Go Raw Chicago

  <—at the Chicago Greenfest last year.

Well I asked, and of course the universe provided… I got my organic compost from a local woman here in Chicago.  She had a whole Vermicompost operation going on in her basement and it was quite interesting to see all the stages (and worms) involved in compost-making!  (Her business name is “Windy City Compost” and e-mail is ebrandstetter “at” gmail.com if your local and interested.)

So with the tremendous help of my angelic landlord, I built the frame and filled it with the blended peat moss, vermiculite, and compost on Monday and planted the transplants, and seedlings last night.  What fun!  I haven’t gotten that dirty in SO long.  It actually felt cleansing.  I’ll be posting pictures of the progress.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I inherited some sort of green thumb from my mother.  If not, I may be a tad embarrassed.  But it’s all about the experience, right?  But seriously, just in case, I’ve decided not to invest in any sort of sea mineral supplement like Ocean-Grown until next year!

The annual Chicago Greenfest is this Saturday and Sunday and I’m pretty excited about it.  I think I’ll be getting my “million dollar idea” there or sometime real soon.  I’d like to address some sort of problem or dilemma that raw foodists have with some sort of product (could be physical or informational).  If any of you have any ideas, feel free to pass them onto me.  I’d love your input!!   Last year’s fest was really awesome though.  I’m bummed Sunfood Nutrition (and David) won’t be there this year, but I always look forward to meeting the people behind new up-and-coming business.  Paul Stamets, the author of numerous books and papers on the subject of mushroom identification and cultivation, is giving a talk at 2pm that I’m really interested in going to, and the Young and Raw Group is meeting up to watch the Raw for 30 days film playing in the film room at 5:30.   Local raw and vegan restaurants will be in the food court area too and I know local raw chef Blake will be cutting open and selling young coconuts for about $3.  Should be a blast!  (I love getting asked “what IS that??” when I’m drinking/eating out of a young coconut.)

 <—I was getting a bit carried away with this supersmoothie :)  I remember it tasted out of this world though!

On one last random note for the day–my bf got himself a Vita-Mix this week!   (As well as maca, goji berries, hemp seeds, and cacao powder–another superfoodist is born ;)   It’s just such a treat to make a perfectly blended smoothie for yourself in the comfort of own home whenever you want.  He finally couldn’t take it any more :)  Smoothies are a great way to go if you are just getting into raw foods, short on time, having digestion issues, on some sort of detox problem, or just want to simplify meal prep time.  Other blenders are fine when you’re just starting out, but after a while, you want the BEST.  In my humble opinion, Vita-Mix and Blendtec Blenders are by far the very best for a raw foodist.  Let me know if you need any more convincing on this one.  But I don’t think you would regret the decision to buy one.  I’m pretty sure they last well over 10 years (and there’s a 7 year warranty).  That comes out to about 12 cents per day if you think about it if you use it at least once per day-and you will!

Here’s a fun clip to watch of Tim VanOrden, the creator of the Running Raw Project, talking about green smoothies.   I didn’t realize what a funny guy he was until watching some of his youtube videos.   [*Note: Tim obviously prefers the Blendtec to the Vita-mix.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. I feel the Vita-mix has two legs up on the Blendtec for two major reasons: 1) there is a tamper that allows you to help move the foods and thus speed up the process and 2) there is no auto timer and so the likelihood that you overblend (overhead) the smoothie is minimized. For a great comparison that Mike Adams from Newstarget has done on the two check out this great article.]   Enjoy! ~Lenette

Last weekend I continued my shopping (I feel like it’s been a real scavenger hunt) for supplies and ingredients for my square foot garden.  It seems like it’s been years since first talking about this and I am just SO excited to get started.  However, I’ve encountered a few challenges:  I’m finding that not a lot of gardening supply centers carry organic transplants, composts, copper shovels, etc–at least not in Chicago.  I REALLY thought these things would be more prevalent and not at all hard to find but I guess I was wrong.  Chicago is striving to be the “greenest” city in America.  Why not start with the actual greenery?  Organic gardening materials are definitely the most sustainable and earth friendly way to go.  Oh well.  I’ve posted some want ads on Craig’s list.  Maybe someone is making organic compost in their kitchen using some sort of automatic composter and has some extra to unload.  The universe will line it up for me, right? Right!  It would definitely be a great business for someone in the Chicago to take on–making and selling organic compost.  It’s a great way to promote growing your own food too, or the whole Anastatia Movement. 

One thing I did see (and smell!) at the garden supply center that I thought was pretty cool was a bag of cacao shells.  I wasn’t sure how to use this in my soil mix so I didn’t buy it.  I’ve heard David Wolfe say that cacao shells add a lot of nitrogen to the soil.  The bag that I saw was sitting in the sun and smelled SO good I was seriously ready to take it home and use it as potpourri (maybe someday soon.  It would be a pretty neat idea.  I wonder if anyone has done this?).

On another topic:  Are you interested in trying out young green coconuts but don’t have $400 to take a vacation to the tropics?  I was pondering this question myself the other day and decided to start Googling.  If found this business in Florida, Broward Palm Trees, where you can order a case of 12 (I don’t know why 12) young green coconuts for about $5-$6 per coconut, depending on where you live.  Expensive I know, but it’s FedEx that really gets you because I spoke with the guy and he sells them for only $1 each!  It’s just an option.  Maybe if you can get five other friends together you can go in on a box together for $10-$12 each.  If you are anything like me-I know you’ve spent more than that on good food and superfoods before.  Why not try something new?  OR….if you can get together a bunch of friends and order a crate of 400 you can get the cost down to about $3 each.  Maybe if you’re in New York or California it would be possible to get this many willing people together.  Just putting it out there… It would be a good reason to put an event together

Have the best weekend ever,

Lenette

I hate to admit it, but the novelty of snow has finally worn off on me since moving here from California.  Today marks  the 27^th-ish snowfall of the year here in Chicago!  That’s just insane.  I can’t wait for the spring!!! The last frost of the year in Chicago usually around April 24^th.   Among the obvious reasons, I’m eagerly awaiting this date because this year I’ll be starting my very first organic garden!!!!!  I have been dreaming about this….I’ve been reading the All-New Square Foot Gardening book and learning all about what appears to be THE easiest and most energy/resource efficient gardening technique out there.  I love reading this book because Mel, the founder/author, of the technique/book makes these little jokes on almost every page as well as his beaming face.  He looks like the happiest human being on the planet.  A real child at heart.  It makes me laugh out loud sometimes.

I love thinking and planning out this future garden.  And I can’t wait to finally be growing my own food.  The idea seemed so “out there” when I first heard David Wolfe talk about this and suggest it as the solution to so many of the earthly/nutrional problems right now.  But now, the idea feels incredibly comfortable and doable.  I’ll soon be able to eat my own food grown with love and intent (right now the only food I grow myself is sprouts). 

I think I’m going to start off with two 4 x 4 square food garden boxes.  I’ll get the hang of things during the spring crop and then I’ll add one more 4 x 4 box for the summer crop.  The book says that each 4 x 4 box (that’s 16 square feet of different plants) will supply enough produce to make a salad for one person every day of the growing season.  But as a raw fooder who loves salads, green smoothies, and green veggie juices, I need a bit more veggies and greens than 1 salad a day so I figure three will do well for me with ample left to share! 

After reading the Anastasia book, I think I’m going to try some of her techniques too, like holding the seeds under my tongue, walking barefoot around the garden, etc.   We’ll see

What I plan on growing:

Kale (Regular and Lacinto)

Curly parsley

Radishes

Arugula

Spinach

Swiss Chard

Cucumbers

Red or Orange Bell Peppers

Tomatoes

Mint

Basil

Romaine

Check out his website for more info if you’re interested.  There’s a ton you can learn just by surfing on here for a 1/2 hour or so.  http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Quote for the day:

Mining the moment for something that feels good, something to appreciate, something to savor, something to take in, that’s what your moments are about. They’re not about justifying your existence. It’s justified. You exist. It’s not about proving your worthiness. It’s done. You’re worthy. It’s not about achieving success. You never get it done. It’s about “How much can this moment deliver to me?” And some of you like them fast, some of you like them slow. No one’s taking score. You get to choose. The only measurement is between my desire and my allowing. And your emotions tell you everything about that. — Abraham