free music -- as it is British Columbia's 150th Birthday-- there will be a big free music concert all day on the grounds of the legislature, featuring Feist and Sarah MacLaughlan. Should be good. Off to prep some smoothies for the event!