Food Independence Day ;)

Ooooo, looks like there’s some interesting research afoot down at Gabriel Cousen’s Tree of Life Centre... They’re studying the health of vegan, live food babies and they’d love for you to participate in the survey if you have a child aged from birth to five years who is eating a vegan live food diet. The researchers intend to share the results to help support other parents who’d love to raise their children this way.
You can access the survey and read the full participant requirements list by clicking HERE. Please feel free to also pass this info on to anyone else you think may be willing/able to participate – they’re looking for another 100–200 participants at present ;)
I look forward to seeing the results ;)

on July the 1st I had:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon orange juice
2 tbsp bee pollen
2 cups greeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, parsley, spinach, ginger
2 cups energy soup, with 5 freeze–dried macadamia nuts
3 cups water
2 cups energy soup, followed by a little ‘yumpot’ of almond butter mixed with carob peppermint maca powder, cinnamon, stevia and water
1 cup reddrox tea
3 cups water

LOVE this high–energy video below from the uber–cool, a capella, amazing singing group from Israel called ‘Voca People’ – big gratitude to the lovely Ricki for sending this link in – with nearly 2.2 million views already, they seem to be a YouTube sensation ;) ENJOY :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6EYrqIn0yI

on July the 2nd I had:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon/orange juice
2 cups greeeeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, spinach, parsley, zucchini, ginger, lime
2 cups coconut water, 2 cups coconut smoothie: coconut meat, a little coconut water, maca, stevia, vanilla, reddrox water, cardamom = yummmmmmmmmm :)
2 cups greeeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, spinach, parsley, zucchini, ginger, lime
2 Tbsp bee pollen
couple of spoonfuls of Mr. M’s outrageous maca ice cream concoction, a whole cup of subliiiiiiiiiiime ‘Green Potion’ ice cream from Truth Calkins’ elixir bar in Erewhon – LOVE it
2 cups water


on July the 3rd I had:

1 quart water
shot of orange juice
3 cups coconut water mixed with Greener Grasses powder and aloe vera
2 cups coconut water
2 Tbsp bee pollen
2 cups greeeeen veggie juice
2 cups coconut water blended with Greener Grasses powder, MSM and Marine Phytoplankton
1 Tbsp be pollen
2 cups water


Soooo…happy Independence Day tomorrow to all those in the USA ;) I am excited to see that over at the Kitchen Gardeners site, they’ve declared Food Independence Day. The idea is to declare ‘food independence’, by sourcing the ingredients for any holiday meals as ‘locally, sustainably and deliciously as possible’…love it ;)
You can check out the site at FoodIndependenceDay.org, where you can even stick a pin in the map to mark out where YOU will be sourcing local foods tomorrow ;) They also have a cool–looking ‘Why I’m a Victory Grower’ video contest you can enter – YUMMY :)

All brightest blessings to you and those everywhere who are growing food, foraging and connecting directly with gaia :)
All love,
Ms. Sto–Mo. xxx

Raw Food Gardening - Grow Your Own :)

WELL, after the Equinox on Friday, it truly feels like Spring is here now :) LOVING IT :) It also happens to be Mother’s Day here in the UK today:

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mummas :)

In honour of all this, I feel it’s prime time to get out in the garden, give gratitude to Mumma Earth and get planting some food for the coming months – which is precisely what you can see me and my mum doing in today’s episode of ‘The Raw Food World TV Show’ HERE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3PIvCPwfG8

on March the 20th I had:

1 quart water
mug of pau d’arco tea
2 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, parsley, ginger, lemon
2 cups energy soup with okra and tahini
mug of spicy teaaaaaa
3 cups water
½ a delicious pineapple
3 cups hemp milk with cardamom/cinnamon
1 cup water

While we’re on the subject of gardening, I was absolutely DELIGHTED to receive news from a couple of readers this week that it seems Michelle Obama is indeed starting to grow food on the White House lawns :) :) :) How wonderful :)
Remember in this post HERE a few weeks back, I mentioned the 'Eat The View!' campaign from Roger Doiron, to encourage the Obamas to grow food at the White House? Well, it looks like it’s all falling into place, according to these newspaper reports:

New York Times: Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House

and

MSNBC: First lady breaks ground on 'kitchen garden'

Local schoolchildren have been helping Michelle plant over 55 varieties of veggies and fruits, all raised organically :)

Check out some of these quotes from the articles:

“There’s nothing really cooler,” Mrs. Obama said, “than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen...and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”

“You can begin in your own cupboard,” she said, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”

“Mrs. Obama led a cheer with the children, shouting, "Let's hear it for vegetables!" and "Let's hear it for fruits!"”

:O
It really seems there is a raw-friendly lightworker in the White House :) Thank you, Michelle... May your garden flourish and spread inspiration far and wide :)


on March the 21st I had:

1 quart water
mug of pau d’arco tea
½ a pineapple
2 cups energy soup with okra and tahini
3 cups water
3 cups greeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, parsley, ginger, apple
½ an apple with 3 cups of hemp milk w/cinnamon/cardamom
2 cups water

...and it seems the inspiration and joy of growing food is indeed spreading rapidly at the moment – check out another article sent in recently by one reader – Lynn:

Dollars from dirt: Economy spurs home garden boom

You can read the whole article HERE. It’s an insightful and interesting look at the current movement to work with the land, in the wibbly economic climate :)
There are some very cool little stats in this article, such as:

* "The National Gardening Association estimates that a well-maintained vegetable garden yields a $500 average return per year. A study by Burpee Seeds claims that $50 spent on gardening supplies can multiply into $1,250 worth of produce annually."
* "Community gardens nationwide are also seeing a surge of interest. The waiting list at the 312-plot Long Beach Community Garden has nearly quadrupled -- and no one is leaving, said Lonnie Brundage, who runs the garden's membership list."
* "Seed companies say this renaissance has rescued their vegetable business after years of drooping sales. Orders for vegetable seeds have skyrocketed, while orders for ornamental flowers are flat or down... Harris Seed's Web site now gets 40,000 hits a day."

WOW :) I am SOOOOOOOOOO thrilled to see all these amaazzzzzing shifts...we truly are SO blessed :)

Well, I hope this has given you some inspiration to get out there and get planting, if you haven’t got anything in the soil yet this year ;)
ENJOY :)
All love,
Miss Stokes. xxx

Love, love, LOVE :)

Hello lovelies, I trust you are all enjoying a delicious Love Day weekend so far... ;) As a mini–love celebration, I thought I’d share with you today about three people I love :)
Let’s start, of course, with that incorrigible Mr. Monarch who has been causing controversy and giggles over at The Raw Food World TV show this week – see his latest shows HERE to check in with his antics ;)
Although we are still not able to be together yet in person, this time of year holds many special memories for me in terms of our relationship. When we first were getting to know each other, Valentines Day 2006 came along and the house I was staying in became FILLED with incredible bouquets of flowers and balloons sent by the romantic Monarch ;). My housemates and I were really overawed by it all – me especially so, as I think these were the first valentine gifts I had EVER received ;) Here’s a picture of me with two of those bouquets...
Thank you Mr. Monarch, for sharing all the love – I love you :)

on February the 12th I had:

1 quart water
mug of nettle tea
40 chlorella ‘nuts’
2 cups energy soup with okra and tahini
2 apples with a bar of freshly made vanoffe from The Raw Chocolate Company
2 cups water
mug of ‘choco’ tea
smidgen of leftover energy soup with okra, tahini and some spicy dehydrated sunflower seeds
2 cups rejuvelac
2 cups water

HERE is a VERY cool little video Mr. M just sent me with another being who swells my heart chakra, even if I’ve only just connected with his work – Roger Doiron started the ‘Eat the View!’ campaign, to convert part of the White House lawn into an edible landscape (along with lawns ALL over the place preferably, of course, with the White House setting a wonderful example ;)
In this 4 minute video, Roger ‘becomes the change he wants to see in the world’, showing a sweet, informative little time lapse video of transforming his own garden into an edible yummmm–hub...LOVE it :))) THANK YOU, Roger, for sharing this simple, POWERFUL message so clearly...all blessings to your campaign...

on February the 13th I had:

1 quart water
cup of dandelion tea
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, kale, celeriac, zucchini, ginger, lime
2 cups water
package of fresh jack fruit
2 cups energy soup with okra and tahini
cups of dandelion tea
3 cups water
2 ‘Snackaroons’ from laughing giraffe and a sample of their Grawnola – WOW ;O
1 tbsp Sproutein powder
3 cups water


on February the 14th I had:

1 quart water
cup of dandelion tea
40 chlorella ‘nuts’, 1 tbsp bee pollen
2 cups water
package of fresh cherries
2 cups energy soup with okra and tahini
cups of dandelion tea
3 cups water
mug of ‘Wild Power’ tea
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, kale, celeriac, zucchini, ginger, lime
2 cups water

Finally, I’d love to tell you about one of my all–time heroes :)
Satish Kumar is the editor of Resurgence Magazine, founder of Schumacher College for ecological studies in Devon, founder of the ‘Small School’ movement in the UK, a remarkable pilgrim who has walked a huge area of the surface of this planet and a septuagenarian of exquisite spirit and grace. I love this man.
I had the fortune to pass some time with him a few years back in Devon and was very pleased to recently come across a BBC documentary of Satish, posted on YouTube. The documentary, called 'Earth Pilgrim', follows Satish as he walks the stunning wild landscapes of Dartmoor, the area I’m going to visit down in Devon next week – NICE :)
If you’re not familiar with Satish’s story, he was born in the desert of Rajasthan in India and after his father died while Satish was still a child, he left his family at the age of nine, to become a Jain monk. He was a monk until the age of 18, absorbing principles of gentle living, compassion and respect for all life along the way. At 18 Satish walked away from monk-hood, fell in love with Gandhi’s message of peace and just kept on walking ;) He set out on a peace pilgrimage walk to all the nuclear Capital cities of the world – a journey that took him from the grave of Gandhi in Delhi to the grave of JF Kennedy in Washington DC – by FOOT. Satish walked more than 8000 miles around this planet, with no money, no food, just faith in his heart and a vision of peace to guide him. Again, I love this man ;)
Later he moved to the UK and got involved in all kinds of fascinating work around ecology and sustainable lifestyles. At the age of 50, when many people in our societies struggle to walk around the park, this incredibly healthy, beautiful soul set off on a new 2000-mile pilgrimage, around the UK, to many of the sacred sites of this land. Did I mention that I love this man...? ;)
You can read Satish’s wonderful autobiography ‘No Destination’ to delve further into his fascinating stories – I really enjoyed this book. Satish truly walks the talk and is a living embodiment of the concept that we’re here to enjoy the journey, rather than arriving at some certain destination. You can order his book HERE.
If you’d love to check out the hour–long documentary with Satish on YouTube, you can see that as a playlist HERE. (Please just note that parts 5 and 6 are back to front in the playing order ;) I adore what he shares in this video about our relationships with trees, water and animals...ENJOY :)

love, love, LOOOOVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE,
Miss Stokes and the love elves. xxx