Living Well Includes Good Food

I’ve been preoccupied in the last month.  I did a lot of reorganizing and there is more of that to come.  I’ll have some posts about that at some point but for today, I want to share part of my weekend. 

Living well certainly includes good food and there is nothing like fresh picked greens from the garden.  It is becoming a weekly event to walk to the local u-pick organic gardens and enjoy the smells, colors and tastes of fresh local yumminess.  Each weekend I grab my big Blue-Q bag, a few plastic bags saved from previous purchases and a handful of cash.  I routinely forget my hat.   I slip on my flip flops and make my way over to Sundew Gardens, which is my local source for fresh food. 

The gardens are lush and green.  The master gardener and proprietor, Tom Carey, is there with a friendly greeting.  This week when I arrived I see Tom in the garden with a man and his young daughter.  They already have a large pile of greens, turnips, and other stuff in a bucket.  The little girl is happily engaged in this wondrous world.  It brings back memories of the awesome experience of pulling a root out of the ground not knowing what you will get until it is fully exposed.  Turnips, carrots, radishes and their relatives are all mysteries while they grow.  When they reveal themselves they can be large or small, regular or irregular and sometimes they are even funny, as they mimic the shape of something unexpected.  This is a little delight that I am so grateful to have experienced throughout my life.  

As I begin to walk the paths to see what is available this week, I find some lettuce that is glowing and I fill a big bag with this for my salads for the week.  I must have herbs.  I head for bunches of dill, basil, parsley, French sorrel, cilantro and more.  Then I spy that patch of endive that I picked from on my last visit.   I must have more of that!  Last time I took it home and made a salad which has become a much loved delicacy of spring, having the perfect combination of bitter, sweet and salty, and bursting with flavors.  Not only that, but the recipe makes it easy for me to eat large quantities of this valuable liver cleansing spring green and enjoy it completely!

a small part of my pickings....

Endive Salad Recipe:

I will take this green endive home and wash it well and cut it into bite sized pieces. 

Add a couple of those fresh green onions chopped

An apple or two cut into small chunks

A bunch of dill, chopped

A light vinaigrette made with 1 part apple cider vinegar to 2 parts of my best olive oil tossed into the bowl. 

I’ll sprinkle the whole thing with dulse flakes, rather liberally but you can skip these or add them to your own taste preference.

And maybe I’ll add sliced almonds, lightly toasted. 

My mouth is watering just thinking of it, but back to the task at hand. 

I round out my purchase with fennel, green onions and turnips.  There is other good stuff there too but I don’t need it this week.  My mom will bring me bunches of kohlrabi, kale and collards from her garden.  ( I am very prosperous when it comes to good food probably because I am so appreciative! )  

There is so much more to this than just getting the fresh vegetables.  There is the joy of being under the sky, making contact with the earth that supplies my food, knowing the place and the people that care for this life sustaining and delicious necessity.  There is the joy of seeing my community come together into the garden for the harvest. 

I have been an avid and productive gardener at times in my life and will be again in the future but for now, this is my weekly fix and it is very fine indeed! 

Sue

Heart of Prosperity

Life Coaching

You can find Heart of Prosperity on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/HeartofProsperity

For my local readers; a little more about Sundew Gardens: 

Sundew Gardens can be found on facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sundew-Gardens/300609518579

or you can call Tom at 407-365-5424 for more information about his harvest gardening programs.  Please be sure to make contact before to get the schedule and  information about membership programs for picking.

What will you do with your Earth Hour?

Tonight there is Earth Hour. 

If you don’t know about earth hour, here is a little introduction from the

Earth Hour website:

“Within hours, people in a record 134 countries and territories across the globe will switch off their lights for an hour in a unified show of support for action towards a sustainable future for our planet.

Hundreds of landmarks in thousands of cities will go dark at 8:30pm Saturday local time, as hundreds of millions of people take part in the world’s largest voluntary action for the environment. And with individuals, organizations and governments this year pledging to take their Earth Hour commitment beyond the hour, it won’t end when the lights come back on.”

Earth Hour happens, tonight, March 26, 2011 at 8:30.  

I have participated in Earth Hour in the past and have some memorable moments.  When electricity is taken out of the scene, beautiful things can emerge.  My favorite memory of earth hour was one year when I set up candles and the massage table on our screened in back porch.  My daughter Ivy was the only home with me that evening and we exchanged therapeutic massages, to the sounds of the night.  It was an opportunity to exchange healing energy and offer nurturing.  It is something that we don’t make time for often enough but was a perfect fit for that quiet and electricity-free evening.  

Other activities can also make this a special family or community evening.  Ideas that come to mind are:  bonfires and drumming, poetry readings by candlelight, food and conversation, music making, meditating….

What will you do with your Earth Hour? 

I would love to know! 

Sue

Heart of Prosperity

Coaching

Spring Cleaning is Underway!

When I get the bug to declutter, I think about what area in my life is the most disorganized or I might consider what area is not ordered in the best way and effects me almost every day.  Today that was my closet, because the weather has changed and the sweaters and long pants that I was wearing through the cold winter that we had are no longer comfortable.  I need cotton blouses and shorts.  I have a small closet so I keep the things that I use frequently in easy reach and store away some of the other items until they are needed.  It has been a slight annoyance for the last two weeks that things are not in their Spring order and so today was the day.  I went through all the clothes that I have, both Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter and reorganized.  In the process I made a pile of things that I am not wearing much any more due to changes in my tastes.  I have a little extra space due to the weeding out part of the process.  I am very happy now, looking at all of my clothes newly arranged.   It feels good! 

A few things that come to mind about the process of decluttering clothes:

Have you worn it in the past year? 

Is it in good condition? 

Do you feel good when you wear it?

Do you still like the style, color and cut?

Does it fit?

Does it go with several other items of clothing?

Is it practical; easy to clean and maintain?

Asking these questions should help you identify which pieces are working for you and you can pile up the things that no longer serve you well. Once you finish that, you can load up the giveaway box and take them off to your favorite thrift store or charity.  

If you have become overwhelmed by clutter and disorganization because of life circumstances you are not along.  Many people find themselves in that position for good reasons: caregiving responsibilities, demanding jobs, emotional turmoil during big life changes, new babies, illness and such.  Stuff happens but when you have the time to get things back into order, it is well worth it. 

As a homeschooling mom of three with an age spread of 15years, I can speak from my experience, I would advise you to pick the three areas that are most in need of work and concentrate on them one at a time.  Having three on the list and committing to do all three will give you a feeling that your work will make a difference?  Imagine those three areas looking the way you want them to look.  Feels good, doesn’t it? 

If you start with the list of three, prioritized and imagined in there new state of order, you will have taken the first important step to success and if you are anything like me, you will want to get started right away!  

Happy Spring!

Sue

Spring Inspires

Ahhh the fresh air.   I smell Spring.  (OK it’s not really officially spring but here in Florida, it sure looks like it.) 

This morning I woke up with to the combination of warm sun, cool breezes and buds of new green all around followed by a feeling.  It comes on every March. 

Memories of past Springs begin to surface triggered by the smells, sounds and sensations of the day.  I see my Mom washing all the windows, cleaning out closets and working in the yard.  I remember walking through the newly greened up woods and making fairy houses in little nooks among the tree trunks.  I think of asparagus served up with creamed eggs on toast and strawberry shortcake.  There are splashes of brightly colored blooming trees and bushes in shades of pink, lavender, yellow and white on the highways and byways.  I think of pastel colored dresses and hats trimmed in flowers. 

I love the Springtime!

These are simple pleasures of life!  I feel surrounded by hope and abundance.  Nature is growing and starting out new.  I am caught up in this energy.  It is a great time to do a little cleaning and decluttering.  I am not fond of clutter.  I appreciate order.  I also feel like having extra stuff around that I am not using is a burden and it sucks the energy out of me.  For me, less is more.  (I even love an to have a few empty drawers and I do.  Do you?)

A few days ago, I  began to think about what areas in my home and life are most in need of a little cleaning and organizing.  I made up a short list.  

Tomorrow I will share some tips on how to get started and what I am up to with my Spring clean and decluttering.  Sometime this week I am likely to have a giveaway as I plan to weed through the books and such.

I would love to hear your memories of springtime.  What is your favorite thing about Spring? 

Manifesting : Top Tip

The question was posed in one of the groups that I follow that inspired an answer;

What's your top" tip" for ATTRACTING abundance & success in to your life? 

My answer:

First and foremost, bring your thinking into alignment with your pure heart. We often "think" that we want many things but when we allow ourselves to feel it, we move into the heart and perhaps even change our minds, realizing that it is not in alignment with our larger desire to be loving beings. Therefore, when we "think" we want something, it is always good to check how it feels and proceed from there staying in the sensations of joy that we feel around that attraction. This is strong fuel for manifesting.

Not only is this strong fuel but the process begins to become effortless.  When we move into the heart, we come into alignment with our divinity, god, source or whatever you may call that magnificent force of love that  moves planets and creates all that is.  The more we move into that space, the more we also realize that we need nothing.  It is all here now.  


Have a wonderful day!


Sue