Packing

We have had visitors with us all over the bank holiday weekend but now they have gone it is back to the task in hand and sorting through our possessions with a view to:- storing, selling or taking.

It is an enormous task as we slowly realise just how little ‘stuff’ we are going to be able to take with us. Once you take clothes, work and kitchen equipment and all other essential items out of the equation there isn’t much room for anything else.

It is a liberating feeling getting rid of material possessions that we really don’t use. They are just clutter around the house – ‘dust catchers’ – and it feels right to be consigning them to a life without us. I have surprised myself by having minimal emotional attachment to much of what I own. Obviously things like my grandmothers’ crystal will be carefull stored away but other ornaments that I have collected along the way no longer have the same ‘oh I can’t get rid of this’ like they once used to.

So, as I am decluttering and detoxing my life from all unnecessary paraphernalia I decided that I may as well declutter and detox my body as well. I am going to start a juice feast tomorrow and continue until I feel otherwise.

It is going to be a very busy few weeks and it will be good to deal with it all on the clear head that juice feasting usually gives me. I have been shopping and stocked up on all my favourite fruits and veggies so that I can start bright and early with the juice in the morning.

For now its back to the sorting………………

Taking my Raw Food Journey on the road

We’ve been sitting on a big decision this last week. It is one of those decisions that is  exciting and scary in equal measure. Our landlord gave us notice to quit our little bungalow as he wants it back for himself and so it gave us the kick that we needed to turn a long held dream into a reality.

We have spent the week talking and thinking and talking and researching and then talking some more about how we could make our plan work all the while trying to let go and allow the universe to make the decision for us (always best to leave the deciding part to someone else!!)

Anyway, it seems that we arrived at the point over the weekend where we moved from making the decision to making the plans and so I think we are on our way……

We are planning to set out from Englands green and pleasant lands at the end of October and travel with caravan across to France arriving down in Spain in the New Year. We will spend some time in Spain whilst I complete some yoga teacher training and then Europe is our oyster!!

It is our plan to travel and live full time in the caravan and for me facilitate ‘Raw Food and Yoga retreats’ as we go.

The thought of completely downsizing is very liberating for me at this moment in my life although the reality of two adults and three cats – yes they are coming with us – living together in a glorified tin can maybe somewhat difficult to adjust to at first but I’ve no doubt that adjust we will.

It has long been our dream to roam at will and it definately suits our nomadic lifestyle – we have lived in 30 houses between the two of us 7 of those together so you could say that we are not the types to put roots down through our physical abodes.

So, my raw food journey is going on the road. Living simply will be the key and raw food suits that type of living extremely well. I intend to continue to blog and start to add videos as well to document our travels.

We are full of lists and plans at the moment and everything is evolving by the day. Hubby is dealing with the more practical stuff like purchasing a caravan (which we then plan to gut and redesign so it is more conducive to full time living) buying a bigger car that will be able to tow said caravan and finding a suitable mobile connection that will provide us with enough bandwidth to run our businesses through – this could potentially be a stumbling block so keep your fingers crossed.

I am dealing with packing up the house and selling most of its contents, storing those few items that we simply can’t part with but which can’t come with us and deciding what we can fit in and take. That and finding a caravan towing course for yours truly to go on so I can at least get some experience of what it is going to be like to tow this monster before I have to hit the M25 on route to the English Channel!!

So, that is our big news and what has been keeping me occupied this past week and stopping me from getting on with anything that doesn’t involve thinking about caravans, sunny climates and packing. It is what has been making me eat raw deserts for breakfast, lunch and tea – seriously has to stop!, it is what has made me avoid my yoga mat like the plague – just can’t concentrate on anything else for 2 seconds let alone a whole sun salutation! and basically it is what has taken over my life. Now it is out in the open I hope that I can calm down a little and that normal service can be resummed. Lets hope so because October is still a way off yet and I could even bore myself to death by then……..

Moonie pies to chase the winter skies away…..

The last few mornings have seen me scurrying outside dressed in wellies and waterproofs to pick the spinach for my morning juice before hurrying back into the warm again – although without the heating on its actually not that warm inside either. Its way too early to justify putting the oil heating back on and frankly to darn expensive. So, the extra duvet is back on the bed and for the past two nights the hot water bottles have been gratefully received by my feet. Oh the joys of an English summer……..

Thankfully I am still churning out lots of goodies in the kitchen which is going a long way towards comforting us against the bleak elements. There is nothing quite like a steaming cup of tea and something scrumptious and chocolatey on a plate to lift the weather blues away and leave a warm and fuzzy feeling behind.

This weekend I finally went on a raw potluck. I have been waiting since June to go on one of these but the dates always clashed with something that I already had planned. But this weekend was it. I had marked the day aside for some time and I thought about what I dishes I would prepare and take with me. Trouble was life threw us a curve ball this week and as it rampaged through our little house all my plans of making exotic gourmet dishes went out the window. More about the pesky ball in a later post.

In the end I managed to throw together some almond and tomato bread – I literally just threw some random ingredients into the food processor, whizzed them together, spread the mix out onto a sheet and dehydrated it over night. Thankfully it came out ok and was actually really tasty. I then knocked up some guacamole to go with it which is always an easy and safe fall back recipe. Luckily I had made some Moonie Pies earlier in the week and so I threw them in as well and off I went.

I had a great time meeting new people and actually sitting down and eating the same food with a group of people who share my views was something of a revelation. I took my camera along but predictably for me forgot all about it when I got there and so I came away without any pictures of all the yummy dishes that I got to try. I did manage to find a picture of a moonie pie though. I got the recipe care of Heather Pace at Sweetly Raw although I did replace her filling with one of my own. I have recently been able to get small coconuts at our local supermarket and so am having fun using fresh coconut in as many different recipes as I can. Using it in the moonie pies made them taste reminiscent of ‘Bounty bars’ and I must say they went down very well with myself, hubby and all at the raw potluck. I have another couple of coconuts in the kitchen and some visitors coming on Thursday so I feel another batch coming on. 

Look lovely don’t they and take my word for it they taste lovely as well……..

Green juices

Most of you know how much I love my green juices, well for the last few weeks I have been berefit of them in the mornings. Back in June my main L’Equip juicer blew up on me after only 6 months of use. So I then had to resort to my back up juicer that doesn’t work nearly as well whilst we sorted the warranty details out and arranged to get the L’Equip repaired or replaced. My backup juicer then broke on me as well and so for the last few weeks I haven’t been having any juices at all……I miss them.

Well the good news is that after some discussion with the manufacturer over who should pay the courier fees of returning the juicer for repair – err that wont be me then!! the juicer was collected last week and we received a phonecall on monday to say that a new juicer would be dispatched that day. It was and I am very happy to say that it a brand new shiny (grey!) juicer arrived yesterday and so this mornings menu will consist of juice, juice and more juice. Woo hoo……..

Just as well as I have lots of spinach ready for picking in the garden

Everything in the garden seems to be doing really well, we have had plenty of cucumbers, spinach and red onions. The courgettes are finally beginning to flourish after a slow start – although even with fencing around them something is managing to get in for a nibble – I suspect a little mouse or maybe the mole who is merrily digging holes on the lawn as if he is auditioning for the ‘Great Escape’. The tomatoes have benefitted from the few weeks of sunshine and we have plenty of green and pale red tomatoes that will hopefully will ripen up even in the overcast weather we are now having. Look at one of the tomato plants below – is this possibly the smallest tomato plant you have ever seen?? he he

I didn’t even get to sample the tomato as something got to it before me!! Other successes in the garden this year have been the raspberries although I have been fighting the wasps over them for the last few weeks. I had a good crop of them initially though and they were gorgeous. The hedgerows around us and some in our garden are now weighed down by ripening blackberries. They seem to be a bit early this year – due to the hotter weather I suspect so I plan to start picking and freezing soon so we have plenty in the freezer for the winter. Potatoes should be ready to be pulled soon and we have plenty of herbs dotted around the garden so all in all a good year for our veggie gardens!!

Tuesday – rain and raw food delights

Well into our summer now and its raining cats and dogs this morning!! My furry babies are tucked up on the bed as there is no way they are getting their paws wet and I can’t say as I blame them. Just made plans to have visitors over the bank holiday weekend at the end of the month so can guarantee that it will rain then as well……..hey ho, at least I have been having fun in the kitchen and creating some scrummy raw delights.

Since deciding to start running raw food and yoga retreats – details to come soon on the website, I’ll keep you posted! – I have been in the kitchen a lot honing my raw food skills. I must say that the results so far have been good and my confidence is high that I can pull off the cooking part of the retreat. I have a friend and great yoga teacher facilitating the yoga part for me.

This weekend I made the following dishes…..

Tacos with sunflower seed pate, tomato salsa, pineapple salsa and guacomole

Side view

Coconut and Blueberry pie

Lasagne

All were delicious and very scrummy and will definately be part of the menu for the retreat. Who said raw food was all about the salads………………….happy days even with the rain.