Back in the Homeland...

Golly…I’ve suddenly gone all ‘domestic’…perhaps the influence of Mary Poppins is sinking in deeper...not sure...I just know it’s FUN :) I’m back in a house in Sussex where I used to live a couple of years ago and first went 100% raw ;) I used to experiment a LOT with raw foods here and now it seems my energy has launched straight back in to that pattern…I’m sprouting seeds and making flax crackers and cookies, inventing chocolate recipes and so on – it’s a very different pattern for me from the rest of this year so far, which was all juicy at the start, then all over the place in the States…now I’ve stopped somewhere again for a little while and it feels like JOY to play and be like a ‘real’ person in a kitchen ;)

On August the 1st I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml carrot/beet/cucumber juice
1 papaya
1.5 tbsp green powder
500ml water infused with lemon balm and peppermint
1 fresh corn cob
salad of chopped romaine, spinach, avo and dulse with a tomato sauce dressing made from fresh cherry tomatoes, soaked sundried tomatoes (plus soak water), red bell pepper, fresh basil and asfoetida. (YUMMMMMMMMM)
1 litre water
½ Raw Chocolate Company ‘Twilight’ Bar
700ml cucumber/fennel/chicory/carrot/ginger/spinach juice
fresh handmade chocolate balls – containing a blend of ground poppy seeds, ground cacao nibs, ground cardomom seeds, melted cacao butter, dried figs, lucuma powder and a dash of agave
2 tbsp INCREDIBLE crunchy sundried spirulina sticks from India
400ml rose/chamomile tea
1 litre water
It was a treat to try out a bar of ‘Twilight’ from the Raw Chocolate Company – awwwwwwww, so SWEET, I feel so PROUD to see their products out on the shelves here in the UK – they are SO beautifully designed and packaged and loved ;) It was only this time last year that I was helping them out to get things going and now they’re bringing yummy raw food to the masses, helping to raise conscious awareness of raw foods, through the widely-adored medium of chocolate ;) tee-hee ;) They have also started doing raw food classes, to help pass on the ‘basic’ skills people tend to find useful to start making the transition – their next class is on August the 18th in Sussex – more info HERE…

on August the 2nd I had:

1 litre water
500ml green juice with carrots
little box of lychees
½ a red bell pepper
500ml water
bowl of chia seeds soaked in apple juice with lucuma and maca powder, spirulina sticks, goji berries and a side-bowl of soaked Japanese seaweed…
400ml rose/chamomile tea
1 litre water
700ml cucumber/apple/ginger/watercress juice
raw ‘pizza’ night – lime/sundried tomato flax cracker base covered with a tomato/red pepper/sundried tomato/asfoetida sauce and a yummy stodgy dense salad mix of greens, avo, dulse and tomato…mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
500ml peppermint tea
1 litre water

Here’s a yummy question sent in recently by one of you magical reading tribe…

"Help!!! I have been feeling awful watching all those fruit and veggie "scraps" go into the trash. I live in a duplex (I rent). How do I start a compost pile? Thanks!!!!!!"

Hmmmm, thanks for this question…yep…composting is KEY…wherever you live, we all have so much to give back to the earth, ESPECIALLY as raw foodists…here are three possible options for ‘urban’ composting…

-BUY A COMPOST BIN – if you have even a little space in your outside area, you can get yourself a tall, hardy plastic bin and start emptying your scraps into it nightly – collect them up in the kitchen during the day in a bowl. In the UK, there are often schemes to get free or cheap bins from local authorities – see HERE for more info. In the rest of the world, I’m not sure if such schemes exist, but anyway, compost bins are very reasonably priced – under $100 usually and just THINK of all the nutrient-rich soil you’ll be generating to give back to the earth and help grow more enriched foods…

- MAKE A COMPOST BIN – if you feel you can’t afford to buy a bin, then make a simple structure instead to contain your waste scraps – you might stack a load of old tyres, with a weighted-down wooden ‘lid’ on top, you might use an old dustbin (trash can) turned upside down, you might make a structure with wood and wire to contain the waste – there are many options…just aim at smthg that won’t leave the compost very exposed, to reduce the amount of animals it attracts and also the smell, especially if it is located near your house…

-WORMERY – this is often a handy solution for urban settings/those who live alone. Wormeries tend to be smaller than compost bins and host a colony of friendly worms who yummy their way through all your waste for you and turn it rapidly into great compost. You want to be a little more careful with what you put into the compost mix if dealing with worms on this scale, as they are not so fond of some things – like citrus skins and strong flavours like garlic, for example…you can keep wormeries inside the house…again, they’re not very expensive – perhaps $100 or so too…

If you have a large amount of waste and/or compost that you’re not sure what to do with, find out about community composting options in your area – there may be allotments or a farm or someone nearby who would LOVE your ‘cast-offs’ for their use…for more info about composting, you can do a search on the site of the Centre for Alternative Technology (where I spent a wonderful winter some years back) HERE...

THANK YOU for composting...

One love,
Angela. xxx