Rotten Tomatoes

Recently I had one of those little experiences, something anecdotal, but it serves to help me re-examine my mode of operation through life.

I came home to the apartment I share with my partner after a recent trip out of town. I noticed he had put a big bag of tomatoes from our CSA share into the refrigerator. My immediate reaction: "Oh, the horror! The vulgarity! Are there really people so uncultured that they still refrigerate tomatoes?" My immediate reaction of default foodie-farmer snobbery only lasted an instant. I really try to keep this sort of judgement in check.

Then I thought, oh well, whatever, at least he picked up the CSA share while I was gone.

For the week that followed, I was able to use the tomatoes though, making myself lunches of sauteed onions and garlic, with lentils, and stewed tomatoes and curry. Sometimes I added chicken or kale. I find that when you cook tomatoes, it really doesn't matter if they were once refrigerated. They still taste great. Furthermore, I realized my own foolishness when the fresh tomatoes from the next share that I left on the table started to quickly go bad and had to be thrown away, all the while I was still able to enjoy my lunches of stewed tomatoes from the ones my partner had refrigerated. My attitude about the refrigerated tomatoes had shifted from judgement and disgust, to passive acceptance, to gratitude (for a partner that had saved my tomatoes) to wonder. I wondered how many other little habits or beliefs I had picked up, that had become religious beliefs, in the building of some identity I held to, that had actually stifled my creativity or problem-solving abilities.

Do you have a limiting belief or dogma that keeps you from moving forward?

Do you have any values or principles that have made your life too rigid?

I'm not really talking about your overall value system here. I'm talking about little limiting quirks that have become habits that hold you back from your big picture goal.  The little thoughts, minutia, that can hold you back from achieving your big things, from having your broader influence or from just making your life easier.

Example - "I don't refrigerate tomatoes because temperatures lower than 55 Fahrenheit burst the cell walls causing the tomato to lose flavor and become mealy" had come to interfere with my greater value of not wasting food to be both resource conscious and thrifty, when really, I enjoy stewed tomatoes anyway... not to mention the possibility of interfering with domestic bliss!

Maybe we begin to adopt these little habits, as a way to strengthen our ego or identity when we are still forming who we are in the world. We form these beliefs out of not feeling we have much influence or control, or for wanting to appear to belong to specific group of people.  But do they really matter in the long run? Or do they just start to make life hard for us?

Can you think of any examples of limiting beliefs that might hold you back from achieving your career goals, health, satisfying relationships, or financial success?

How to Get in Shape when You're Really Good at Making Excuses

Exercise for the Introvert, Type B Personality, or Person who has just given up altogether

First, the excuses:  

• I can't afford fitness classes or a gym membership
• Classes are too far from my home/not convenient
• New people make me anxious
• I don't like the instructors
• I don't have a babysitter
• I don't have time

One solution to these excuses is to do an exercise routine on your own. Here's why:

• You'll feel more empowered that you have the ability to take care of yourself. You're not dependent on external factors (like a class or instructor) to get fit. 
• Save in transportation time/costs.
• You can go at your own pace - less likely to hurt yourself, or helpful if you're feeling self-conscious about your body or fitness level. 
• Going slow, at your own pace, and of your own accord, will help you to make lasting lifestyle changes.

Of course, you'll want to consult with a doctor or health professional if you do have a limiting physical or health condition that requires modifications to exercise. 

Plan of Action:

1. Start coming up with a written or mental list of varied activities to "up" the current level of movement in your life.

Here are some examples:

• Taking the stairs. I know it sounds cliché at this point, but it works for me. Maybe you work or live in a high-rise building, or there are some stairs to go up and down on at a nearby park. A couple flights of stairs is a good place to begin if you are very over weight or your knees are not that strong yet. For me, 10 flights of stairs was a convenient, suitable, but also challenging place to start. 
• Run-walk. Rather than feeling the need to be a runner or a walker, do a run-walk. Begin with walking if you are over weight. But if you are just a little out of shape, try alternating between running and walking. It's good for variety, can keep you from injuring yourself as a true runner, and is less stressful for your adrenal and metabolic system (your body will not think you are being chased by a bear if you allow yourself to walk-run-walk as is comfortable.
• Mentally map out a couple different run-walks you can do. Some routes may be better for different times a day, depending on car and pedestrian traffic. I feel comfortable with a secluded route mid-day, but at dusk I feel more comfortable walking/running in an area that gets a bit more traffic.
• Do Floor Exercises. Build your core strength and increase your flexibility. The most simple thing I have found is to print off a series of exercises (with pictures and detailed descriptions). You really only need to start with 3-5 exercises or yoga positions. Here are the floor exercises I currently use: 

            10 Minute Pilates Workout to Reverse the Effects of Sitting

            HIIT It! 6 Minute Killer Booty Workout

           Print these out and put them in the space you will use to do them.

• If music is something you really enjoy, don't forget about how it may make your movement activity more enjoyable. We have a gym to use for free in our building, but it was totally boring to me before I started working out with a loaded mp3 player. Working out with music changed everything.
• Other ideas: dancing at home, video fitness games
• Use your exercise time as a meditative activity! Don't forget to use controlled, relaxed, intentional breathing. One wise piece of advice I have learned is that it is nearly impossible to self-injure if you are breathing intentionally through each exercise. This is because you are releasing any tension which could otherwise lead to pulled muscles. 
• Do these activities with your kids, if you have them. Kids can take stairs, dance, run-walk, and even do floor exercises. You'll want to use the same "go at your own pace, do what you can, start small" advice that you give yourself.  

2. Begin to try some of the activities of your choosing and work with your own psychology. Try one each day to see how you like it. If you are reluctant, tell yourself it's just an experiment that you only have to try it for 10-15 minutes. 

Most people feel more energized after they have exercised for a bit, and this becomes the inspiration to do more or keep it up. Once you feel how easy this is, try adding more activities in a day. They can be done at different times of day, or with breaks in between. You might find that it's not hard to get in 3 new movement activities per day. For example, sometimes I do the 10 flights of stairs twice a day and do one session of floor exercises. Other days, I do 2 sessions of floor exercises and a walk-run. 

Set Yourself Up for Success: Set a rule for yourself, but make it easy to surpass it. Feeling like you excelled and surpassed your goal is a great self-esteem booster. 

3. Once you are finding it really easy to incorporate 1 activity per day, make it a rule. 1 movement activity per day is now non-negotiable, and 2-3 activities will be surpassing your minimum goal. That way, if you do less than 2-3, you won't feel guilty, because you only had to do 1 activity at minimum.

Non-Negotiable Movement Each Day

Keeping movement each day as non-negotiable helps you build a healthy practice into your lifestyle, and the movement should get your blood circulating and actually give you more energy and inspiration to do more.

Don't forget to schedule fun play dates for movement into your monthly calendar. Hiking, biking, dog walking dates, canoeing, dance party night, tennis, ice-skating or frisbee. Wait, I totally don't frisbee...;)

Welcoming Winter

Today was one of those days: information overload a la the internet, paralyzing indecision, and lack of acceptance of the present moment. I gave myself a headache.

I fed all this for a while, but when the headache started, I realized it was time to bring myself out of self-induced paralysis.

Here are some of my favorite ways:
do the dishes
fold the laundry, put it away
write in my journal
listen to the wind
take a shower
make myself pretty
make chocolate "ice cream"


Journal: Welcoming Winter


The angle of the sun is softer now; less harsh.
With the leaves dropped from the trees, 
the sun's rays reach me and its warmth more gentle.

I wish for more longevity in my patterns: 
work, living situations, relationships.
I must struggle to find comfort ...
in the consistency inherent in my own repeated patterns. 

Pondering that, I realize that my peace comes not through other people but through the solitude of myself.

I remember to look to winter. 
It is through this season that I embrace my solitude.
Where others hide, I venture. 
Free at last, with only myself to see, feel, 
I feel my strength.
I feel my peace.

I meet you with comfort, Winter, as I remember that 
you are quiet,
and I am warm and strong.

Time spent walking, skating, reading,
with few words spoken.

Give time to be silent. To listen to what the wind has to say
as the last leaves fall. 

Chocolate "ice cream" recipe:

2 frozen bananas, peeled and chopped 
(Freezing bananas: I freeze them with the skins on, but that's just me. I get some sort of strange pleasure in peeling frozen bananas! Also, you don't have to worry about storing in plastic, can throw them in the freezer at the latest desirable ripeness, and it's easy.)

1/2 cup refrigerated canned coconut milk 
(I use canned coconut milk free of added thickening agents and sugars)

1 1/2 Tablespoons organic cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 Tablespoons water

Blend.
I used a cheap stick blender that was left behind at the art center where I live. Luckily, its motor is still going strong enough to do the little job. 

The result of the "ice cream" is still quite frozen, but liquidy enough to feel like ice cream that you have let sit for a couple minutes and mashed up to get soft. That's how I like it!

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are." - Chinese Proverb

With so much to piece together, sort out, a new way to navigate, it's nice to find an activity where I can let it all go, and just be in the complete present moment with what I'm doing, my sense of "aliveness" not originating from my head, but going into my body, into that interface where my physical body is in contact with nature.

The Forks, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. 

This winter time activity has been ice-skating, even though it's been ten years since I've had on skates.

You know that feeling when you start something, and you just want to be good? And fast? And maybe do a triple lutz like an olympic figure skater? And then feeling like, I am no good at this. Why? Why are you no good at this? The mind answers: I have scoliosis. One of my legs is longer than the other, due to a sideways-S curve in my back. Is that true? Aren't there all sorts of olympic athletes that have some sort of slight limitation then learn how to work with it, and overcome it as a limitation?

And so I slow down, realizing that the only person I am competing with is myself, which guarantees success, as I only need to improve upon a previous version of me. And as long as I love the stillness of the cold, the silence of the morning, the awareness of skating on a frozen river, and being absorbed into the landscape, being alone, challenging myself, I realize I am happy, no matter if I am "good" or "bad" on skates.

And so I begin. Slowing down, grounding myself into the blades of steel atop a frozen river. Becoming aware that I lead with my left leg, and that in actuality, I am dragging my (longer) right leg along. With this awareness, the left is still leading, but the right is not so much dragging, but swiveling along. I can try for speed, but without the leg strength, skill, and confidence, speed does not come fast enough to feel satisfaction. And so, I settle in to the feeling of the skates. Where should I be resting my weight inside these skates?  I am aware that I am putting my weight on my arch and tension exists on the sides of my feet. When I am more tense and having a feeling of not being able to settle into the experience, my arches ache with tension.

Gradually, I settle in and just see if I can put some weight into the balls of my feet. And if I can put some pressure into the ball of my foot. How about my right foot? Yes. There it is! I'm on the ball of my right foot! Let's see if I can apply pressure there and get some resistance, to push myself along. Yes. My right foot is beginning to participate, and not merely keeping up. And, so I have settled in. And it becomes not about speed, or turns, but about how comfortable I feel in my own skates.

Does this sound familiar? How comfortable do you feel in your own skin? Are you down on yourself for not having done enough in the past, or for not having made the right decision? When you get going in a direction you are excited about, do you start to anticipate the prestige of achieving your destination?  It's the game of the ego, the mind, and it steals the present moment from us. The ego starts to again dream of the new possibilities with the attainment of the present skill at hand. Any physical activity that you can do will help you put your attention out of the mind, and into the body. Simply putting your attention into the body takes the power away from the mind. We learn how to control our mind, we begin to be able to use it as a tool when we need it, rather than it running the show at all times. If this does not sound logical to you, remember that there is vast intelligence that exists in the universe, in the functioning of nature itself, and all of this came before the development of the human mind.

The river trails have now closed for the season, and I was at first saddened, but use it as a reminder to never become too attached to one thing for happiness, or too reliant on one activity alone to achieve awareness. Instead, I must delve into other things, and use the experience of being present in one activity to bring presence into more experiences in my life.

Happier Human, Healthier Planet

“Why do farmers farm, given their economic adversities on top of the many frustrations and difficulties normal to farming? And always the answer is: "Love. They must do it for love." Farmers farm for the love of farming. They love to watch and  nurture the growth of plants. They love to live in the presence of animals. They love to work outdoors. They love the weather, maybe even when it is making them miserable. They love to live where they work and to work where they live. If the scale of their farming is small enough, they like to work in the company of their children and with the help of their children. They love the measure of independence that farm life can still provide. I have an idea that a lot of farmers have gone to a lot of trouble merely to be self-employed to live at least a part of their lives without a boss.”

― Wendell Berry, Bringing it to the Table: Writings on Farming and Food

2012 has been a year where I've been fortunate to have an active outdoor life. It's funny how it is so easy to get out of the habit of physical activity when you have a desk job. Once you get active again, you realize what you had been missing - and the importance of exercise to your health and positive mental outlook.

Much of my activity has been pure joy, mixed with adrenalin, some fear, and discipline. White water rafting, kayaking, skiing, and farming. Being in the throws of Mother Earth is exhilarating. Ventilating my lungs in the fresh air, vitamin D from the sun, experiencing the elements of the season. With the farming participation, my energy output is put back into the economic system.

Instead of going to the gym, what if we used our human energy (labor) as an energy input into our economic system? 




Wouldn't we all be healthier and happier if we were physically moving for at least part of our work week? Getting sunshine, strengthening our bones and muscles, working with Mother Nature? Might you sacrifice part of your professional wage for a lower pay where your working labor participated in the production sector of our economy, decreasing the amount of energy needed to run tractors and and haul cheap goods in from other places?


Ideally, such a way of life would be voluntary, not mandatory. I think it would allow for happier humans and a healthier planet. Days could be lived in the sunshine, working with nature - where the day itself was something to look forward to, instead of endless days pushing paper, in front of computer screens, sitting in meetings.

The good news is, sustainable living is not a spectator sport - isn't it wonderful?

Keep Culture Alive!

We have evidence that we are at our planet's ecological tipping point.  Our consumer-based society has largely led us to this crisis.  The fossil fuel consumption that powers our consumer-based, mono-culture dominated, Monsanto-bullied agricultural system is clearly unsustainable, and each day we are becoming more uncertain as to how long we will have cheap fuel.  If environmental costs aren't enough to change our ways, what about human costs?  Do we participate in a system that engages in foreign conflict based on a desire to secure that country's energy resources?

What would a modern society that used much, much less fossil fuels look like?  Of course, it would be based on a local agricultural system.  We would end our reliance on our large-scale food system where our food travels, on average 1500 miles before it reaches us by way of refrigerated trucks.  We would return to subsisting off of the goods that can be produced in our local region.  To take this concept further, we would move away from our current unsustainable modes of food preservation.

Some may have given up hope on the establishment of a more sustainable way of life that can prevent the ecological collapse that looms around us.  But others, out of passion for sustainable-living principles, or out of a propensity toward survival, will be interested in learning the techniques that are necessary for not only short-term survival without fossil fuels, but methods of food cultivation and preservation that adequately nourish and sustain the body over time--a way of living and eating that provides for healthy peoples over generations.  

What would a food system look like that persists despite the decline of the fossil fuel supply?

It may not include the household refrigerator and freezer.  Energy intensive canning that drastically reduces the vitamin content of  foods may be replaced by drying food in low-tech solar dehydrators, or preservation by lactic-acid fermentation, a process where food is transformed by the action of beneficial microorganisms. This is not new technology, but ancient technology used by all of the cultures of humanity that maintained healthy populations over many generations.  Milk is preserved by transforming it to more stable products such as kefir, yogurt, cheese, and butter.  Meat from large animals is preserved by drying into jerky, allowing to age by hanging, or curing by way of sausage in its various forms.  Each home or small community would have small animals such as chickens, quail, or guinea fowl that would be harvested as needed.  Food would be fresh, systems would be small, and each person in society would have some food specialty to contribute to the household, or offer foods for sale or barter.

All cultures that have stood the test of time have had a way of preserving food that harnessed the ability of lactic acid bacteria to ferment food.  For Germans it was sauerkraut - sour greens or sauerruben - sour roots.  Koreans have kimchi.  Italians have prosciutto and salami, preserved meats with the help of lactic acid bacteria.

Not only do these preservation methods preserve food, but they provide increased nutrition, enzymes, beneficial bacteria, easier digestion, and enhanced flavor.

I have not gotten rid of my refrigerator yet, but enjoy making simple fermented foods like kombucha and lacto-fermented vegetables.  I have also made sourdough, kefir and yogurt.  Recently, I have been holding tele seminars for family, friends, and clients in order to share and exchange information and cooking techniques related to the incorporation of traditional foods in the diet.  

Beet Soup for Any Season

It's a chilly June 3rd here in the mountains of Pocahontas County, West Virginia.  I just finished planting tomatoes and peppers in time for them to "enjoy" some cold drizzly weather.  You never know what the weather is going to be like lately, so when planning your weekly menu, a great idea is to include soups that can be enjoyed hot or cold.

I've been wanting to make a cold soup with a chicken bone broth base ever since my teleseminar on Bone Broth.  After hearing me go on about the wonders of gelatin and bone broth, a client asked me if it could be used in cold soups.  I actually had not been in the habit of making cold soups, but I didn't see why not. After a little research, I found that most any soup you enjoy hot can be enjoyed cold, but this works particularly well for pureed soups.

Enjoy the health benefits of bone broth year round.  Many soups you enjoy hot can be enjoyed cold.  Cream of carrot, beet, sweet potato, vichyssoise (potato and leek), and zucchini all work particularly well.

You can use any simple recipe, just make sure you avoid the refined vegetable oils (like canola) and opt for butter.  Use homemade chicken stock when it calls for bouillion or canned stock.  

Today I made beet soup or Borsht as it is commonly known.  It was absolutely delicious!  It was not a sweet soup, but more savory - especially with well-made, rich chicken stock and the addition of sourdough bread to garnish.  

Beet Soup or (Borsht)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, sliced
4 medium-large beets
2 tablespoons butter
6 cups homemade chicken stock
Celtic sea salt to taste
Sourdough bread croutons to garnish (optional)
sour cream, yogurt, or creme fraiche to garnish (optional)

In a 4 quart pot, saute onion in butter on medium-low until tender.  Sprinkle with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Add in chopped beets and chicken stock.  Simmer until beets are very tender.  Use a handheld immersion blender to blend, or blend in small batches in the blender.  Salt to taste.  Garnish with sourdough bread croutons and sour cream, yogurt, or creme fraiche (for enzymes).

The Bone Broth tele seminar will be held again on July 16 @ 8pm.  We'll be discussing the healing properties of gelatin and properly made stock to help with digestive and autoimmune issues, cooking techniques, and recipes.