Fresh From the Store, or Frozen From the Garden?

Hi all!

I've been a fairly strict raw foodist for quite a while now. However, this summer,, I have found myself going away from that somewhat. Instead of living strictly on raw foods, I've begun to live strictly on foods that make me feel good, and foods that meet my needs well, without necessarily always being raw, or fruit.

For those who don't know me, I am a 17 year old vegan hippie child living smack dab in the middle of Wisconsin. Summer is a wonderful time for me, because summers in WI are gorgeous. Especially this year, we've had a perfect amount of rain and everything is green and lush and beautiful.

We maintain 3 huge, magnificent gardens, plus a blueberry patch, an apple orchard, some grape vines, and 2 raspberry patches.

Here's the first, where we're growing zucchini, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, and a whole lot of canaloupe. Behind it you can see our blueberry and yellow raspberry patch.

Here's garden #1. This guy's the main garden, the star of the show....in it we've got zucchini, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe, corn (which the raccoons keep getting to before us), red & yellow potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a million different kinds of peppers and tomatoes. Plus herbs like parsley, basil, and cilantro.

This is garden #2, where we grow most of our green veggies and such, that don't take up quite as much space - lettuce mix, kale, chard, chinese cabbage, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, onions, carrots, beets, dill, and cilantro. Behind, you can see our cute little apple orchard.

And finally, here's our asparagus, rhubarb, grape vines (they took a pretty serious hit last year,, there was a bad storm, which knocked them over, combined with last years drought - we're lucky we've still got grapes), and our red & black raspberry patch!

Oh, and just for good measure, here's our awesome compost pile that keeps everything in our garden so healthy!

These are BIG gardens, and there are only 4 of us - and nobody else in my family are as big of plant eaters as I. Which leaves us with a lot of extra produce!

In past years I, being the young, over-zealous and dogmatic raw vegan I was, felt that it would be better to eat only fresh produce from the store during the winter, than blanched, pickled, or dehydrated produce from our garden.

However, this summer, I've been starting to feel like I was so wrong. The produce I buy in the winter is conventional, where as what's in our garden is basically uncertified organic. Our produce has life force, and I have been lovingly involved in every step of its maturation. I'm finding I'd much rather get my nutrients from slightly processed, preserved homegrown produce than from questionable store-bought lettuce all winter. I'm kinda thinking low-/salt/-free, prefrably canning-free homesteading is the way to go.

So this summer, we've frozen several bags of kohlrabi and broccoli, and theres still more coming! I have bein dehydrating zucchini with some yummy salt-free Penzey's seasonings every day for the past week now, and I've also made a few dill & chipotle cucumber chips with our plethora of cucumbers (and dill lol). I've been making jar after jar of "freezer pickles" - I'll definitely do a post on that, promise! And we'll be making tomato sauce and salsa when Mom and I get back from the Woodstock Fruit Festival 2013 (you can bet your booty I'll made a post on that, too!), and we we will be roasting and freezing most of our peppers. Finally, potatoes and sweet potatoes will be stored the root cellar for future use - and I plan on eating them. Even though they are not raw. (DUN DUN DUN.....) Only for dinner though. I still love getting my fruit on!

So, thats basically whats been going on with me! Keep tuned for more posts in the future - mom and I have a 20hr car ride ahead of us, so I should have a great plenty of time to type, haha.

Peace!

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Creamy Low Fat Raw Vegan Dill Chowder

Hi there! Yes, yes this is a new recipe. And yes, I realize pretty much all my recipes are green. I love greens, they make me feel awesome! (And they have a pretty overpowering color.)

I love fruit, too. Fruit makes me feel awesome as well.
However - I don't know why, but - in the winter, I'm much more attracted to greens & savory foods. I normally eat greens with at least two of my meals in the winter, unlike in the summer, when I might have a some greens every few days.

To ensure I'm getting enough carbohydrates with my green soups and so that they are more satiating, I normally add some sweet dried fruit or dates to my soups.

Anyhow, my favorite way to eat greens is blended. It's less natural, I know - but I feel better afterwards, and enjoy eating blended greens over whole greens, generally.

For lunch, I like to have either a green smoothie or green soup.

Today, I made myself some nummy Creamy Dill Chowder Soup, and now I'm gonna share it with you.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cucumbers
• 1 c water
• 1 c fresh dill or 1Tbsp dried
• ½ c cilantro
• ½ c salad greens
• 1Tbsp lemon juice
• ½ avocado

• 1½ c corn kernels (one corn cob=about 1c corn kernels)
• 13 small dates (or 7 medjools)
• ½ tomato

Easy Prep

1. Blend 1 cucumber with water.
2. Add dill, cilantro, salad greens, lemon. Blend again.
3. Add scooped out avocado and blend one last time, until smooth.
4. Chop dates and tomatos into chunks & slice ¼cucumber thin (like in photo to the right!)
5. Pour soup into bowl. Mix in veggies & fruits.
6. Enjoy!

(Sit cross-legged on a wooden floor while playing Jack Johnson as you eat for full effect.)

Peace! 

Christmas In March;

She woke up and everything outside her window was covered in white. It blanketed the ground and clung to tree branches, causing them to sag lower than normal. If it weren't for a row of grayish trees in the distance, it would have been almost impossible to tell where land stopped and sky began. Branches of the tall pine trees that lined her long driveway waved in wind that seemed to get stronger the further up she looked. Every once in a while, gravity would reach up and pull a pile of snow from somewhere high in the tree down to earth. She watched the brilliant white powder drop from a branch and plummet towards the fluffy, inviting snow beneath it, waiting to cushion its fall.

Giggling and jumping up and down excitedly, the girl rushed downstairs to throw on her snow things. She hurriedly piled them on until she looked like a giant, colorful marshmallow, then waddled awkwardly but enthusiastically out into the snowy wonderland that Mother Nature had waited until March to produce.

The cold breeze made her eyes water a little. Her cheeks brightened with color, and with every step, she sank deeper and deeper into the snow. The tiny flakes that continued to float down from the sky blew blew pleasantly into her face, and stuck to her eyelashes and rosy cheeks before melting and forming tiny water droplets that clung to her warm skin; she stuck her tongue out and was delighted by the fresh, watery taste that the snowflakes left in her mouth.

Snow had arrived a few months late in the dairy state, but finally, on March 3rd, winter had begun.