Raw PRISON Reform...

I’ve been reading book 7 of the ‘Anastasia’ series recently.
WOW.
I really can’t over-emphasise how much of an impact these books have had on my life, perspective and visions for the future. This book is definitely no exception...in this volume, the way in which we came to be eating such bizarre processed ‘foods’ en masse in our societies is clearly laid out, from Anastasia’s perspective and I think it is absolutely FASCINATING... For anyone who isn’t yet familiar with these EXTRAORDINARY books, the main suggestion put forward in them, from my perspective, is for each person/family to get to a piece of land and start growing their own food, to start to live more in contact with nature and release ourselves from the bizarre societal system we have co-created. In the last week I’ve been reading further on in book 7 and have just finished reading the absolutely AMAZING accounts of how the inmates in one prison in Russia read these books, then asked their warden if they could each have a hectare of land to work on, in a secured area. After much deliberation, the request was granted and the prisoners happily got to work. After a while, they were producing so much food that the prison could feed itself, they sold surplus to the markets and VISITORS to the prison, rather than bringing their ‘incarcerated’ loved-ones treats, would be the ones receiving food – from the prisoners ;) LOL – I LOVE IT :) They created such a magical oasis that the WIVES of the inmates were asking to go and live there with their husbands...and when it would come to the end of someone’s sentence, the prisoners would ask for their sentences to be EXTENDED so that they could stay and be there on their land. WOW. This is POWERFUL stuff. There’s an AMAZING part in the book where a conversation is recounted between a visiting prison official and one of the inmates. The official guy asks the prisoner why on EARTH he would want to extend his sentence, when he could go out into the world as a ‘free man’. The prisoner replies that, really, there is no ‘freedom’ out there for him now – who would employ an ex-con? Where would he get land again like this? Why would he leave this incredible sanctuary he has created with his own hands? Many people ‘out there’ can’t even GET land if they want it – or if they do get hold of it, it’s because they pay large amounts of money for it – and to whom? The system is absurd, if you look at it this way... It might SEEM as if the people on the outside of the bars are the ‘free’ ones and yet…without land to grow their own produce, they are, essentially, trapped in a system that is far from serving their optimal well-being...I think this is a fascinating model, as you can probably tell from all the capital letters in the text above ;) LOL...

on July the 17th I had:

1 quart water
mug of ‘sweet chia’ tea
3 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, parsley, tatsoi, greens from the garden, kale, fennel, endive, ginger, lime
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with mung beans and dehydrated sea spaghetti swirled in, with a flax cracker. Followed by a coconut-lime swirl
mug of sweet chai tea
3 cups water
1.5 cups green juice
bowl of GORGEOUS thai coconut/lemongrass soup , with salad fresh from the garden, tahini salad dressing and flax crackers, followed by another luscious coconut-lime swirl
mug of sweet chai tea
3 cups water

So, I would LOVE in my future work-play to get involved in bringing raw food/growing/permaculture ideas etc into prisons. I think the potential in these institutions is phenomenal...imagine, all these people who are ‘locked up’ for days/months/years on end – there are so many possibilities that could be explored, with whoever is willing...
I have been extra-inspired about this recently too, as I am staying with my dear friend Solla in Iceland, who is a major raw food advocate here and has been doing simply WONDERFUL work over the years helping people to make healthier choices with their food. She has gone into the prisons here and done raw food demos with inmates – she reports wonderful feedback and responses. I think this is VERY interesting...imagine the possibilities – this is REAL Raw REFORM ;)
Solla has been doing so much here in Iceland over the last decades in the health field – from running a highly successful and much-loved veggie restaurant, to holding countless food prep classes, sharing recipes weekly on TV and in magazines and publishing three books on healthy eating. She is an absolute BEACON of positive energy, integrity and flow. It is SUCH a pleasure to see how she effortlessly approaches all her myriad tasks with joy and abundant love, whether it’s doing a free raw food demo with a group of cancer patients, planting out more beautiful greens in the abundant garden or working on plans to help inspire children to eat more natural foods...wonderful :) You can see more about Solla’s beautiful work at Himneskt.is (and practice your Icelandic while you’re at it... ;)
THANK YOU Solla, for all the inspiration and if any of YOU dear readers have ideas/bubbles of inspiration/aspirations/suggestions or more on the theme of Raw PRISON Reform, I’d love to hear them... ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx