Catching up on what's happening...

We had a smaller but successful day at Ourimbah yesterday, with our combined co-op due to the public holiday Monday. A number of members were away on school or uni holidays so it was a quieter and less-busy day than usual, made more so due to there being no school finishing time to get people out the door and off to FIG before collecting their children!

Co-op days and venues shall be back to normal next week, and it seems the rain will continue to be with us most of the time between now and then. Rain is important however also presents a challenge to farmers and backyard growers when it's heavy and consistent. 

At Wyong, we are trialling a shorter opening time as most of our members have been and gone by about 4pm or shortly after. We are therefore now closing at 5pm, however packing up sees us there till about 5.30pm anyway, to catch anyone popping in making new enquiries. We shall see how that goes and if Wyong members continue to have been through and collected their produce earlier in the day, we may look at closing even earlier.

On the produce front, we have been a bit sad to learn that our local supply of eating apples has come to an end. Many of our members have commented that these have been The Best apples they have ever tasted, so we look forward to being on the receiving end of them again next year. We have a few apples left however from next week, the major supply will begin coming in from the organic wholesaler and our apples will come from further away.

We have been really pleased to have been offered some surplus produce from members new and old. Some of their produce you will find in the FIG boxes, some of it on the extras table. Thank you to all concerned.

Our FIG article writer and delicious recipe generator is moving away! We are therefore putting the call out for those members who like to cook and maybe also to write, to occasionally put together a few recipes and/or article for the blog or the website. Please email us at FIG if this seems like something you could do.

Some of the crops at Champion Mountain Organics which have ended up in our FIG boxes!

FIG is looking at having a stand at the Mangrove Mountain Fair on 22nd October, and one of the aims of the day is to talk to local farmers and encourage more to grow organically. For FIG to grow and to buy more local produce, we need more organic farmers! 

That's all for today. See you at the co-op!

Alkalising

We recently attended a wonderful evening presented by Khannah and Raimunda from ‘Footprint of a Windhorse’. Footprint of a Windhorse is a health village centre in Wamberal offering Holistic Pulsing, Colon Hydrotherapy and Health Awareness gatherings. The topic for their Health Awareness gathering was ‘Acid/Alkaline balance’. Khannah and Raimunda are both extremely knowledgeable, inspiring and nurturing folk. The evening offered all those in attendance a wonderful understanding of how to be mindful of alkalising our bodies and also opened our eyes to the effects that an over acidic state in our body can cause on other areas of the body. When the body is acidic, it automatically tries to restore balance and alkalise itself. When we have an acidic environment in the body, our body will draw the minerals needed to alkalise from other areas of the body, hence depleting those areas. This is when we see unexpected chronic illness in our population effecting a vast array of folk, of all ages. Obviously, this illustrates the importance of keeping an ideal acid/alkaline balance in our bodies so that our body is in harmony.

The gathering commenced with the serving of miso soup. A very alkalising soup, ideal to start a meal with, especially after a day of what could well have been acid forming activity and food/drink. We each introduced ourselves around the circle and then our inspiring leaders shared with us some general information about alkalising; how we eat, what we eat and even our state of being - these all have an effect on the acid/alkaline balance in the body. It was briefly revised about the importance of chewing and how with this very simple, but highly effective action, we can actually change an acidic food into having an alkalising effect on the body - if we mindfully and skilfully chew our food. Yes - chewing is a real art, that in our modern day, busy lives - we are fast loosing the ability to undertake this very important action in a skilful and effective way. Digestion begins in the mouth and this very subject was the entire topic of the previous Health Awareness gathering - that’s just how important CHEWING is!

We were all invited to share a loving prepared, nourishing vegan meal which demonstrated to us the balance of a meal that offers an alkalising effect on the body. Whilst Khannah and Raimunda are both themselves vegan, they do not insist that everyone must be vegan or vegetarian to create alkalinity. However, the reality is that meat and animal products are highly acidic on the body and therefore if one does choose to eat these food products, it is necessary, if one is mindful of the acid/alkaline balance - to create balance with the other portions of the meal. Out of this, stemmed some interesting discussions around the group on how one finds all the minerals and vitamins necessary to provide the body with all it needs when eating a diet excluding meat and animal products. Amongst many other suggestions, one main recommendation was the inclusion of sea vegetables daily in the diet - not only for their alkalising effect, but because of the minerals contained in these amazing foods.

Briefly, the evening touched on the importance of salt in our diets - and not just any type of salt, but one very particularly nourishing type of pure, unrefined salt. Not only is it important that we use this salt in our diets, but also HOW we use it is extremely important. With such an interesting and somewhat controversial subject being presented, I am sure this next Health Awareness gathering will fill up quickly once the date is announced. If you would like to join this gathering, then be sure to email Khannah on inana(@)activ8(.)net(.)au (with the brackets removed in the email address) and ask to have your name added to the Health Awareness Gathering email alert, so that you may be notified of the next thought provoking and inspiring evening these talented ladies will be presenting. You may notice from Khannah’s email address, that Khannah is also one of the very passionate folk at the nourishing bush retreat community Inana, which is located on 300 remote acres in the Watagan Mountain Range just at the top of our Central Coast Mountain Region, in Bucketty.

The evening closed with us all enjoying an alkalising dessert and sipping mugs of freshly brewed Bancha tea. (Bancha tea is also known as Kukicha tea). This tea has quite an alkalinising effect on the body and was a lovely way to close a very inspiring and uplifting evening.

* The two books referenced in the evening were; “This works, crutches don’t” and “Alkalise or Die”


Edited to add: A list of alkalising foods can be found here or here...

Golden Local Fruits

How amazing have the local bio-dynamic paw paw and papaya’s been that have been available on the extra’s table the past couple of weeks! We bought both a paw paw and papaya the week of Monday 16 August and have had them both sitting on our bench ripening over the past week. We are still waiting for our papaya to ripen up, but our paw paw was definitely ready to be sliced up and enjoyed. You will notice from the two picture links given that the papaya is the fruit, which is more of an elongated shape, where as the paw paw is the more oval looking fruit. The two fruits are often confused, and if you google the difference between the two fruits, you will even find some information telling you there is no difference, it is two different names for the same fruit! But here is a link to some good short info that explains the difference between papaya and paw paw. Both fruits are packed with lots of essential Vitamins, Minerals and Enzymes as well as being highly regarded for their ease of being digested and for having a positive effect on the digestive system. There is more in-depth information on the health benefits of both papaya and paw paw with these individual links.

We spread some fresh paw paw slices over our breakfast this morning of chia pudding and sprinkled some of our raw trail mix over for a bit of morning crunch! A delicious and very nutritious rawsome breakfast.

~ Quick and Dirty Chia pudding for breakfast – recipe from ‘Bitt of Raw’ ~

Ingredients;
• 1 tablespoon nut butter (we used this amazing choc hazelnut spread from KR, alternatively you can just put a handful of nuts and 1T of raw cocao powder in the blender with the banana and water, instead of using a nut-butter.)
• 1/2 banana (or more… we use about 2 bananas to 2C water with 2T of nut-butter and 1C chia seeds generally)
• 1/4 cup chia seeds, unsoaked
• dash cinnamon
• sliced paw paw, fresh berries and/or raisins (you can use frozen berries that have defrosted at room temp over night – the juice from the berries adds extra yumminess to the pudding!)
• you can also use raw honey and shredded coconut as toppings,
but we used our raw trail mix*!

Method;
• Blend nut butter with 1 cup water and 1/2 banana. This makes a quick nutnanna milk.
• Put chia seeds into a bowl then add the liquid from step 1.
• Add cinnamon.
•  Stir well.
•  Put in some raisins and berries now or at the end.
•  Allow to soak for 30 minutes or overnight in the fridge. (we did ours overnight so breakfast was ready to go when we woke!)
•  Top with freshly sliced fruit of choice and Enjoy a rawsome start to your day!

* homemade raw trail mix; I put together a trail mix to sprinkle over dishes as we need for some superfood goodness. Here’s what I combine in our trail mix in proportions that just look right as I mix it all up; sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, coconut shreds, goji berries, slivered almonds, cacao nibs

Once the papaya ripens and we enjoy that, we will be saving the seeds to make the papaya pepper as suggested by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions - “The papaya seed is rich in enzymes and can be used in place of pepper in any recipe.”  

~ Papaya Pepper (NT p157) ~

Ingredients;
• Seeds from 1 papaya

Method;
• Place seeds with adhering pulp in warm water
and work with hands to remove the pulp.
• Let stand about 10 minutes.
The pulp will rise to the surface where it can be skimmed off.
• Let seeds soak, covered about 7 hours.
• Rinse seeds in a strainer and spread in a stainless steel baking pan.
• Bake at 65ºC overnight or until completely dry. Alternatively you can spread on a teflex tray and place in the dehydrator on the appropriate setting until dry.
• To use grind in a pepper mill.

Raw for Spring

Hello once again... We've added a couple of new recipes to the recipe page (see link on the left side bar) and have got the FIG website up and running, here. A huge thank you to David for all his work and great pictures, and to Nick Baron of the Bean Farm for his assistance in hosting the site. Much appreciated.

We're keeping this blog and will use it for articles, news and the produce updates on a Sunday evening.

Today we have an article written by a FIG member on getting healthy for Spring:

A few years back, our Naturopath recommended to us that Spring was the perfect time to increase raw foods in our diet. The reason being is that Spring is a time where the energy of the Earth is naturally expelling toxins - it is an outward breath time of year. Our bodies naturally start to detox in the Spring, so to cleanse our bodies and aid the detoxing with fresh, raw, organic; fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, complimented with nuts and seeds, gives our bodies the chance to fully exhale and expel the toxins that build up in our bodies. Now before I begin this article, I wanted to say, I am not here to spout the vegan or raw, way of life as a must do way of eating - but when we found out a lot of the information relating to Spring, detoxing, vegan eating during this time and raw foods, it all seemed to make sense to us - so I thought to share it here with other folk who are probably similarly minded.

Our Naturopath told us that as the Earth exhales and our bodies start to detox - so too do all other animals on the Earth. Therefore, animals are expelling their toxins into their exit avenues from the body and some of these places are - flesh, blood, and other bodily fluids such as milk (just as a breast-feeding mother is advised not to detox as her body will expel toxins into her milk that is then ingested by the baby). So you can see that if we eat meat or animal products that have been slaughtered/collected during this natural detoxing period of the year, then we are in actual fact eating meat or animal products that are higher in toxins than is normally present in these products.

When we first started with 'Spring detoxing' and the naturopath mentioned to eat 'raw' for six weeks from the start of Spring, I was a little confused? I had never heard of ‘Raw food’ as a community of people as such – my response was; “so you just want us to eat salad and raw veggies three times a day and snack on fruit in between for SIX WEEKS? WHAT?” Our naturopath recommended the book “Turn over a new leaf” (TOaNL) which is a full six week meal plan (three meals a day with snack recipe's and suggestions included). The book even includes shopping lists for each week, pantry stock you need to check your cupboard for each week and a preparation guide for things to make ahead of starting the detox, and freeze in batches for snacks/ease of meal prep throughout the detox. It is an amazing book and the meals are delicious. It is not 100% raw, but any cooking is via light steaming etc. There is a high component of raw food meals, but it really is a world away from what I originally envisaged as RAW! Raw can be and is, so creative and wonderfully delicious. Did I also mention it is SO quick and SO easy to cook... well um... create. I kind of feel a little strange using the word 'cook' to describe raw food preparation because, well - there is no cooking.

Another concern I have found, that folk can sometimes have, is that raw food requires a dehydrator. Whilst to get really fancy with raw food a dehydrator does come in handy - it is not essential. Russell James has a book in his ‘The Raw Chef Recipe series’ called ‘No dehydrator needed’. You will also find an abundance of raw food recipes online which do not require a dehydrator. And if you would like to try a dehydrated recipe and have not a dehydrator, then a low oven (not above 46ºC) will suffice for you to create this recipe. Equipment pieces that will make life a little easier for raw food and the TOaNL eating plan are; a food processor (one with good grunt if possible) and a blender. TOaNL also recommends a pressure cooker for cooking beans etc - but if you have read any of Sally Fallon’s NT words, you will know that this is probably not the most nutrient dense way to cook your beans. The good ol’ fashion soak for 24hrs then slow cook over 6-8 hours - low heat on the stove, results in a much more nutrient dense cooked bean. Kristen Suzanne just wrote a blog post about the equipment you need if you are new to raw food.

Of course, it can be a little difficult if one member of a family is inclined to increase raw food in their diet, but the other members are a little hesitant. Bill Murphy wrote a great article on ‘Raw Pleasure’ recently about this exact topic- which is quite a common issue, so if that situation is of consideration for your family, you may find some of his suggestions helpful in his article; “Being the Partner of a Raw Foodie”. I think the most important point is to remember that everyone is at different points on their personal journey, even if we are walking a path together. Different things resonate more deeply with others at various times and then surprisingly that changes again, sometimes very quickly, as our thoughts evolve with time, research, experiences and various inspirations. If you are wanting to include more raw food in your diet but have some resistance from family members, are you able to perhaps start to include raw food in certain aspects of the overall eating plan? Say perhaps a smoothie, green or fruit with breakfast a few times a week, then start to experiment with some various raw breakfasts. Perhaps you can include a few snacks of raw food through the week, perhaps a decadent desert or two to sweeten the offering? Lunches and Dinners can easily have a ‘raw component’ added to them so there is still a balance that pleases all. Look online and find some exquisite looking recipes (which are always simple and quick to prepare despite their gourmet appearance) as these will give other family members a ‘taste of raw’ without ‘going raw’. Again, of course, different things suit different families, but if you are interested in raw, see if you can just start to introduce a few recipes into your weekly meal plan and in no time (especially as the weather warms) I am sure you will find some real family favourites and have those hesitant members of the family probably requesting your new raw food recipes!

So what's the big buzz about Raw Foodism anyway? Kristen Suzanne puts it into words beautifully in her ebook ‘The Easy way to get started with Raw food and succeed ’ – “We’ve all heard time and again that we should eat more fruits and vegetables. The difference between that statement in the past versus today is that we now have exciting, delicious, and innovative ways to prepare whole fruits and vegetables as evidenced by the popularity of “Raw food,” emerging as a new cuisine all of its own. “Raw” no longer means boring salads and fruit plates. With Raw food cuisine, your world has now opened up to experiencing fresh whole fruits and vegetables like you never imagined they could be... incredible!”  But why do we NEED to be increasing raw food in our diet. Kristen Suzanne goes on to say - “Eating more Raw food is one of the most amazing things you can do for yourself. If you’re looking to experience life at its fullest, then you definitely need to start incorporating more Raw food into your daily food choices. If you’re looking to be the happiest you’ve ever been, then this is the answer. The Raw Lifestyle is, hands down, the easiest way to help lose unwanted weight, eliminate or reduce cellulite, improve digestion, experience restful sleep, gain incredible amounts of energy, have brighter eyes, radiate with beautiful, glowing, and younger looking skin, experience mental clarity and energy like never before, and have a new lease on life... literally, including the prevention and even reversal of many diseases.”

The term "Raw food" relates to foods that have been prepared in a way, that they have never been heated above 46ºC. People often interchange the word "Raw" with "Living" foods. The term Living implies that we are eating food that is pure, in it's state that nature provided it - the enzymes in the food are active and awake - our food is ALIVE. Nuts and seeds are an exception to this ‘raw’ eating. They are not in an ‘awakened’ state when we buy nuts that have been stored for some time after harvesting. Until a stored nut or seed is soaked, it is not regarded as "Living" as the nut or seed has enzyme inhibitors that have 'hardened' the nut and 'locked up' all the goodies in the nut. Our bodies have a difficult time digesting the nut or seed and absorbing the nutrient from them, often this just passes through, unused by the body. This is actually a protection mechanism by the nut and seed, to ensure future ability to sprout (re-germinate) and not go rancid in a period of dormant being. When we soak the nut or seed, we 'awaken' it. It starts to 'sprout' and the enzyme inhibitors are broken down. We then have a nut or seed that we can digest and absorb maximum nutrient from. The nut, seed and even when we do this with grains, have now become a green food instead of a 'dormant' food. We now have a "living" nut, seed or grain. With raw food transition, many traditional foodies can be a little concerned about their protein levels. With my research into raw food, I have come to believe that if one is eating a wide variety of plant based foods with a high leafy green intake, then one will be feeding the body all it needs to function, evolve, heal, repair and be well. Sprouted nuts, seeds and grains (such as wheat grass) are an excellent way to get a protein boost into your diet. When the seed starts to sprout - it effectively is preparing for and changing into life ('living food') so it puts all it's best energy into the effort to sprout, hence why sprouts are so highly regarded as a protein goodie in the raw food community. There is a particular school of Raw food thought out there – the 80/10/10 diet which suggests to limit the amount of nuts, seeds etc that one eats in a Raw food diet and mostly eat fresh organic fruit and vegetable. There is no creative food prep as such from what I understand about 80/10/10, it is mostly just raw fresh produce, not raw food creations. Again, it’s something where you have to let instinct guide you. For me and our family, the 80/10/10 doesn’t really resonate that wholly with us and we are, at the moment, just loving the array of raw food recipes we are able to create and enjoy.

The other ultimate protein food is of course hemp foods which are hemp seed derived. Hemp seed is extremely high in protein. Hemp as a food in Australia is something that is currently under review by our Government and a decision will be made at the end of 2011 by the powers that be. Hemp is extremely high in protein and is a great ingredient in the raw foodies kitchen. America has much more accommodating laws in regards to Hemp as a Food. Unfortunately our current situation in Australia means that we cannot purchase Hemp in any form for use in food. There are various forms of Hemp Food sources. A few are; Hemp Protein, Hemp oil and Hulled Hemp seeds. These are all available in Australia, but are not sold as a food item, it is intended that these products not be consumed by humans. Hemp Protein is the meal that is left after the hemp oil has been pressed out. This can be used in raw protein bars, protein shakes or put into many dips and sauces to accompany raw food creations. It can even be ground in a grain mill and then used as a flour. The Hemp oil is used in the same way one would use Flax oil, as Hemp oil does have the same heat sensitive properties as Flax oil – but the oil can be used in salad dressings, drizzled over essene bread/toast or used as a dipping with dukkah. Hemp oil is a great source of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s). Hulled hemp seed can be used in patties, pizza crusts, cookies and many other raw food applications as well as wonderful applications such as making hemp milk, hemp cheese and hemp tofu – a great soy alternative for those who prefer to avoid soy. If you are interested in Hemp as a Food or anything hempy, there is a wonderful hemp store on the Coast, down the Peninsula - Gnostic Hemporium. Owned and Operated by a man of much hemp knowledge - Richie, it is worth visiting either online or in person if you are interested in signing the petition to support being able to use this super protein food in a raw diet. “Hemp must NOT be confused with marijuana. The level of THC (the psychoactive ingredient that gets people high) is so low in industrial hemp (0.03%) that it has no effect if smoked.” – Gnostic Hemporium ‘Hemp as a Food’ petition. If you are interested in reading more in-depth information about the Hemp as a Food issue in Australia, Guy Stewart has a great article “Why Hemp as a food is still illegal”.

Back to the major component of a Raw food diet - fresh organic fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices... the major and most essential part of the Raw food diet, the part that the folk at FIG very generously work hard to deliver to us every week - and with low food miles! We are so blessed to be able to eat fresh, LOCAL, organic produce. People the world over that convert to a High Raw (HR) diet report amazing changes in energy levels, general well being, stabilizing ideal weight, release from many debilitating ailments; from headaches, migraines and allergies to more serious chronic conditions being cured or greatly alleviated by this style of eating. As our family has tethered back and forth through our transition to HR, I can honestly say the heavy and lethargic feeling from eating cooked meals is definitely noticeable once you have nourished your body with the goodness of raw foods. And you know - it is hard to transition to something so extreme and different to what one is normally used to eating, so no-one ever says that it has to be done 100%. When we first started transitioning, it was suggested to me that one easy way to increase our raw intake was to include a green smoothie in our diet every day. My suggestion is, that if you feel like an old favourite, cooked meal - then make it. It will actually probably be very rewarding as you too may well notice the difference between the feeling of HR and a traditional cooked diet. I'm not here to spout a righteous way of being. Just last Friday we found preservative and additive free taco shells in our local organic store. Corn, oil and water - only ingredients. So straight away, it set a craving in place for me. Our child had never had taco's as the taco shells generally available have a few additives that I really think do not belong in food products! It was such a treat for us. We picked up some organic; chicken, cheese and sheep's yoghurt (in place of the sour cream!) topped them with a raw salsa (had to have some raw in there somewhere) and they were delish. To see the grin and experience of taco's on our child's face was worth it. They were a yummy treat and enjoyed by the whole family! As I said, I'm not here to create a righteous 'raw is the best' article, but I am just here to let you know the benefits of including a little more raw in your diet and especially in Spring, as I have explained above.

Every one is aware that when we cook our fresh produce food, nutrients start to leach from and deplete in the food. We can all remember stories of great-granny and how she boiled her broccoli until it was not even a green colour anymore - more of a greyish yellow colour. "THEN it was COOKED love!" I once heard someone say it would then be more nutritious to throw the broccoli away and drink the water it was boiled in! Heat kills the enzymes in our fresh produce. As the heat increases, the enzymes are damaged and the longer they stay at higher temperatures the more they deplete until they are themselves also fried! The most nutritious way to eat our fresh produce is raw. (Of course, there is a few exceptions, and the Body Ecology site has a great article about the family of vegetables that do require light steaming for particular digestion/metabolism reasons. But if you are committed to a raw way of eating, you can always ferment these vegetables to eliminate the properties in these vegetables that effect the thyroid and other bodily functions.) But if one is still preferring 'cooked' food then to lightly steam the produce so it is still crisp when eating is the most ideal after raw consumption. Now if you have a mind like me that thinks "OK, raw, so I can do crudities, garden salad, green salad, um.... hmmm... oh well I could dice the vegetables in a salad, that might look different.. but how long could I eat this same taste food?" I am here to share with you that there is SO many different ways to prepare fresh raw produce into the most delicious meal arrangements – we are never bored with the food we eat and never at a loss for a wonderful recipe to try… the hardest part is deciding on WHICH recipe to prepare! I feel so filled with nutritious, wonderful food - this will sound corny (no raw food pun intended there!), but you can just hear your body sing. It is such an energetic and clear state of being when eating a raw diet. Kristen Suzanne of Kristen’s Raw says "Raw is for people who want to feel vibrant and alive, and want to enjoy life like never before". OK - I'll put my hand up for a double serving of that thank you!

A few of my favourite raw food sites for inspiration and recipe’s are; Kristen’s Raw; Russell James Raw Food Chef; Yummy Raw Kitchen; Catherine et les fees (if you go back to her March 2010 and onward posts you will find lots of raw food recipes in her Spring (Canadian) raw food transition); Bitt of Raw; Sweetly Raw; The Sunny Raw Kitchen… and I could go on and on. Enjoy and have a Rawsome Spring!

Disclaimer; This article is NOT written by a health trained professional. It is written by a raw food eating person with a strong interest in health. This information is not intended as health advice. Please consult with your own natural health practitioner and discuss with that health professional any of these ideas you may be interested in, before making any changes in your diet/eating style. Significant changes in diet and eating styles that bring about detoxing effects on the body need to be monitored carefully by a natural health professional and are not suitable for everyone. FIG and the author of this article accept no liability for decisions you make about your style of eating based on the information in this article.


Note: for those interested in learning about incorporating more raw dishes into their daily meal plans, there is a workshop called Introduction to Healthy Eating with Raw Food on at Wyee on Saturday, 28th August from 1-5pm. Bookings can be made with Sophie on 0428 108 723 or email sophie@rawcoasties.com.

Are you throwing away the best part?

Just thought I’d stop in very quickly (I know you are probably thinking there is no such thing as ‘just a few words’ from me!) with just a few short words. Hasn’t the beetroot been beautiful in our boxes these last few weeks? Beetroot always is so wonderful, but something about having it local and fresh makes it all the more beautiful! So – what does everyone do with their beetroot greens (the leaves on top) and the stalks that lead off the beet bulb to the leaves? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section with your favourite beet green and stalk/stem usage suggestions. Hopefully everyone makes great use of these parts of the beets and doesn’t just lop them off and toss them in the compost. Although they still have use in the compost in breaking down into rich hummus to feed our gardens and restore our soil – they are equally beneficial for our body. Very nourishing and quite tasty. In actual fact, the stems and greens have a higher nutritional content than the root bulb! So if you are throwing the stems and greens away – you’re throwing out the best bit! Don’t believe me? Check out some info on beet green nutrition here.

Beet greens are closely related to spinach and kale, so you use them as you would these ingredients. You can use them raw, lightly steamed, in stir-fries or make some tasty combinations out of them on their own with a few spices added. Lots of wonderful beet green/stalk ideas here. Be sure to store your beet greens in your fridge, in a salad leaf crisper container as they will wilt if left loose in the fridge – just as salad leaves do.

This morning in our kitchen, we did a little experimenting with the beet greens and stalks through our slow juicer. The result was wonderful. I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot of juice out of them – I was surprised at how much juice came out! I thought I would share with you our result. It actually created a cappuccino froth effect as well! Raw Cappuccino – who would have thought it!

Raw Winter Sunrise Cappuccino – serves 4

• 1 bunch of beetroot leaves and stalks
• 1/2 large bunch of kale, stalks, stem and all
• 4 carrots
• 2 large stalks of celery
• 3 apples
• 3 thin slices of a large ginger knob (you can add more if you would like more zing!)
• Juice all through a slow juicer making sure to alternate tougher leaves/stems with softer apple pieces or the like – it’s kinder to your juicer
• With a spoon, hold back the froth of the juice and fill a tall glass to within 2″ of the glass top
• Spoon froth onto top of juice to fill glass
• You can even dust with cinnamon or nutmeg for a more authentic ‘cappuccino’ feel!

• Drink immediately and feel your body sing!

And does anyone have an abundance of oranges and kiwi that they are wanting to find a nutritious use for? Here’s the answer:

East Coast Winter Rainbow – serves 4

• 6 oranges (peeled)
• 10 small kiwifruit (peeled)
• 2 carrots
• 1 small beetroot
• Two large handfuls of wheatgrass and chia seed sprouts (if you don’t have these, then still go ahead and make the juice, but the green food boost of these is wonderful)
• 3 thin slices of a large ginger knob (again, you can add more if you would like more zing!)

• Juice all, drink immediately and feel the energy boost!

Welcoming ‘Sprinter’ in our gardens

I've been thinking to write an article titled "How is your garden growing?", with some suggestions on how we can be tending and caring for our gardens, soil and plants through this restorative and restful period of the year. I was planning to share with you how over-grown and neglected our little garden space has been over this period and how desperately we needed to get out into our yard and tend to our gardens. But as I now do actually sit here to write, there has been a shift in our gardens. Haven't the last few days been very unseasonably warm? Yesterday, our family actually frolicked around in the yard in short sleeve tee shirts! Dare I say that we may be approaching that un-official season of 'Sprinter'? I think it appears that we may well be heading into this time of our year.

My plan for this article was to share with you one of the primary focus’ we should have in our gardens at this restorative time of year. Our soil. Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA) has a beautiful section on soil; Healthy Soil - boring, but important!

Haven't we had a very wet Winter? One of the wettest I remember for a long time. And whilst this higher rainfall is wonderful for our commercial farmers around the country, it has made getting out and about in our own little patches, for those home space gardeners of us - a little difficult, especially if you have a yard like us, that has turned into a mini swimming pool with all this rainfall!

Over the past few days whilst amongst our garden space; removing spent plants, pottering and tending to the renewing of this space - I have discovered many little Winter treasures that have been quietly growing and producing along their way through Winter. We have dandelion chicory, rocket, sorrel, geraniums, cape gooseberry, mandarins, spinach and chards, winter salad leaves, beets, a few missed pumpkins from our Autumn harvest that were hiding under the over grown Winter garden, brassica's that are finally looking like they may produce some veggies for us (after nearly being wiped out by multiple attacks of the white cabbage moth caterpillars!), some wonderful winter shallots, beautiful celery, various Winter herbs and a MOUNTAIN of worm wee! Isn't worm wee just the most amazing nutrient boost for the gardens! We have a very basic, but very effective homemade worm farm and I am planning for you, that the article following this one, will be a piece about how to create your own worm farm with free materials! You will need to purchase the correct type of worms for your farm, but there are quite a few folk on our local LETS community that offer a tub of worms for a very reasonable shell rate. Around 20 shells I think when at most local hardware stores, the worms to start the farm (just the worms by themselves, no farm materials) are around $100, from what I have been told. If you do not as yet have a worm farm yourself, but would like to use some of this nutrient rich worm wee on your gardens during this restorative time - to feed your soil, then there are also many folk on the CC LETS network that offer a 1-2L bottle of worm wee for around 2-4 shells. If you are not a member of LETS - why not? It is such a wonderful community where you can share in a very generous, friendly and supportive community of folk, and have access to many new and exciting things one may not otherwise be aware of. Just this week we ate our first yacon from a community member and have some tubers to plant once they sprout!

So, I have digressed...let’s get back to the topic at hand… restoring our gardens during this restful time of year. I once heard some very wise words "never feed your plants - only ever feed your soil" - and soil is what it is all about in this restorative time of year, well, it's always about the soil I guess, but in this restorative time of year, we need to put the focus of our energies into this aspect of our gardens. The SGA website has a wealth of information about soil. The link to their index of soil info is here.

I have a great little book simply titled 'Grow Vegetables' - this Australian version is wonderful. My favourite part is the section that has a month by month plan of what the home gardener wanting to produce their own vegetables, needs to be doing at that particular time. At the moment, as you would guess, most of the advice stems around restoring our patch and nourishing our soil. Some of the mid-Winter suggestions are; clear away remains of any plants that have finished cropping, spread well rotted compost over beds, PH test soil (some great info here on SGA about adjusting the acid/alkaline balance of our soil), cover selected areas with whatever material you prefer to start warming the soil and avoid soil becoming water logged, dig over garden beds. If we have been hard working little home gardeners, we may well be harvesting; cauliflower, brussels, leeks, kale, radishes, salad leaves, cress, mibuna, mizuna, parsnips and celeriac, along with other Winter herbs. To stay on track with our produce, now is the time to; plant garlic, sow onion seeds, plant out our first shallots and onions if it is not too wet, buy seed potatoes and start to 'chit' them, 'force' rhubarb and order seeds. The SGA site has a great month by month section as well, which details tasks to undertake at the relevant time of the year. Check out June and July to see what we should be doing now in our gardens and once you've accomplished all that, have a nice warm cup of herbal whilst you read and prepare for the tasks of August!

Green juices

Here's another article by our Guest writer, on the health-giving properties of Green Juices:

Our family has recently begun a love affair with green juices. The inspiration came from the youngest member of our family having a slight obsession with the Spirulina smoothie from Charlie’s. We’ve recently been journeying more and more into raw food creations and green foods seemed like something wonderful to start including in our family diet. I know this is no big revelation, green juices and smoothies have been around forever, but I thought I would share with you some great combinations we have come across as well as share our enthusiasm for this very simple and yummy way to get so much goodness into our bodies.

The FIG bulk fruit orders are a great (and economical) way to stock up on produce for use in smoothies and juices. Storing the produce can sometimes be a juggling act – we know that, but last bulk fruit order when I looked at two fridges overflowing with fresh food and a bulk fruit order still to be packed away, I was grateful for our 105L icebox that sits unloved for most of the year until we pack it up and head off on a long awaited camping adventure. So dust off those old eskies, squeeze a second hand fridge into that spare space in the laundry (you can always find these on the side of the road or being thrown out by some relation somewhere who is trading theirs up) and stock up at the next bulk fruit order! Here’s how you can use anything green in the bulk orders or from the abundance of nutritious, local and organic greens we are blessed to receive in our boxes each week.

For wonderful raw inspiration, I always head over to Kristen’s Raw – a wealth of raw food information with wonderfully simple and tasty recipes. Kristen and hubby have just welcomed their little ‘monkey’ into their family, so her updates may be a bit less regular now, but the archived info will have you reading for years anyway. Kristen kept a wonderful online pregnancy journal about High raw food intake whilst growing a bub in the womb. Very inspiring journey. Anyway, back to all things green – Kristen’s blog is full of lots of wonderful green combinations; Plant blood, Green Juice and her Cayenne spiced green smoothie – just to name a few. If you spend some time looking around Kristen’s site, you’ll come up with a never ending list of ‘want to try’ recipes for a variety of raw foods, but also many wonderful smoothies/juices – green or otherwise. The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen is another great recipe inspiration source, in particular (and back to subject!) we liked their Winter Green Smoothie recipe. Ours resulted as a Winter red smoothie, because we had red cabbage on hand, not green – but that brings me to my next point….

Recipes are great for inspiration and guidance, but that is really all they are. And for something like a green smoothie, once you have followed a few recipe’s you really get the hang of various nourishing and tasty combinations. The only rule with green smoothies is; “If it’s green – chuck it in!”… and even then, if it’s not green and you still want to chuck it in… then do so. But the main aim is to have predominantly green foods in these types of juices/smoothies. In a Westernised society, we are exposed daily to environmental pollutants, free radical damage and stress level impact – it’s just a part of living in the world we do, no matter how ‘clean and green’ we try to live, this fact is a reality. The benefits of green juices and green foods are that they are extremely cleansing to the body and are full of health beneficial anti-oxidants. A major part of our common place Western diet is extremely acidifying – green juices and foods offer a beautiful alkalising balance to this. There is a really eye opening list of acid/alkaline foods on this link. If you would like to read more about the benefits of green juices, there is some nice info here, or you can just google ‘health benefits of green juices’.

I thought I would share with you some tips and tricks that we have picked up along our green juicing journey;

• If it’s green, chuck it in. This means cucumbers, celery, apples, kale, cabbage, carrot tops, spinach, rainbow chard….. and all the rest I haven’t thought of whilst typing this list!

• If possible, juice with a slow juicer. Traditional style juicers that can conveniently ‘juice whole apples’ may seem like they are great, but because of the power and pressure needed to juice that whole apple, the machine and the fruit get very hot – this in turn depletes the nutrient content of the juice. Slow juicers (this link is to just one type of slow juicer available) result in a much more nutrient rich juice.

• Always include some spices, especially in Winter, but always, spices are good. We juice a small, thin 1cm piece of ginger into all our green juices. You can also add cayenne pepper, cinnamon, tumeric, cloves, whatever you are feeling inspired to include. Here’s some words about foods/spices to ensure we include in our Winter diet. And be sure to check out the ORAC scale - the information in the ORAC scale about the anti-oxidant levels in foods that we so commonly over-look is quite amazing.

• Juice what you can and then put the juice into the blender with fruits or vegetables that you want to drink whole; we often blend kale, kiwi fruit (how blessed we are to have the amazing local goodness of wild growing kiwi fruits!) and sometimes bananas (fresh or frozen) into our green juice. Blending is also a great way to add in your spices, you can even just blend the ginger into the juice. Be aware, with blending the ginger in, as opposed to juicing, gives a lot more ‘zing’ to the juice, so be mindful of how much ginger you use in this way!

• If you do ‘juice’ as opposed to ‘blend’ stiffer leafy greens such as kale or cabbage, be sure to do so as single leaves and alternate with other produce such as a stick of celery or a wedge of apple – it’s kinder to your juicer, especially if you are using a slow juicer – they start to complain a little if you try to wedge through a whole handful of kale greens all at once!

• Feed the dispelled pulp from the juicer to your chookeys - they’ll love you and you’ll be rewarded with golden, creamy yolk eggs from healthy ladies!

• For optimal nutrient content from your juices – make and drink. The juice will start to oxidize and deplete in nutrient content shortly after juicing.

• Grow some wheat grass to include in your juices. It is super easy to grow and such a powerful, healing, cleansing, alkalising green food. The link above gives a great guide to growing the wheatgrass, although their beginning soak instructions seem lengthy. We have just been soaking the wheat-berries for 24 hours, drain, sprout for 24 hours then proceed as the linked instructions suggest. Be sure to ‘juice’ the wheatgrass as opposed to putting it into the juice via the blender. The human digestive system cannot digest grass, but the juice is extremely beneficial for our bodies.

• If you want to add some extra protein to your juices, when you put your juice in the blender, add 1-2 scoops of rice protein powder, 1T of ground hemp seed (available from Gnostic Hemporium at Woy Woy), or 1T of chia seeds. There is a good comparison here between different varieties of protein powders.

And remember, in the words of the very inspiring David Wolfe in Food Matter’s “Drink your food and chew your juices!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PS: If you would like to invest in a second fridge to hold all the extra produce you may go through in making up green smoothies and juices every day, but don't want either the high purchase or running costs, maybe you'd be interested in knowing what Maree has set up in her home. Maree and family are totally off the grid, relying on solar only for their electricity. To lessen the power used by the normal power-hungry fridges, they bought a cheap chest freezer and purchased a freezer-to-fridge conversion thermostat, here. Works perfectly, on very little power, and now they're thinking of purchasing another, to store all the fruit & vegies they go through!

Kohlrabi - 'the under-appreciated vegetable'

Here is an article submitted by a very wonderful FIG member (thank you, we hope there will be more!), on the merits of that strange looking vegetable members have been commenting on at the co-op lately - Kohlrabi. It isn't grown on the Central Coast (yet) and we've purchased some Biodynamic bunches from Emery Farms of NSW for you to try. It may be something we can coax the local farmers into growing, at one of our farmers meetings, or perhaps if you try it you may want to grow some yourself. You will find it on the extras tables at FIG.

On the extras table the past few weeks, you may have noticed some of these odd looking purple tubular vegetables and wondered what on earth they are and how you would use them. They are Kohlrabi and they are delicious!

When we first enquired as to what these funky looking purple characters were and David told us they are ‘Kohlrabi’, we then checked the vegetable reference book that conveniently sits at the desk of FIG each week. After the technical specs of where it comes from and what it is, the description read something along the lines of ‘similar to turnip’. Well – that didn’t exactly have me leaping to grab a bunch, I’m sure many would agree, most folk don’t leap for turnip the same way they would pumpkin or potato – or maybe that’s just me. I have also read that kohlrabi is likened to the stem of broccoli, but sweeter. We’re always up for trying something new in our kitchen, so we adopted a bunch of these funky looking kohlrabi characters.
 
The shortened version of kohlrabi’s technical specs are, that it is a cultivated vegetable from the wild cabbage. Over generations, the cabbage that had swollen, more spherical stems were selectively chosen to cultivate and kohlrabi slowly came to be known. It takes its’ name from the German ‘kohl’ for cabbage and ‘rabi’ being the Swiss German variant of turnip. (There’s that turnip link again, but let me assure you it is nothing like turnip… well in my palette anyway!) Kohlrabi can be eaten raw or cooked and if you google kohlrabi recipes you get a stack of tasty and inspiring suggestions along with background info on kohlrabi. I thought it was quite co-incidental when I had never heard of, or seen this vegetable a few weeks ago, then had a tasty encounter with it, and then on Facebook (yes, that dreaded, but (secretly) dearly loved world of FB!) the other day I saw a friend’s status… “Better start dinner... Tonight kohlrabi curry, Naan, and cucumber w/ yogurt.” When I get that kohlrabi curry recipe, I’ll be sure to share it with you all! I commented to my friend that we had recently discovered Kohlrabi and were amazed at how great it was. Her response was “I do feel that it (kohlrabi) is under appreciated, while being very easy to grow.” 
 
Kohlrabi comes in greeny/cream and also purple coloured bulbs – but this outer colouring of the bulb is a somewhat superficial characteristic as the bulb is peeled to be used and all kohlrabi are a white fleshy bulb vegetable (yes, similar form to turnip, inside). The greenery on top is also edible, although the bunches we have been getting at the moment, haven’t had the most useable greenery on top of them. But if you by chance get a bunch of kohlrabi with greenery that looks like this then you can use it as you would beetroot greens. Steamed, blanched in stir fry’s or mixed raw into spicy winter garden salads. 
 
OK, I’ll get to the point – how did we eat them. I turned to the trusty world of the interweb and found this great info and inspiration. We peeled our kohlrabi (2-3 bulbs), diced it, popped it in a baking pan, tossed it in a splash of olive oil (I think it was, but you could also use melted coconut oil or sesame oil perhaps), sprinkled over a whole big handful (about 10 cloves) of finely diced Australian purple garlic then dust with a fine sprinkle of Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt (whatever your preference). Bake in a 180ºC pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes (or until cooked through and golden). We served ours with Nourishing Traditions Lamb Shanks (NT p346) and honey, sesame tossed steamed carrots.
 
As we pottered around whilst dinner cooked, the smell of garlic permeating our home was divine. When we sat down to eat, I was interested to try the kohlrabi, but didn’t hold the highest hopes for this ‘turnip like vegetable’. However, we were all pleasantly surprised as we tried our garlic roasted kohlrabi and the general consensus among our family was “oooo… oh wow… that’s yum”… there was much ‘mmmmm….. m-mmmmm’ going on through-out that meal! It kind of tasted like yummy roasted golden potato cubes, but with a lighter, crispier texture than the mushiness of potato, and with a slight sweetness. The garlic was a perfect accompaniment to the natural flavour of the kohlrabi. It’s always a good feeling as a Mother and a homemaker when you can serve nourishing food that is tasty and enjoyed by all.
 
If you are inspired to try some, hopefully there will be some more gracing our FIG extra’s table over the coming weeks, be sure to grab a bunch, but please make sure there is one left for us! When my child and I were talking about what we would have for dinner the other evening, I heard a little voice enquire “Do we have any of that Kohlrabi again! That was yum!”
 
Reference – Kohlrabi file in Wikipedia