Moses the water dog

Moses loves to swim! Here Martha was trying to get him to go out and actually swim. He did it for quite some time until he got mowed over pretty good from a wave. Then he paid closer attention to the size of the waves

 

Raw Vacation

Martha and I have been in the outer banks since Tuesday. We are staying until Tuesday night June 1^st. This has been a raw/vegetarian fest since we got down here. We have tried a few recipes that have turned out real nice. Chocolate truffles were really nice, as was the carrot cake! Wow was it good! Guacamole humus, flax crackers, sweet potato chips and raw spaghetti to name just a few of the dishes we made. It has been a super fun time cooking with our friends Mary Kay and Denny.

We had raw spring rolls tonight that were just awesome! Nice weather and good friends! What a nice vacation this is!

Square Foot Gardening

Well Saturday turned out to be pretty nice! We finally got the raised bed filled and we got it planted! The bed was sectioned off with string so the 4’ x 10’ area made up of 40, 1 square foot sections. One plant was planted in each section, hence “square foot gardening”. I have never done that before so it will be interesting. You can see how it is laid out in the photos. Plus you can see my “Bucket of Carrots” that goes with my “Bucket of Beans”.

Tuesday night we leave for vacation. It is about time and much needed! We are going to stay with great friends that live in the outer banks in NC. The weather looks like it should be hot. And after a spring of cold rain, hot will be good!

Our mastiff pup Moses will have his first experience at the beach. He loves water so it should be fun seeing his reaction! Now when I say pup I am referring to an 11 month old that weights in at about 90 pounds. So he is not a small fry. I will drive at night so he will spend most of the trip sleeping. Always seems better that way. Plus I like the reduced traffic.

Tough week

It has been an all around tough week. Martha is away yet this week teaching. Her residency is going very well! You can read about it on her blog. I have been working my IT job and also working in our business. So I have 8 hours a day with computers and another 6 – 8 hours a day designing or cutting steel. Gross Brothers had been particularly needy this week. I still have a bunch to cut for them in the next few days.

While Martha is away I have been Mr. Mom for the dogs J  They also can be a challenge. And it is hard for them because they are not getting a whole lot of play time because of my schedule. I am sure that will change this weekend. They are however being pretty good.

Eating health, eating raw for the most part has been going well. Today is the first day this week I did not juice for breakfast. I just ran out of time. We are however going for a nice dinner at a friends tonight and will be eating a nice healthy meal. Plus I brought my normal basket of fruit for lunch that I will compliment with a salad.

Can’t wait for Martha to get home. Miss her.

Making good choices

I have read a lot on the internet about Green Smoothies, Raw Foods and so on. There are a lot of people that try to go 100% right out of the gate and then seem surprised that it is a struggle. I am sure that some people can do that, but not many. More of us exist that are so conditioned by how we have been living that these changes can be very difficult.

For us, right now, it is more about eating less processed foods, less chemicals, less garbage and more real food! You will notice in Martha’s post that she mentions us making bread. We do make bread, home made bread. We try to use less and less processed junk and as much organic ingredients as we can. Hence we make nice bread that we know what it’s made of. And it tastes so much better than store bought bread.

I am sure in time we will even steer farther away from even the bread. I have been making some Raw flat breads (or trying to). The point of this for us is making changes we can actually do, at a speed we can be successful at. With an ultimate goal of being as healthy as we can be.

I would say we are somewhere around 95% vegan and 85% raw. And it has been pretty easy so far. In my book that is better than good, it is great!

We are on the right track, and we both feel better to prove it. One day at a time…

My husband's health is changing noticeably

After being out of town for four days, much to my surprise Rick is already looking and acting more healthy.  The dark circles that are notorious for him are fading and his entire energy level is so much better.  He is excited to try new food things and is hooked on the juicing and green smoothies.  I am trying not to get over excited myself at the changes because I was vegetarian before meeting him.  My own energy levels and concentration and better mental outlook is noticeable to me too.

I made yogurt, fresh berries and banana smoothies for breakfast and then we had a great all fresh greens, sprouts and veggies for dinner along with homemade sunflower bread.  Rick made that~!  I am still happily full and did not get sleepy on my drive here to Clarion.  I will make the most of fresh fruits and veggies this week while I am away!

New raised bed and hoops

Today Martha and I finally got the new raised bed built. I finished welding the corner brackets and then we put it together. Looks pretty nice…

Of course I will need to get the soil in it this week as well as some compost. I added the hoops so that we can make it a green house next year so we can plant this bed early. The hoops come out pretty easy. Here is a shot of how they are installed…

You can see that the hoop just slides in to the mounted PVC tube. Pretty easy to pull the hoops.

 

 

Some chives are blooming….

And here is some lettuce that is enjoying it’s new home…

We continue to juice and eat as raw as we can. Both of us feel a huge contrast from a day we eat totally raw and a day we don’t. Most often when we don’t we feel tired and sluggish. I have to admit that I never thought I would notice such a huge difference. But it truly is a major contrast.

Stopped at a Mennonite greenhouse and store today. Picked up some herbs and some produce. Unless you shop at a Mennonite owned shop you can not understand the price difference. We saved a bunch of money. For example if you buy apples in the store right now they are $1.79 a pound. I bought over 5 pounds of apples (was a basket full) for $3.50. Save money and eat better!