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