Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Golden Eyed Coyote


Beautiful Coyote

Hello Loves,

Not too many mornings ago, while David and I were going for our morning walk, I all of a sudden thought of all the beating hearts that are on the planet right now. I looked at a bird, and it hit me that it wasn't just a bird I was seeing, but that I was seeing a creature's heart in animation. Somehow this expanded my heart into an enormous space, feeling and loving every single heart that is here on Earth today. Every little mouse, rabbit, wolf, sparrow, eagle, horse, panther, dolphin, whale, person, we ALL have beating hearts! Just think of how many hearts are all beating together RIGHT NOW, and then imagine how many creatures you have seen with beating hearts, and how many you will come into contact with in the future...there are so many hearts, so much capacity for love.

Then, that afternoon, a beautiful golden eyed coyote walked across our porch, and paused in front of our french doors and looked through the window and gazed into my eyes. WOW! David and I sat in awe for quite some time after it had slid off into the bushes.

We hear the coyotes calling and singing almost every night, but they are very rarely seen, they seem to slink and slide, smoothly disappearing after you catch a glimpse of blond fur. So this was an extra special heart to heart.

In this high dessert land of cactus, mesquite trees, amaranth, agave, ocotillo, and golden grasses, we see deer, roadrunners, javalinas (a strange pig-like creature with spiked course fur that puts off a terrible smell), rattle snakes (I heard my first rattle snake ever the other day, and then saw it laying across the road), coyotes, grasshoppers, and the pecan trees along our road are filled with big black chortling ravens. Rabbits bounce off into the bushes. I opened the door to a gigantic tarantula the other night. And there are cows with wide sweeping horns that walk the arollos and graze the national park lands.

The sky is huge and at night is bursting with stars, and the air is filled with crickets. Like right now. I can hear the crickets outside.

Have you all heard of Codex? If you haven't, please check out this web page now, and visit www.healthfreedomusa.org. David and I went to a lecture on Codex last night in Tucson, and it is very important that we all get together on this one! In a nutshell, Codex is a monster wearing the mask of "consumer protection," fueled for the most part by the "illness" industry (aka the "health" industry) as a way of controlling and destroying our food quality so that we become even sicker and even more dependant on their drugs. Sound not so good?

The food we are eating is already killing us!

One thing that is important to remember is the cause of this cycle of illness and dependency on drugs, which has lead to the Pharmaceutical Industry being the most profitable, powerful, and wealthy in the world, more so than the Oil Industry, more so than War. This cause is the loss of the family farm and the industrialization of our food supply. When we lost contact with the soil that our food grew from, we lost control of our health. It is time to go to the land! Lets stop giving our money to an industry that benefits from a sick and dying population, and start paying our organic, local, friendly farmers a premium for the nutritional gems that they are growing!

You can also go and watch the woman we heard last night, Dr. Rima Laibow M.D. to see her discuss Codex and the history of this bad apple. Please watch this talk, it is excellent and Dr. Rima is very well researched and wise.

See you in the garden!

With my heart beating to yours,

Katrina.

Monday, October 29, 2007

"Dig! Dig! Dig! And Your Muscles Will Grow Big"


The Good Life Garden

Hello All,

Another fantastic thing you can do as a Subtle Activist is to grow a garden! And in lieu of that, buying locally as much as possible is wonderful. Our favorite gardeners/Subtle Activists are Helen and Scott Nearing, authors of "The Good Life" They continue to teach and inspire many, many people today, years after their deaths. One of our dreams is to go and spend a good length of time at The Good Life Centre. Helen and Scott were also so close to being raw foodists that we include them in our minds as some of our favorite raw gurus. We also love Elliot Coleman, who grows greens all year round on his farm called the Four Season Farm!

If you don't have a farm, don't worry. You can fill your yard with food. If you don't have a yard, don't worry. You can fill your windowsills with food.


Have you ever heard of John Raeburn? He was a visionary who also happened to be a agricultural economist and when Germany vowed to starve the U.K. during World War II by blocking food imports he organized the "Dig for Victory" campaign. Crops were planted by British citizens in backyards, parks, golf courses (yay!), vacant lots, schoolyards, and even the moat of the Tower of London. These urban gardens had an enormous effect, and they quickly produced twice the tonnage of food previously imported! You may have heard of the "Victory Garden" campaign in the United States, well, that was inspired by the work lead by John Raeburn.

There is today a worldwide growth of urban food production, especially in developing countries where the numbers of urban poor are multiplying. For these people, gardening on any available land provides a substantial amount of food; In Shanghai, over 600,000 garden acres are tucked into the folds of the city. In Moscow, two-thirds of families grow food for themselves. In Havana, Cuba, more than 80% of produce consumed in the city comes from urban gardens.

So, now that you are no longer watching T.V. (hint hint), you can spend that time in your garden, be it a few acres, a mound by the sidewalk, or a pot on the porch! Urban gardens not only feed people fresh, local produce, but they also serve as air filters, absorb rainfall, create tranquil green spaces, lessen the loss of land to development, help recycle waste, provide food security, teach children self-sufficiency, reduce fossil fuel usage, create jobs, and create or revitalize communities. Because cities and the sprawl around them cover 2% of the earth's surface and consume 75% of the earth's resources, creating an urban garden helps to lessen the gigantic ecological footprint of the city you live in.

Yes, besides the joy of sweet, sun ripened, deep red, juicy tomatoes of your own vine, grown with pride from a little seed, there are many good reasons to grow food.

Let us all join in with John Raeburn in crying out "Dig! Dig! Dig! And your muscles will grow big!"

If you want to learn more about city gardening go to www.cityfarmer.org or www.urbangardeninghelp.com

AND, if you want to find a local farmer's market near you, go to www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets or www.localharvest.org or www.csacenter.org.

Oh, and don't let me forget the magical Findhorn Garden! One of my dearest friends came to be because her parents met and fell in love while in the Findhorn Garden, and I think she has special "Findhorn Magic" that follows her where ever she goes.

There is nothing quite as nutrient dense as your own garden grown food!

OK, time to go. We are watching an amazing Gary Null lecture at the moment. David just put it on Day 1 of the Program, go check it out! Or Google Video for Gary Null - Change Your Life. He is an amazing, powerhouse of a speaker.

With abundant love for you dear gardener (because I know you will at some point in your life have an amazing lush garden),

Katrina.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Subtle Activism

Hello!

How are you? We have been talking all weekend about Subtle Activism, and we have thought of some really exciting things that we can all be doing to empower ourselves to live beautiful, healthy lives. None of this is new, but it does help to be reminded once in awhile of how important it is these days to do everything with thoughtfulness and love. If these ideas are new to you, then get really, really excited because there is a whole new, vibrant world awaiting you with open arms, a "world where the power of love has over come the love of power."

FYI, we just watched Zeitgeist last night, which is why we have been thinking this way. OK, here are our favorite Subtle Activism actions:

1. Eat a Live Food, Vegan diet. If you haven't yet, please watch David Rain's talk on Subtle Activisim to learn why eating this way is so powerful. When we have our health, we have our personal power, we are not dependent on a medical institution, we do not give any of our money to pharmaceutical companies, and we do not live in fear of medical bankrupcy. Sadly, this is not the reality for most North Americans. It can be for you, and by being vibrantly healthy, you are teaching others that health is possible, and you become amazingly valuable.

Another thing to note is that the meat and dairy industry creates more waste and pollution than the trucking industry. See "Livestock's Long Shadow" by the Food and Agriculture Administration of the United Nations for the complete data on this reality. This means that you can be a raw/vegan eating goji berries shipped from Peru, raw chocolate bars sent from England, and spinich trucked from California while living in Vermont and still be causing less environmental damage, pollution, and waste than a meat eater raising all their own poultry and cattle in thier own back yard.

This does not mean that shopping locally should be ignored, quite the opposite, it only goes to show the immense impact of eating raw, vegan foods. It is, we believe, the most impactful thing you can do, far more than say, getting rid of your gas fueled car.

For more on the political power of live foods, please watch David Rain's talk on Subtle Activism here:












David Rain, MA

New Activism








2. Get rid of your T.V. The television is one of the most powerful tools used to shape public opinion, and everything that comes into your conciousness has gone through the filter of corporate, money hungry America, even the news brodcasts. Not only does the T.V. tie up your valuable time, time that you could be using for beautiful, self-actualizing activities, but it uses this time to manipulate you, create false needs and desires, instill fear, and causes you to live vicariously through the actions of television programming characters. T.V. is not real life. YOU are real life! Stop giving your life away to the tube, and get out there and get really juicy with your precious time.

3. Shop with a concience. There are many of us who shop recreationally, buying on impulses often sparked by advertising agendas, giving away our money to unethical companies in trade for a short lived moment of instant gratification. New possessions are not a way to happiness, as we have learned the hard way. We consume more resources per capita than any other country on the planet, and take more anti-depresants than any other country on the planet. Don't fall into this trap! Instead take a good look at what you really need vs. what you think you want. There is always something new and flashy to get, replaced instantly by the next new and flashy thing, you can not possibly keep up! Use your money instead to feed your body the best foods possible, which will in time lead to the best health possible, which will lead to a deep, real, sustained happiness. A great place to go to learn about thoughtful shopping is www.treehugger.com. We also love second hand, thrift store shopping, re-using and re-loving things while also giving our dollars to a good cause (often thrift stores will be associated with public service work, and if not, you are supporting someone's business that is actively engaged in reducing, reusing and recycling.)

4. Avoid debt. This one is really important. Many of us have been seduced into massive debt by 0% down, low interest rates, no payment for one full year, and much more. We can end up paying more than twice the original price on a consumer item that loses 75% of its purchase value the minute we carry it out the door of the store. This means if an item is originaly $100, we can pay up to $200 through a payment plan for it, while at the same time sitting in our living room is that same item worth only $25. This is nonsense.

In 1990, the New York Times reported that the average was about $2,550 for those households that carried a balance. At the end of 2003, that balance averaged about $7,520 – an increase of nearly 200 percent!

And that's only credit cards. The average U.S. household owes mortgage debt, student loans and automobile loans, in addition to credit card debt.

When you are in debt, you are very easy to control, to be held back, and to be kept in fear, as you are stuck on the debt treadmill. We end up sevicing our debt instead of saving for our dreams, our big, beautiful dreams that are far more satisfying than getting that new car/T.V./computer/dinning set/outfit/case of pop/CD/cell phone/ or jewelry on credit. Don't allow debt to control you. It is quite easily avoided really, all you have to do is spend within your means and re-structure your value system. Learn to value your debt freeness over the value of a temorary high from buying that new pair of shoes you couldn't quite afford but what the heck, your credit card is for that type of thing. I can't believe they don't offer classes in high school about the importance of staying out of debt, or the importance of managing your money wisely. Instead, teens are offered thier own credit cards, they even offer credit cards to small children now under the same account as thier parents! Credit cards and debt are not child's play. If you are already in debt, get out of it as quickly as you can and do everything you can to keep it from growing. A nice side effect of avoiding debt is that you also become a more responsible consumer, only buying what you have carefully considered and what you truly need.

5. Have a Carectomy. My Dad just did this. I am really proud of him. He said it didn't hurt, and he didn't have any post-surgery trauma, and he actually feels a lot happier, healthier, and he truely enjoys riding his bike and walking. If you are interested in getting rid of your car, or even just becoming less dependent on it, check out www.carectomy.com. We also strongly recommend you look into alternatively fueled vehicles. In terms of fuel and energy usage, it has been said that you are more fuel and energy efficient being a vegan SUV driver than being a meat and dairy eating cyclist. Wow. Imagine how wonderfully fuel efficient you are being by travelling on foot, bycicle or public transit on a raw/vegan diet!

There are many, many more things you can do to be a subtle activist. These are just a few that carry big results. It is important to realize that we now live in a Plutocracy (society governed by money), not a Democracy. All of our politicians are bankers and businessmen, or are controlled by bankers and businessmen. In such a situation, our most powerful votes are made with our dollars. Think about this every time you use money, be it to buy food, fuel, clothing, or a movie. Your money goes to support the agendas of those who's hands it falls into.

For a very clear idea of why Subtle Activisim is so crucial now, please watch Zeitgeist. This documentary can be very frightening, or very inspiring, depending on what you know about what to DO about all of this. YOU are a very wise, and loving person, and you know the power of Subtle Activisim. YOU know what to do about all of this, and so it isn't so frightening after all. All you have to do is get supper healthy, eat amazing, beautiful foods, spend your time in enriching activities, spend more time outside travelling via foot or bicycle, find the joy and pride in wearing and using sweat-shop free, environmentally friendly, re-used clothing and products, discover the peace of living simply and within your means, enjoying the present moment and avioding the imposible catch up race of consumerism. Quite simply, all you have to do is live a beautiful, thoughtful, peaceful, loving life and you are acting as a radical activist! And isn't that what we all want anyways?

To your vibrant life and health,

Love, David and Katrina

Monday, October 22, 2007

The Power of Juice


David working hard on JuiceFeasting.com!
Hello Juiciest Juicers,

Last night I made a SMOOTH, amazing green juice for dinner that I had to tell you about. No, we are not Juice Feasting right now, but green juice still makes a lovely dinner. This was it, celery/cucumber/cilantro/parsley/carrot, yum. I drank a whole quart in about ten minutes (yes and I chewed it too), and then we went out for an evening walk. A perfect light way to end the day, with a sunset to boot.

On our morning walk today there was a cold wind blowing and it seems that warm Arizona summer days are drawing to and end. With the wind came all sorts of memories of last year's season change, my arrival here in Patagonia, and of an Island far away where lives my family. I find shifts in the season to be memory triggers, similar to smells, music, those things that pull on the subconscious where emotional memory lives. Magical. I love this fresh cool air.

Another thing I wanted to share was someone who I found out about on www.WeLikeItRaw.com. Her name is Kris Carr and she has done amazing things that you can find out about right here! I don't know much about her yet, but just a minute with her work lets you know that this person is going places, good places! There is so much light flooding on to the planet right now it blows my mind.

David is coaching Fasts again at the Tree for now, and so I went in with him this morning to say hello. I got to give Courtney a big hug and she is shinning. Well, Courtney always does shine anyways, but she is doing really well on juices. She was drinking an apple/coconut water juice when I saw her, YUMMY! Also got to visit with other happy Tree of Lifers, and I was even able to share our new children's book with some of them as we were on our way to the post office to mail them.

OK, I think that is all for now. Love to all of you and juicy juicing!

Katrina.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Raw Spirit Festival



On our red rock hike

Hello all you beautiful Juicy Feasters!

We had an amazing weekend at Raw Spirit Fest, in Sedona, Arizona, and we hope to see you all there next year, it is well worth the journey you may have to take to get there! I have never experienced such a peaceful, graceful, loving, inspiring group of people all co-experiencing together. We were surrounded by the the awesome presence of classic Sedona Red Rocks, towering over us, while we visited and vibed amongst ponds, trees, pathways, and sunshine. And, we did it! We got www.JuiceFeasting.com up and running, to be ready for the Festival!

We drove up to Sedona on Thursday, with our friend Michaela and her two children Quinn and Levi. It is always so wonderful to spend time with these children, and they know how to ask for "banana in a blanket" (banana wrapped in kale or lettuce), and not for some less desirable, un-mentionable child food. Of course they would have good taste in food, as their mother is the author of Baby Greens, a lovely book on raising raw children. Both children were pleasant and wonderful for the whole five hour drive from Patagonia to Sedona.

Our friends David and Sarah had found an idyllic camping spot in the National Forest, surrounded by huge trees and right next to a running creek, where we slept in the red rock dust of Sedona. We arrived around 4 o'clock and the children, Micky, and I all took off our shoes and went straight to dip our toes in the creek. Toes turned to full body splashing and laughing for the children. We dried off, set up our tents, and lit a bon-fire once it got dark.

Friday morning, we went into the Festival fairly early, so that David and I could set up our booth. We were lucky enough to be next to the Raw Family booth, and got to bask in the presence of Victoria, Valya, and Sergei Boutenko. We didn't have much to set up, and so spent most of the rest of the day visiting. WOW, what an assortment of amazing people! If you had told me two years ago, when I first began to read and research how the raw food lifestyle worked, that I would be meeting all the people that so inspired me and guided me along my way to raw, I don't know that I would have believed you! But here they all were, and true to Raw Spirit, every one of them was there with an open heart, ready to love, share, and be truly present. We even got to talk to Angela Stokes, who was sadly absent, over Skype! We saw some amazing performances, ate some amazing food, and hugged amazing people. Dinner was late, but nobody minded. We ate with all our Tree of Life friends, and gathered up Micky, the children, and David and Sarah, and drove back out to our camp to sleep in the quiet of the woods, lulled to sleep by the running water in the creek.

On Saturday morning, we woke up even earlier, and bathed in the creek, a chilly but enlivening experience. Micky had found another mom to share a room with closer to the Festival, so she packed up her tent, and off we all went. David was scheduled to speak on stage with Cathy Silvers at 9 am, so with out so much as our quart of morning water, we headed into the Festival. We got there early enough to get breakfast, buckwheat cereal, raw cacao nibs, a green drink, and fruit, and I sat on the grass with Keith from the Tree, and listened to Cathy and Friends. David was one of the friends, so he talked about Juice Feasting, and the importance of Juicing with/around your children. Cathy is a SUPER MOM who is sharing her experience of going raw as a mother of five children with as many people as she can reach. You can find out more about Cathy at www.thehealthylivingshow.com . Most of the rest of the day was spent enjoying being surrounded by raw gurus, and also being surrounded by amazing raw food snacks, sprouts, wheatgrass, juicers, hemp clothing, E3Live (great on a Juice Feast), books, Vitamineral Green (also great on a Juice Feast), goji berries, and knowing that everyone was doing business with love and with a vision of health for all things living. Like a breath of fresh air!

NOTE: David and I are not Juice Feasting at this time, but our dear friend Deidra WAS, and she was a super star and drank her juice all weekend while also being surrounded by raw cacao, AND she volunteered in the kitchen!

4:30 PM and it was time for David to give his talk on Juice Feasting. He was introduced by Mike Adams of NewsTarget.com, and gave a stellar presentation to a jam packed room, people were sitting on the floor, and flowing out the door! Of course it was my favorite talk of the entire event, but perhaps I am a bit biased. After his talk, we did some more visiting with people, and drove home to camp at the end of the day feeling very happy and excited to be part of such a lovely family.

We slept well all night cradled by the red rock dust. Sunday morning found us sleeping in just a little bit, but still arriving in time to hear many amazing talks and musicians. We had decided that today we would walk around and listen to talks, rather that sit at our booth, so we left our booth to fend for itself with a pile of business cards and a sign up sheet. The day melted away in a dreamy kind of way. I had coconut water around noon that made me feel amazing and alive (I had been feeling a bit sunburned and tired). I felt energetic and happy for the rest of the day. Before raw, I could never spend much time in the sun, and got sun/heat stroke VERY easily. Now, I am much more happy in the sun, and the sun and I are on much more friendly terms than ever before.

There is something so powerful about living a life that is fully supported and up-held by those you spend time with. I have been living at/around the Tree of Life for almost a year now, and spending almost all of my time with people who are raw foodists, or who are becoming raw foodists. It has really been amazing for me in my raw path to have chosen this community of support, and I encourage everyone who is moving down the path towards raw, or towards any authentic choice for that matter, to choose a circle of support as well. Support is out there, you just have to claim it! I spent a year milling around, in and out of live foods, never able to stay 100% RAW the way my soul told me I could be, the way I so much wanted to be. Then, I chose to surround myself with support, and I have been raw and happy ever since (for 10 months now). So this event was a great source of support, it was magical really to be at a RAW event! It was like all the events we remember as children, but without all the propaganda, sugar, meat, alcohol, grumpy, festivaled-out over sugared people who got burnt out early because they ate wrong and so their blood sugar whacked out. No, nothing like that, it was a very CLEAN festival, yes, it was a RAW festival! HOORAY! Thank you Happy Oasis, we love you.

Sunday night found David and I cuddled up in our yellow blanket on the grass in front of the Main Outdoor Stage, and David was presented with the GOLDEN CHOPSTICKS! Angela Stokes was also a recipient of the Golden Chopsticks, and Happy Oasis, the presenter of the awards, had some very nice things to say about Juice Feasting, and the future of Juice Feasting. The Golden Chopsticks were awarded to "up-and coming in the raw food world", the Golden Spoon was presented to "up-and very powerful in the raw food world." Golden Spoonies of this year were Cherie Soria, Patricia Bragg, Victoria Boutenko, and Jameth Sheridan. David was very honored to be a Golden Chopstick recipient, and Juice Feasting is very excited to have such a bright and shining future! We sat with our chopsticks and watched an amazing talent show, and what talent! Then was Human and the Humans, who we had met at the Tree earlier in the year - yet even more talent. By now we were very cold, and it was time to head back to our sleeping bags next to the creek.

We had dreams of all our friends, new and long cherished, and woke up to a bright and sunny Monday. The weather had been perfect, the group had been lovely, the food had been tasty and nutrient dense, we were happy. After creek bathing and sun bathing, we went into town to check out Cafe Raw Bliss, were things were hopping, busy with Raw Spirit Fest folk. Even more time to visit. We had one of the best raw pizzas ever, and then went for the hike that everyone comes to Sedona hoping to have. Red rocks, setting sun, humming energy, and warm, clean, dry, Arizona air. We finished off the day with another bon-fire with David and Sarah and a long conversation about living off of Prana, making beautiful moments your meals, satiating yourself with the nutritional energy of our amazing planet and all of its life forms. Will this be the next step? Find out!

Tuesday morning we spent visiting with David and Sarah, and then headed back to Patagonia. We had with us a woman from New York who was heading to the Tree of Life for TOL experience days, and she got a five hour, live food nutrition consultation out of David to boot! We arrived home excited about next year, and about all our up-coming projects.

We hope to see you next year at Raw Spirit! Check it out at www.rawspiritfest.com

Thank you for Juicing, and for eating as an act of LOVE!!

Love Katrina and David.

For more on Raw Spirit Festival, check out Mike Adams' write up here