Raederle Phoenix

Farmer's Market

$31.00 at the farmer's market:

5 heirloom tomatoes

A tub of dried fruit weighing about half a pound.  (Dried melon, apricot, etc.)

3 large organic yellow peaches
2 organic apples (one pink-lady and one "wine")
1 large bunch of the origional concord grades (full of flavor and seeds: remember, seeds indicate life)
2 organic persimmons (they taste somewhat like a cantaloupe crossed with a peach)
1 large organic bunch of sorrel (long sour leaves; like lettuce with a hint of lemon)
1 bunch of heirloom carrots (the sort that branch out in all directions)
1 loaf of home-made pesto bread (for my husband, obviously)
Half a gallon of fresh-made raw, delicious apple cider (the sample I drank sold me on the thought)

1 pint of organic strawberries

 The above is just to note how much you can save, and the quality you can experience when you shop at a farmer's market.  It's good for the community, for the economy, for the environment, for your body and for your wallet all at once!  You have nothing to lose!  Do you really have somewhere better to be early on a Saturday or Sunday morning?

More on the topic of expenses and food; click here.

"I actually spend just as much now for both my wife and I as I used to spend on just myself. Going raw isn't expensive at all," says my husband.

What We Don't Know Is Killing Us

Forest Gardening; a natural alternative to modern agriculture is something we can all do in our own yards; or even on pots on our balconies.  If the labor is done by hand, and the plants are carefully planted the same way they would naturally grow along the edge of a forest in nature, the plants will naturally take care of each other. 

A commonly known fact among gardeners is that marigolds will drive off many of the harmful insects that eat your produce. Most annual plants will leave behind the correct soil composition for perennial plants that are growing beside them to take their place in the following year. Those are just two examples of how nature can take care of itself and how we can harvest nature without doing anything unnatural.

Using these methods it possible to feed a family of four in a space no larger than the size of a standard mattress. 

It's not that the Earth has too many people, it's not that there are not enough farms... 

The issues we face today are due to ignorance. 

There are two things we do not know:

1. We do not know what it is that can help save us (forest gardening, a whole food diet consisting of mostly raw foods, peaceful solutions, honor of nature).

2. We do not know what we do that is harming us (shopping at huge corporations and giving our money away to the monsters that destroy our environment, who offer jobs with unthinkable work conditions, who sue innocent people out of their lives and livelihood). 

Because we have no understanding of how nature really works, because we have no understanding of how the economy really works, and because we don't know how our bodies really work we go around killing ourselves, our friends, our families, our communities, our countries and our planet one dollar at a time.

I can't say I understand all the ins and the outs of the trade winds or of photosynthesis, but I can say that genetic modification is not only not necessary, but harmful.  I've seen rich garden beds in the most unsuspecting places completely filled with edible food.  Edible flowers beside edible leaves with edible roots growing in the ground and fruit bushes growing nearby with edible leaves as well.  The more we learn about nature, the more amazing we'll know she is.  We can't improve upon what nature already does; we can only attempt to harness her strength in ways that are more convenient for us. 

There is nothing wrong with building a green house, growing plants on your porch, or planting foods where you want them: this is a natural form of harvesting nature.  But there is something wrong with taking down forests to plant mono-crops.  There is something wrong with with using thousands of acres of land to plant one strain of one type of edible food.  There is something deadly wrong with modifying the genetics of plants, patenting the seeds, and suing anyone who has a yard where those seeds landed after traveling on the wind. 

I can't claim to know everything about economics or about business.  I can't explain the way the stock market works except in the most basic of terms.  But I can explain this: When people buy a product in large numbers they are sending a message to the company.  They are saying; "We love your product, we think it's worth our money and time, we want more of this product!"  When people do not buy a product, they are saying, "Your product is too expensive," or "We don't need this product," or "There is another product out there we prefer," or "We disagree with your company's policies and we won't buy anything from you until you change."

Think about any of the businesses you shop from. How much do you know about them? How much do they pay their workers? Where are the products manufactured? Is the company environmentally responsible?

Let's say you buy the following for your family every week; $2 worth of napkins, $5 worth of toilet paper, $6 worth of paper towels, and $2 worth of trash bags.  Let's say all of these products are made by a company called Delve Gully.  That's $15 a week you're spending to support that company and the store that is stocking their products.  There are 56 weeks in a year. That's $840 a year, just for those minor products you probably never thought twice about.

Wouldn't it feel good to know that the paper products you purchased were made from 100% recycled paper? Wouldn't it feel good to know the workers had a reasonable work environment to work in? Wouldn't be good to know that no harmful chemicals were used in the production of them?

I invite you to visit the sites I've linked in this post if you're interested in learning more.

Arrogant?

Someone suggested to me that I might try to come off as less arrogant.  I've asked around, and most of my friends seem to think that I do sometimes sound a little condescending, but not very often.  I've been trying to discover where this comes from.  Perhaps it's because I'm so full of self-pride as to how far I've come from where I used to be.  I feel like I've made so much progress and it feels good.  Perhaps to others that self-confidence and pride comes across as arrogant at times.  I need to work on that I guess.

This same person who suggested that I came across as arrogant also asked if I was monitored by a doctor. 

My reply:

If you read the articles that are called "My Life Story" you'll notice the experiences I had with doctors in my life.  Most of them were not at all helpful, so I have little interest in the opinion of a "professional."  To me, my personal experience is golden, the experience of other people I've met is silver, and the scientific research is bronze.

Nobody knows how you feel but you.  A doctor can't really tell me what kind of health I'm in any better than I can really tell.  My opinion is subjective based upon my experience and what I see around me, his experience is subjective based on what he was taught in school and on his previous patients.  What makes his subjective opinion more valuable than mine?  A slip of paper?

Health Reform: A Different Opinion

Health Reform: I think it's meaningless either way.

The general medical of the western world doesn't help. Instead, if gives you loads of medications you don't need.

There is a cure for diabetes, a cure for most cancers, a cure for asthma, arthritis, and some people can even repair their vision without surgery, pills or glasses. How come modern medicine says all of this is untrue when there are thousands of testimonials, videos, studies, photos and blogs that say otherwise?

The only thing a doctor's visit is good for is to get antibiotics if you've caught strep throat -- and most wouldn't get it (or similiar illnesses) if their pH levels were alkaline.

My entire life doctors never cured me of my problems, they only gave me pills and often denied that there was anything wrong with me at all. 

You may say, "What about if you need a knee replacement?" Well, you wouldn't, if your diet was balanced and healthy. You may not be ready to believe that. It's hard to swallow for people who already have hip replacements or have had other surgeries that they wouldn't have needed if only they had learned what I know now.

Some think I'm healthy only because I'm young. This is entirely untrue. I knew what it meant to be constipated at the age of six years old.  I had strep throat three or four times a year for the first thirteen years of my life.  I've had more than three uninary track infections, had chickenpox twice, and between the ages of nine and thirteen I had monouclieous four times.

I experienced all of the effects of Candida (something entirely unrecognized by modern medcine that you will not be treated for under the old health plan or the new one) for almost my entire life.  None of the pills or suggested solutions from doctor visits did anything to relieve me of my serious condition.

I experienced severe muscle cramps, migraines, and stomachaches so bad that I just curled up in my bed and cried.  I had a burping issue where I was continually burping (twenty to fifty times in a single minute) problem that lasted for hours a day for over two years.

But all of my problems are gone now, and no doctor can take the credit for my new-found health that I have now for the first time in my life.

I say that health reform is meaningless and not worth debate unless the reform is going to involve genuine health education.  But even if health education were in the bill, it's not going to mean much since it won't include in the information I've learned.

For my full story, read this: http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/my-story.html

Active Imagination

I just read an article posted by someone I follow on twitter.  http://tiny.cc/aolsm

The article is about the human response to horror movies.

I used to enjoy horror films as a kid, but I don't anymore. I was just talking about this with my husband last night.  He doesn't like horror movies either. 

The article says; "Those who don’t enjoy scary movies, she hypothesized, may either have a weaker hormonal response that provides less pleasure and doesn’t cancel out the negative images, or a stronger response that pushes everything to the next, very uncomfortable step..."  And then it goes on to explain that the next step is actual fear.

Neither of these explains my husband's dislike, or mine.  For him, I'm quite certain that he doesn't enjoy them for the same reason he doesn't like it when people curse. It's a negative impact that is entirely unnecessary.  He doesn't want to read or hear news about people being hurt or killed, or even read overly graphic books, why would he want to watch movies of those things? (Why would anyone?  The article explains the hormonal response, but still I'm incredulous!)

For me, however, I actually feel those hormonal responses very intensely, even while reading graphic scenes in novels.  And yet I hate the way it feels.  I'm repulsed by how my hormones rage inside my body as I watch or read something that is disgusting or horrific.  It makes me feel as though someone has thrown me into a waste bin and closed the lid.

Horror movies and even things people tell me, can create graphic images in my head that never go away.  I had a nightmare last night (which is what got my husband and I talking about horror movies) that had a really graphic scene of someone I loved being mutilated.  I woke up feeling desolate and not interested in doing anything.  I speculated that I have these dreams because of watching so many really horrible movies in my life.  There is nothing in my personal experience that would cause me to dream of mutilation.

But let's talk about the other thing I mentioned.  Sometimes I get graphic disparaging images in my mind due to someone talking to me.  Even a description of something tragic can cause me to imagine something so vividly that it can stick with me for hours, days, weeks or even years.  It astounds me when people chose to watch the news when the topic is how someone was murdered or something else to that effect. 

I'm guessing this is all because my imagination is highly developed.  I'm a freelance artist (digital painter, graphic designer), a writer, a poet, a continual-blogger, and I even like taking creative photos, making nice food arrangements, putting together unusual and striking outfits, and many other actively creative pass-times.  When something is within my imagination, it's so vivid that I react as though it's real.

Please stop and consider that whenever you're about to call up a friend to tell them about so-and-so who died in some-obscene-and-overly-described way that you just heard about on some-such news station.

Earth's Children

I'm nearly finished rereading the Earth's Children series for -- literally -- the fifth time.  I've gotta say, it's one of the most profoundly excellent stories out there.

The level of vocabulary keeps me on my toes, and I find myself using words I often forget to apply just because of the constant memory jog that reading it causes.

The first time I experienced this wonderful series it was read to me by my mother at the age of twelve (the first four books anyway; the fifth one wasn't out until I was around sixteen.  She read that one aloud to me too before I read it again myself.)  Even though I didn't understand so many of the words and couldn't retain much of rich information, the basic concepts and power of the story still firmly held my attention.

Despite having it read to me and reading it again to myself twice, and reading it aloud once, and then reading them once again now, I'm still learning as I read. There is so much information packed into such a powerful and meaningful story.   So much to learn.

Clan of the Cave Bear

Valley of the Horses

The Mammoth Hunters

Plains of Passage

Shelters of Stone

I can name all five of them off the top of my head.  I can even go through the series event by event and recall the essential story.  And still I enjoy reading it yet again.  I expect to read it to my children.

It may be the best five books I've read, even if I prefer the more poetic and dramatic magical story of the Lighthouse Duet by Carol Berg when I claim my "favorite." But favorite doesn't necessarily imply best... Besides, the Earth's Children shaped many of my world views; that's nothing to blink at.

Letter To A Manufacturer

I've seen "PURE" bars a few times, and each time I see a product that I don't entirely remember I read the ingredients. I have never bought one of your bars because they contain agave nectar. While some people consider this ingredient "raw" -- many raw foodists do not, including myself, my husband and the well-known Markus Rothkranz.  Not only is it processed over 105 degrees, it is highly refined.  

I have a strong physical negative reaction to agave nectar, the exact same way I react to white refined sugar or other sugars.  My husband, who doesn't have an "allergic" reaction to white sugar, does react negatively to agave nectar as well as high fructose corn syrup.  I think this is suspicious.

 My research concludes that agave nectar is not what it's made out to be.  As a raw food educator, I always tell people to steer clear of agave.  

I think it would benefit your company to instead use only naturally dried organic fruits to sweeten your bars.  Using honey, agave, molasses or any sweetener that can be consider "refined" in any way will limit who will buy your product.   Also, customers who react negatively to the product will think that reflects on all "raw" things, which is bad for the raw community.  

Please consider changing your ingredients list to not include agave or any sweetener than isn't a whole raw fruit.

The Power Of One Person

"Nothing would surprise me as the Government has effectively rewritten several contractual agreements that were in effect during the financial meltdown. And of course this would let everyone off the hook and it could be business as usual," says Frank Woodman Jr.

Rob responds; "It’s not just a meltdown of the economic system, but of the society itself. I’m amazed every day as to how quickly America is devolving. It is amazing what fear can accomplish in the hands of an elite intent on control and power"

I join into the conversation and say; "That’s why it’s so vital for each of us to be a part of the solution in every way possible. To not buy from Monsanto, or other large corporations with questionable ethics such as Wal-Mart. To be as self-sufficient, sustainable, healthy and compassionate as we can be."

Rob; "That’s a start, but the problem is systemic. What allows a Monsanto or Wal-Mart to control their economic environment are laws which have been foisted upon us by politicians who cannot run for office without the backing of large corporations.

"The sewer in this system stems from the banking cartels. They create money out of nothing and then attach ‘compound’ interest to it. It creates a type of feudal society that controls governments and its citizens. Until and unless governments begin to create their own currency without the attached interest, we will always remain in servitude.

"We must put a cap on lobby groups and limit political donations. Then perhaps we can take back control of our currency… Something which we did prior to the existence of the Federal Reserve. This is all to say that while individual actions are important, these attacks on democracy require a concerted and collective defense if we are to take back our rights and freedom."

After some consideration, I go on to write:

It's true that the government has it's role in the issues we face today, but that doesn't mean our individual actions are not just as important, if not more important. When you blame others or 'the government' you are feeding your ego (so to speak), and when you blame yourself you are giving yourself reason to strive to be a better person; motivation.

Most of us don't have any way of doing anything about how the government is run, but all of us can make a huge impact by spending each dollar we earn in a wise way.  If you put your entire income into things you believe in -- farmer's markets, organic produce, sustainable organization, local businesses, etc -- then all the thousands of dollars you earn in a year are taken from the hands of corruption and put into the hands of the solution.  Every income-earning individual has that power, and should use it wisely.  

I'm not saying that you don't use yours wisely, or that the government doesn't need to change. I'm saying that we must first fix what is within our immediate and daily control before we go around trying to fix everything/everyone else.

Suggestions, Anyone?

As someone whose gone raw entirely through attending raw potlucks and reading online webpages, I'm curious if there is any raw book out there I should bother buying.   I'm getting pretty-damn-amazing at inventing my own recipes, so a book with many facts, figures and other information would be more valuable and interesting to me than a sheer-recipe-book. 

It's just as easy to find recipes on the web for free, just as I offer free recipes on my site. 

Mainly, having a recipe book is nice just because it's in your kitchen and it's pretty (hopefully.)  For that reason, I've thought about making my own recipe book, but publishing and such...  Of course, e-books don't have that benefit anyway.  Anyway, ramble, ramble, ramble.

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me about what raw recipe books they've bought, or books about the raw diet in general that they've read and what they learned, what the bulk of the information was about, and so forth.  You could even tell me about your own book, if you've written one.  Please comment here, or you can contact me another way, if you wish.

Coconut Cream

I've learned how to make a raw substitute for cream! 

And guess what? It actually is not only healthy, but tastes better than dairy cream.

This is extremely exciting for me because growing up it was heavy rich cream that made a dessert a dessert. 

The raw cream substitute is made from "coconut meat" and soaked cashews. 

Cashews become very creamy after being soaked and blended.  (You know you have soaked them for long enough when they look purple.  No kidding, cashews turn purle when you soak them.)

Coconut meat is the part of the young coconut that sticks to the sides of the coconut after the 'coconut water' has been removed (and readily drunk straight as-is!).  Coconut oil is also added to make it additionally smooth and creamy. 

I also add vanilla extract (with no alcohol or sugar added), a little raw orange juice, a little of the water the cashews were soaked in, and a little of the coconut juice from the coconut. 

After blending until incredibly smooth, put in the freezer for about twenty minutes and....  delicious happens. 

I call it "coconut cream" but other people have similar things they make with different titles.