Strawberry Buffet=D

In less than a week I'm leaving Yarmouth to go work on a farm in the valley that produces strawberries, and other fruits and veggies. I'll be staying at the campground across the road which is by a river. It's only a few minutes walk into town where I can get fruit whenever I want, and I'll be able to eat strawberries right off the vine!

I plan to be gone until at least September and I probably won't have internet access, but I'll update when I get back.

My Other Wonderful Sister

I was just thinking today how I wrote a post about my little sister, but I've barely mentioned my amazing older sister, Yarrow. She's graduating from her first year of nursing sometime this week I think, top of her class. She is so dedicated to learning about things that interest her, it's quite inspiring.
As you can see from the photos, she'd make as good a supermodel as she would a nurse. She'll be a great nurse though, she's so compassionate, unlike a lot of nurses I've met. She seems to really care about people.
Unfortunatley, I haven't gotten to see Yarrow so much since she's been so busy studying this year. Hopefully we'll get to spend some time together this summer.


Doesn't she look like she belongs on the cover of a magazine?


This is us a few years ago, back when I was on a SAD diet and had orange hair

I started a new community!!!!!

I just created a fruitarian community to support and connect with other fruitarians. I've already got 35 members and it seems to be off to a great start. Please check it out and join if you're fruitarian, or if it is your goal to become fruitarian in the future. It's fruitariannirvana.ning.com

Summer in May

Today was finally a warm day. The past few weeks there has been sun, but the winds were so strong that it's been too cold for me to be outside very much. It looks like tomorrow will be even warmer. Ever since I got my 12 pounds of fresh, organic dates I have been eating little else. Sometimes I eat up to two pounds a day. They're very soft and Rowenna says they taste just like buttery cake batter. Only they have no fat and taste so much better to me than a pasty white cake. I've also been eating avocados for the first time in almost 6 months. I've eaten the odd one here and there, but lately I've been eating at least 2 per day. I know they're not good to eat in those quantities, but the price per calorie has been lower than other fruits so I'm just trying to get by. They make me feel nauseous and really tired though. I can't wait to spend weeks eating nothing but watermelon once they're good and cheap. I love how I feel eating only juicy fruits.

My website is just about ready to go as far as content, but I still need to figure out how to work with SEO and local advertising. I'm still hopeful that it will take off, but I'm trying to work out other options to make money this summer. I really want to work at a fruit farm, but Rowenna isn't very enthusiastic about driving me so I'm hoping to find one that will provide accommodations or at least let me pitch a tent.

If I manage to save up a bit of money I can be off for South America or Mexico this fall. If I do house sitting or camping, or anything with free accommodation I can live for very little and stay all winter. Round trip flight will be about $600, and food for 6 months will be about another $600, but those will be pretty much the only expenses. I'll feel pretty comfortable if I leave with $2000 and I think it's possible to make that this summer if I work really hard.

Spring

Spring has sprung and everything is beginning to change. I left my dad, hopefully for good this time. I want good influences around me. At first I was really worried because without him buying my fruit I didn't know how I'd afford it. I waited though and tried to truly believe money was coming my way. Then Someone from 30bananasaday told me of a freelance writing company she wrote for and recommended I give it a try. It sounds awesome so I applied. It said it can take up to 2 weeks to find out if you get the job so I'm patiently waiting and practicing on increasing my typing speed. I've been using Garfield's typing tutor, mostly working on dictation. It's actually pretty fun typing for hours and hours about a fat cat who loves lasagna=D

While I'm waiting for huge amounts of money to come my way I'm eating the cheapest food per calorie-bananas. Today is my second day on banana island, and it looks like I'll be here for a couple more days. I can't wait till I can start buying watermelons and mangoes. And just so you know, that's the first thing I'll be doing with my first paycheck. I'm going to treat myself to all the yummy fruit I want...can't wait!!!

Abundance

A few weeks back I was researching mono melon diets. I was interested because I was so drawn to eating only melons, and I felt like that everyday. I kept reading how dangerous it was to eat only melons, even for as little as 3 days. At first I was totally baffled because melons are filled with vitamins, minerals, water and the complex carbs that can fuel an athlete. After more research I found out that almost all the people that were recommending the melon diet for weight loss and detox suggested eating 1 cup of melon for each meal of the day. That's where the problem lies. I wouldn't recommend people eat only 3 cups of melon a day just as I wouldn't recommend them eating only 2 dates per day. That is a starvation diet, and coming from a recovered anorexic, eating that little will cause your health to plummet.
Fruitarianism is about abundance. That's one of the reasons I love it so much. You don't need to watch what you eat, you simply eat as much as you'd like. For a successful watermelon diet I'd say you'll need anywhere from one large melon up to 4 per day. If people would try that they'd see what vitality is all about. Eating only melons WILL NOT HURT YOU!! I know a woman who ate nothing but melons for 6 months straight, and she is a glowing picture of health. She's been eating nothing but fruit for 17 years. If you need more proof check out Freeleas blog: http://sweetjuicyfreelee.com/ She's a low fat raw vegan eating fruit and greens for the past 3 years. Her and her boyfriend(eating the same diet as Freelea) are organic athletes. Harley has competed in 24 hour bike races eating bananas. The fruitarian way of life will help you excel at every level.

Cantaloupes!!!!

I just ate the sweetest Cantaloupe for breakfast. I'm finally learning to tell when they're perfectly ripe. They need to sound hollow inside, have a ring around the stem, and be a little soft at the opposite end. It took me about 50-100 melons this past month to figure it out just right. I've been eating cantaloupes everyday, sometimes only cantaloupes. I can just keep eating them and they continue to be the only food I want. This week I've been eating about 4 extra large a day, less if I eat other fruits. So that's about 15-20 pounds of melon per day!! That gives me over 4000% of my RDA for vitamin A!!!

Last week I treated myself to some books from Amazon and they arrived a couple of days ago. I just finished reading Arnold Ehert's Mucusless diet healing system. It was an amazing read. I would recommend it to anyone. I also spent some time looking through my new book, Melons for the passionate grower. It's filled with beautiful photographs and info. I just started reading The China study last night. it's the most comprehensive study ever taken on nutrition....ever!! read it, and it will change your life!!!

Dad mentioned yesterday morning that the plan is still on to leave for Mexico in April. I'm soooo excited! He's letting me be in charge of planning, and learning Spanish so it's definitely keeping me busy. We're going for 2 weeks so I want to spend one week in The Yucatan, and one in Chiapas. I'd like to rent bikes so we can spend our days in the beautiful outdoors, cycling from one small village to another, trying to find our perfect location.

Mexico

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it looks like we might be going to Mexico!! I asked the lady who visited there lots of questions, and Yucatan sounds so amazing. So I told Dad about it and he loves the idea too. Then he looked into real estate and found that we can get 200 acres with 8 little cabins on it for US$70 000!!! He says

once the weather breaks we'll go there and see what kind of property we can find. I'm so hopeful! I'm working all day on learning Spanish because I know that will be very important there. Then I found out that in a lot of Yucatan they still speak Mayan. It looks like I might have more languages to learn. All I can think about is how once I'm there, I'm going to grow every type of watermelon imaginable=D

For the Fruit Bat in You!

Mexican Fruit Stand

Here's an article I read about what our bodies are meant to eat(or not meant to eat):

The Basic Facts

"This article provides the basic information on the natural diet for Human Beings. The scientific facts are easily available, should the reader wish to know the full details.

From a physiological perspective (the way the physical body functions), humans are frugivorous. That is, their natural diet consists of fruit, nuts, seeds and green leafy vegetables, all eaten raw.

Why? The human's digestive tract is long, about nine times longer than the body length, suitable to the slow digestion of fruit, nuts and vegetables. A Carnivore's digestive tract is only about three times longer than its body. This enables it to expel toxic rotting flesh from the body quickly, before it putrefies in the digestive tract or intestines.

Digestive Juices - Ptyalin, an enzyme that breaks down starches into sugars, is high in the saliva of the mouth of frugivores and either non-existent or present in very low levels in the saliva of carnivores.

Humans and other Frugivores have weak solutions of acid in the saliva, used to predigest proteins. The acid in a carnivore's saliva is very strong, enabling predigestion to begin in the mouth. The stomach acid of frugivores is weak, compared to carnivores, and is not ideally suited to breaking down of "animal" proteins, in particular, flesh.

Humans do not have teeth suitable to tear raw flesh from an animal, whereas carnivores are adequately equipped to do this, with long strong canine teeth.

Humans do not have claws with which to grasp and rip the flesh off their prey. But our hands are ideally suited to picking fruit!

The only milk suitable for humans is human mother's milk. Cow's milk is meant for its calves. Goat's milk is meant for the goat kid, horse's milk is suited to foals, Cat's milk is suited to their kittens, and dog's milk is ideally suited for their puppies, while elephant's milk is meant for the elephant calves.

What happens if we eat food that is unsuited to our digestive system? Digestion becomes more difficult or incomplete, which may cause petrifaction in the intestines, a precondition of Toxaemia and consequent disease. "

People are always telling me we've evolved to eat meat, but the truth is that our bodies haven't changed much at all. Physiologically we're designed to eat fruit.

I sort of got good news yesterday. I got a reply from a woman who was just in Mexico, and she said she visited Yucatan, and it was peaceful and beautiful there. Also that the fruit was amazing(she's a raw vegan too). She was there looking at property and is trying to find people to buy into a 260 acre ranch. She wants to get enough people so that it will cost about $5000 each, and plans to turn it into a raw retreat. Ok, so I don't have $5000, but I'm going to write her back and find out as much as I can. If nothing else I found a great place in Mexico to research.

I had a cantaloupe for Valentines day. It wasn't ripe, but it still tasted pretty good. My melon obsession hasn't passed yet. They're still all I want, but I have been enjoying a litre of fresh orange juice the past 2 mornings.

The other day the sun came out and me, Dad, and Chilufya went for a walk. With all my warm clothes on, and when I was out of the wind, it felt just like summer. The sun was so hot, and I just wanted to stand in that spot forever. My whole outlook on life became far less clouded, and everything made sense. Of course it only lasted a minute, but it did give me hope. Someday I will be in a warm climate.

Melon Mania!!

It's been a rough couple of weeks, but I'm finally back. I've been trying to deal with all my disappointments, and I'm starting to get through it, starting to see the silver lining. I guess BC might have been a disappointment anyway with the Olympics there. I guess the hardest thing has been losing my travelling companion. I still have plenty of time to decide what to do though. Even though we're still going through the worst of winter and I'm stuck inside I'm trying to keep busy. I've been studying Spanish a lot. Maybe soon I can start writing a little of my blog en español =D

Fruitwise, it's been really hard. It seems February is the worst month though, and soon the stores will have more fruit and lower prices. Right now all I want is melons. Nothing else satisfies me. Even when I want to cry all I have to do is see a watermelon and I feel sunny and happy again. I probably sound crazy, but I'm not, just summer deprived, and melons, they remind all my senses of Mexico and summer heat. Speaking of Mexico, that's my latest obsession. I've been doing loads of research, and I'm hoping to take a trip there sometime this year. I just have a good feeling about it. Not the touristy areas of course. I want to find someplace far off the beaten path where there are watermelons galore!

I'm also working on getting together things for a meatout (from www.meatout.org) I want to do some leafletting or set up a dsiplay table downtown. I really wish I had other veg-heads to help me out, but I don't know of any here. Maybe Rowenna will want to be a part of it.

That's it for now, but I'll be updating soon with some super neat info I got about the length of our intestines compared with carnivores and omnivores!

I'm already Gone

Calum backed out, he just left for no apparent reason. So I cancelled everything in BC. I'm not going alone. The problem is that I've made so many plans, and my heart and soul is already there, someplace warm, and my body is just left here to freeze. I don't have it in me for more disappointment, not yet. So for now I'm just waiting, not letting my mind wander to my predicament. Eventually I'll figure out something, but for now I'll just wait.

Open Your Eyes

Check out the website meat.org

PLEASE!!!

It will change your life!

My Amazing Sister=D

Today I think I'll write about my wonderful little sister, Rowenna. I just feel very lucky to have her around. For those of you who don't know, her new years resolution was to go vegetarian, and she's stuck to it for almost a month already. She is also pretty much avoiding dairy, and she hates eggs so she's mostly vegan=D I'm so proud and happy.

The other day Rowenna started writing a story, she starts a lot of them, but this one absolutely took my breath away. The way she describes everything, it's as though she's living it, and the ideas that come to her are ones which people can really relate to. There are just no words to describe how talented and creative she is. I really hope she finishes writing this novel. She talked about going to school for journalism so she can become an author, but she doesn't need to. She's the best writer I've ever come across.

Even when Rowenna is going through pain she has a way of brightening the world around her. Whenever I get down and no one else can bring me comfort I only need to spend a little while with Row and it changes my whole outlook. She'll start dancing, singing, or talk so enthusiastically about anything that I just forget my problems. I don't know how she does it. My mom has a way of comforting people and making them feel at ease. Rowenna just shines a bright light around everyone.

Thank you Wren, For being a great sister!!!

Fruit For All!! =D

My juice fast went very well. I feel so much different even after only one day. After that I had 6 ginormous honeydew melons, some the size of my head! I also had 4 pints of lovely grape tomatoes. I've been getting Dad to buy me a little more than usual, more variety, better fruit. Today I got green and red grapes, a huge cucumber, 5 mangoes, 1kg kiwi, 2 cantaloupes, 1 honeydew, a pint of heirloom tomatoes, and some organic bananas. I'm so lucky!!

I read my entire birthday book, "Fruitarianism The Path To Paradise". It was absolutely inspiring. I read a couple of quotes that I'd like to share for anyone who's doubting the fruit diet. First, a quote from Hilton Hotema's book "Long Life In Florida":

"Man was a purely frugivorous animal...despite that many years have passed since man forsook fruit as his food, no appreciative change has occured in his digestive apparatus. A careful study of human anatomy constrains all leading physiologists to affirm that man today, from the make-up of his body, is still a frugivorous animal."

Now a quote from Ranulph Fiennes in his book "Fit For Life":

"Fruit is the Panacea of good health...the human body system,from hands and teeth to digestive juices, was designed to cope superbly with fruit and not maet or even cereals...nothing fulfils our vitamin, mineral, water and toxin cleansing needs more effectively than fruit...Fruit is absolutely the best foodstuff for our health"

Onto another subject, we got some good news from a farm in BC who might be interested in us coming. They were a little iffy on our strange diet, but I'm very hopeful. Here's the ad for their farm:

Praxis Permaculture
We are restoring a 1940 homestead on 4.5 acres using the principles of Permaculture Design. Our small hobby farm includes a modest log house, new guest cabin, workshop studio, greenhouse, fenced areas for fruit/vegetable/ ornamental/mushroom cultivation & forested areas with native trees.
We are seeking enthusiastic people interested in organics as well as permaculture design - including water catchment & management, composting/ hugelkultur, small woodlot management, forest gardening, food production, plant propagation, rock work (stone walls, paths), etc.
Typical tasks would include: garden maintenance (planting, watering, weeding, fencing); plant propagation, pruning, seed saving, working with a professional permaculture forester (tree falling, chopping/chipping wood, stacking firewood), building rock paths, making trails in the woods, etc.
Check out our profile on Gardenjot (website listed in contact info) for many photos of our property and information about what we are doing.
Claire has a certificate in Permaculture Design and a small collection of related books that you may read.
Accommodation (double bed) in a brand new 100sq ft private cabin with stone patio, outdoor propane shower and new outhouse. An additional person could sleep in a tent with a foam mattress. Breakfast is prepared on your own (homemade breads & granola), lunch and dinner preparation and clean up is communal. Non-smoking household. LGBT welcome. Please bring biodegradable toiletries if possible.
Gabriola Island (size of Manhattan, population: 5000) is a 20-minute ferry ride from Nanaimo (on Vancouver Island). We can pick you up from, or drop you off at, the ferry. For more information on Gabriola check out: www.gabriolaisland.org We live within walking distance to the ocean and a beautiful provincial park. Lots of opportunities to enjoy nature: hiking, beach exploration, swimming, bird watching, mushroom identification - as well as island life: farmer's market, music and art events, craft shows etc.
Region:
Gabriola Island, BC
Your home is:
Non-Smoking
The meals you prepare are:
vegetarian, non-vegetarian
Family members in your home:
2 women
Animals/pets living in your home:
2 friendly dogs (hypo-allergenic Standard Poodles)
How many years hosting?: 0

We also got a reply from a raw food teacher who sounds like she's very interested in us coming later in the spring. So all good news here!!

Divine Day!

The first page of my vision book

Tomorrow I'm having a day all to myself, to relax and rejuvenate since I've been stressing way too much lately. I'm going to do a juice fast(I've got loads of honeydew melons and oranges that need to be eaten, or drank=D), listen to music, do yoga, paint and read my new library books. I've been going through a rough emotional time due to my negative feelings about painting. I was so happy to sell my first piece, but things went downhill after that. I started to hate art. I didn't like the pressure of feeling like I had to create things that other people would like, or even see, and the idea of making money(something I hate) corrupted my simple love of art. In the library today a book came to me through some divine force, that's the only way I can explain it. I was just browsing and it caught my eye. I borrowed it without even reading the back to see what it was about. When I got home I realized it was exactly what I was looking for. I just started it, but already I feel at peace. It's called "Painting From The Source- Awakening the Artist's Soul in Everyone" and this is what the back reads:

"Imagine yourself painting with no hesitations, no conflicts. Your brush dips into pots of vibrantly colored paint; inner inspiration guides your hand into lines and shapes that find their perfect places on the paper...
Welcome! I'm Aviva Gold, your guide to the magic source. As children, all of us lived and painted intuitively. And as adults we can re-create the boundless joy of unselfconscious art by setting aside intellectual critique and self-doubt and reconnecting with the source. Remember standing at an easel as a child and painting in a trancelike state of wonder? Somewhere alone the line this freedom gets trained out of us, and we are either categorized as artists or not.
Every human being is an artist. In Bali, one word means both "human" and "artist". "

So tomorrow I will definitely be reading more of this amazing books. I already feel like it will not only change more my perspective on art, but on my whole way of seeing life and the world. My book by Anne Osbourne also came today, and Dad will be dropping it off tomorrow. It's called "Fruitarianism:The path to Paradise". I'm so excited to finally read it.
As far as my whole BC adventure, I did get a reply back from a farm/retreat there, and it might work out. I'm also thinking about staying there for the summer and doing fruit picking to save up some money for travelling to a warm climate next winter.
Oh, one more thing, today I got some organic mangoes for half price, my very first organic ones, and eating them was an amazing experience! They were so sweet, and flavorful, I felt like I was floating the whole time I was eating them!

Back in the day.....

Aww, my beautiful long hair. I will have it again someday
Me and my trusty bike

Me on a gate in the hay field

My model pose, haha, when I was 14

Me and my friend Stacey with my dad's horse, Ilsa

I was just going through some old pictures from when we lived on our beautiful farm. It was summertime and Rowenna and I were glowing with health from running through the fields and being in the fresh air all day every day. I miss it so much, but I will have it again someday. Of course, it will be a little different. I will be somewhere where it's warm all year, and there will be fruit growing all around me. I won't need to rely on a job or anything else. I'll be free. I'm sure envisioning these things will help me to manifest them. Someone close to me told me I have no future and I'll end up a bum on the street someday, just because I'm not going after a career and lifestyle like everyone else. I don't believe that we should work and work every day, saving up for when we won't need anything at all. I'm told I'm immature for believing good things will come to me, but I think faith is worth more than all the money in the world. I'm happy to live the unknown.

My future is still completely unknown at this point. WWOOF Canada hasn't inspired us at all yet. British Columbia is still a possibility since it's warmer there, but we haven't found a host yet. It's really hard to find a place that sounds good and will supply tons of raw, fresh fruit. Nearly impossible actually. Veganism is one thing, but trying to convince people you're not crazy when they hear you're a fruitarian, is definitely another. Oh well, I'm sure we'll figure out something amazing.....it just takes time.

I SOLD MY FIRST PAINTING!!!!!

"Sisters", the painting I sold today for $150!!


Ok, first of all, we didn't make it to Ontario, but I'll get to that after. I was feeling kind of down today, then I checked my email and got a message from etsy.com( a site for artists who want to sell their stuff) and I got a sale to a lady in Portugal!!! I only had one painting on there for about a month, and I figured it wouldn't sell because there are so many amazing artists on there, and it would take a lot of searching to even find mine. I was totally shocked, and now I'm soooo happy=D I need to do more painting! It will fill my days now :)

Ok, why we're not in Ontario. First, the storm forced us to reschedule our train trip. When we did we got another vague letter from the owners of the farm. We weren't feeling good about it so decided to cancel. It's unfortunate that this keeps happening, but I think it's because something even better is in store for us. Today my Dad helped me buy a membership to WWOOF Canada since it looks like we might be stuck here for a while. I haven't really searched yet, but hopefully we'll find a perfect farm.