Home Sweet Home

I'm alive! I don't know how you clever bloggers manage to keep posting while you travel and/or are really busy. I just can't keep up with everything and had to take a blogging break. Though I still have no wi-fi, I just wanted to quickly say that we have all safely (and miraculously) made it across the border safe and sound. I don't know how we managed to fit plants + people + pets + stuff in one car and make it here all in one piece. We didn't even run into too many problems with border control (luckily, our plants came from Canada originally so they were allowed to come home).

The funny thing was our license plate was from no other state than...

... so we got a lot of funny looks trying to cross into Canada. Maybe the plate was causing me to drive more recklessly? Don't mess with Texas!

Anyway, we got to our new home okay. I was super psyched to see how many plants there already are in the front and backyards. On top of that, we came at the perfect time of the week and have already been able to hit two farmers markets already.

Farmers markets here are amazing. At least half of the farmers are organic and have all sorts of produce and stories to tell. There's also a 100 mile rule for all farmers there so no truck farmers that resell stuff from all over North America. The only exception they make is for a couple farmers from Niagara who provide the closest source of cherries and other fruits. Fair enough! It's been great talking to everyone and getting to know them. There is such abundance here, I feel so blessed! I am going to have to get used to shorter seasons though. While the DC markets had all sorts of fruits and veggies already, the Canadian farmers are actually just getting their season started with basic greens and radishes and things! Talk about climate changes after only an 8-10 hour drive North!

At the markets, along with produce, we were also able to find our new source of raw hemp seeds (I love your legalized hemp seed cultivation, Canada! It's a food for goodness sake, not a drug!) and of organic grains (everything from oats, buckwheat, flax, rye amaranth, you name it!). I'm SO psyched. We also got some beautiful plants. In fact I went a little bit herb crazy, but I have yard now, so I plan on becoming quite the gardener:

Also, one of the most exciting things about Ottawa (to me anyway) is that they've started a green bin (compost) system along with their recycling program. Because our yard is pretty tiny and well established, we wouldn't have had any room for composting, so the green has solved all our problems. As you know, I HATE to waste organic matter be it my banana peel or the food leftover on my plate (not like that ever happens), so the bin is the best solution ever for two heavily compost-oriented raw foodists! It even comes with a small compost pail for the kitchen too so you don't have to run outside every time you have an apple core to toss, especially when winter will set in. It's the most convenient thing ever. You can even compost your hair from the shower! I love my green bin.

Foodwise, we've been blessed with awesome farmers markets and we're really close to a bunch of organic health food stores. I've already found some pretty sweet sources of raw treats, like this sushi:

Also, along the road at Mustard Seed in Watertown, NY, we found these life-changing raw chocolate bars by Righteously Raw (I think this is by FAR my favourite brand now). We got the Acai and the Goji kind and they're melt in your mouth choco-gasmic! Unfortunately, I think they only carry them in the US, but I'd be willing to ship these for sure! I can't even begin to describe how tasty they are!

Finally, I may have mentioned how grounded and happy the energy of the Oasis Cafe felt when we visited back in March. When people talk about raw food being filled with energy and light, that was it! I wanted to know their secret and one thing I noticed was that Tiffany's kitchen was super clean and uncluttered and that she had figures and stones adorning and bringing energy to the room. I wanted to turn my kitchen into a similar kind of mecca, and luckily found the perfect person to watch over us:

I found a gorgeous statue of Guan Yin to watch over the most important room in my life. Goddess of mercy, of beauty, and feminity, and often associated to vegetarianism, I thought she was perfect the minute I saw her! She resonated so well with me that I really wanted her to honor my kitchen! Can't wait to set up my new kitchen (and my new Excalibur dehydrator is yet to be inaugurated!) further. Now I just need our moving truck with all our actual furniture to get here... one thing at a time!

Live life abundantly!