Fruitarian in the City

I just got back from spending the day in Hilo. After working so hard yesterday with little food I said I would just relax and eat today. I still ended up walking about 8kms. It seems that I end up walking anywhere from 6 to 15 kms each day, just getting from one place to another. Having no car transportation is making me realize how much I relied on being driven places before. I'm very happy though because it is my dream to be without a car and walking is one of my favorite things to do. The only problem with it at the moment is that I am very sick. I try not to write about it much, but my colitis has gotten a lot worse again(probably due to the stress of moving and the fact that I stopped eating the healing diet I was on, knowing I wasn't ready for acidic or fatty food yet). Each day my body tells me I need to fast, and soon I will obey it.. I'll know when the time is right. For now I just need to rest as much as I can and eat as simply as possible.

I went into the health food store today on a whim and decided to look at the books. Immediately one caught my eye: "Rational Fasting" by Arnold Ehret. For those who don't know, he also wrote one of the first books I read about fruitarianism, "The Mucusless Diet Healing System", and his teachings have inspired me immensely. I've wanted a copy of  "Rational Fasting" for years and I was so excited when I found it. A new copy from the health food store was only $4.95, probably because it was written almost 100 years ago. I think it was another sign that my fast should be in the near future. I'll be talking more on fasting in the days to come.

Professor Arnold Ehret

Well, I tried my first fresh Hawaiian durian, but it was a dud. I only bought a little segment about the size of a plum, which cost $5, but as soon as I opened the little bucket it was in I knew it was rotten. I bit into it and it was blue/gray inside and smelled like paint thinner. I couldn't even eat it. I did save the tiny seed though and I'm trying to sprout it. Wish me luck! If it works out it will be the first durian tree growing on my land:)

Durian love:)

 There was an argument on the bus today. A group of Polynesians were talking about "stupid haoles", and a young hippy man got upset and said how he just wanted to feel and share love and these people were being disrespectful. I just sat there in my seat, not sure what to think, but knowing I just wanted to love all of them. Being here is opening my eyes to unconditional love and it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. People ask me if I get annoyed having to be on that bus for 4 hours each day just to go into town for food. I honestly love it more than I can describe to you. Each morning as I walk and wait at the bus stop I get so excited because I never know who I will meet, and the people on there are always so diverse and wonderful. The driver is so kind and upbeat, I feel happy the moment I walk onto the bus.

No photos to share today, but I'll try to get some at the beach tomorrow. It's supposed to be a nice afternoon so I'm going to try and relax and soak up the sun.

Peace in the Jungle

It's evening here in my jungle hut and I'm feeling a deep sense of peace. This morning I did my 3 hour work trade of moving rocks and putting them onto the floor of my hut. It was hard work, and I became very hungry, but now that I'm in my bad I feel very calm and grateful.

After my work, and realizing that I had no food I decided to bike over to the abandoned fruit farm to see if I could find it this time. I spent about 3 hours exploring the trees and coming to know my more primal side. I felt so wild and so right out there in the jungle. It was a beautiful experience. Unfortunately the only ripe things there were avocados, and there will millions of them! I must have stood beneath 20 different trees, each loaded with more fruit than you can imagine. I didn't bring any avocados home since I don't eat them, but I may get some for the community next time. Of the off season, or not quite ripe yet fruits I found chupa chupa, a few citrus trees, jackfruit(so excited!), guava, mangoes, cacao(I would eat the fruit, not the seed, and it's supposed to be creamy and taste like strawberries), and some others which I didn't recognize. I felt high being there. It is where I belong.


Shells on the lava beach



The beach at sunrise

My floor which I've been redoing. Underneath is jusr bare dirt.

This little guy dug a hole in my persimmon and sticks his head in for the nectar.

Close up of the fruit theif. He loves sugar as much as me:)

Free avocados. One of many trees

Guava, almost ripe

Chupa chupa. I've never had it, but can't wait. There were 3 huge trees of them. Should be ripe eventually?

2 other kinds of avos I found on the forest floor

baby jackfruits(or champedaks, or maybe even MARANG!)

Strange fruit which was at the end of its season, a little rotten, but like an apple

Life:)

Red cacao

just like christmas tree ornaments

Green cacao

Yellow cacao

the only citrus tree I found, with only one fruit. Suppossedly there are more. I need to keep exploring:)

Alone in Hawaii

Rowenna left last night. Things are pretty quiet and lonely so far, but I guess I'll get used to it. Hopefully I make some friends here soon. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do today. I could go to the beach and relax in the sun, or go to the experimental fruit farm, or even into Hilo. I'll probably go to the beach since I feel kind of sad today and I think the sunshine will perk me up.

I tried my champedak yesterday. It was so amazingly sweet and flavorful. It really did taste like a mix of jackfruit and durian. Very soft and creamy, but also chewy, with that bubblegum taste of jackfruit. I still have half left for breakfast today, but my appetite has really diminished. I know my body is begging for a fast, but I should wait until my life has calmed down a little. I'd like to wait until I have a more permanent place to live or at least someone to supervise me while fasting.

I'm very lucky to have my whole family supporting me so much. It's almost like they're here with me. I'm very fortunate that I'm able to sit in bed and call home as much as I like. Hopefully someday they'll come visit and fall in love with this land like I have.

Longans, mameys, soursops, canistel, papaya from the tree outside my hut, chico sapotes, and persimmons:)

Yummy Champedak:)

                                                  First look inside

Foraging

I found the experimental fruit farm today, but only got a little further than the entrance. Rowenna was with me and didn't want to walk too far, so I decided I'll check it out tomorrow. I can't wait to just be able to go out into the jungle and eat in the trees. I've been reading a book about instinctive eating which I'm finding quite interesting. The author isn't fruitarian, not even vegetarian, but he seems to be eating what is right for him. This book is bringing more acceptance into my life. In one chapter of the book he wrote a poem about foraging which I think I will share here. I found it so inspiring and beautiful. He really captures the feelings I have when I forage in nature.

Foraging (upon Leaving Eugene)
I was asked by a dear friend to write a poem about what I see when I forage:

I see answers to the cries of billions of suffering souls.
I see satisfaction long sought in every
adolescent coke line, bong hit, and keg-worshipping party.
I see the demise of canning, pickling, dishes,
toilets, stoves, forks, mopping, freezing, waiting, wishing,
medicine, produce, and truck drivers' aching backs.
I see the resolution of the longing for understanding that has created
philosophy, religion, law, and names.
I see the end of disease and of the desire for destructive technology and concrete.
I see folks, without names, walking in the sun and rain,
naked, not ever straying too far from the equator.
I see dissolving of government.
I see everybody respecting and loving every other being
who has also dared to incarnate; so that anarchy functions so smoothly
no one would think to mention it.
I see healing. I see sweetness. I see life.
I see the incapacity to make mistakes.
I see the disillusionment of fear-based belief systems.

--<>--

I am walking with a friend, so beautiful, so light, so sound,
so touch, so aroma, so spirit; i am so enraptured
by this finite expression of infinitude
I would not even feel the slightest urge to invoke my biblical power to name.
The one of us are travelling at foot speed on the earth.
I spot, on the horizon, a hair standing out of the earth.
This hair twists and poses, negotiates with the wind,
prays to the sun and the clouds, , and has so much faith in the earth
that it has rooted its very life in the earth.
E trusts e will be nurtured, e surrenders
to the ever giving compassion of creation.
E is at the mercy of the earth,
and the earth pours its compassion into the tree.

My eye notices an amazing sight: there are beautiful round solids
of colors hanging from many places on the tree.
My fingers touch the solids and feel the softness.
I am reminded of nursing that bit of absolute compassion
that fed me for my first revolution around the sun.
Certainly that softness is akin to this. this too must be a life giver.
My nose, open, mucousless, with the capacity for complete discrimination,
tells me that the solids are not just a colorful wonder, not just soft
and exciting to hold, but they are sweet.
Oh sweet! Oh sweet is the taste!

My mouth - this mouth is a medium of my soul.
My mouth is a creation with most special gifts:
With my mouth i can taste the fruits - the silent song of the trees.
I can know what it is to be a cool, clear, and flowing river.
I can experience the perfect composition of a human body,
drinking, licking, dancing, and releasing
the joy for all in the union to know and share.

My mouth can take this solid in and envelop and release
the magnificent crescendo contained within. This thing of sweetness
with a signature seems to be a gift for me, made for me.
The fruit sustains my body, gives joy, heals me, touches me, becomes me.
Yet it is made by the tree to suit its own joy.
It sings the colorful solid for its own, knowing how much I too love the song,
and e is so pleased when I come to play, come to listen
to this season's accomplishments - this latest instance of the great song.
So I listen with my mouth over and over
and over and over until I wish to play no longer.

The fruit first sings the secrets of creation into my mouth,
rejoicing, "life is sweet, eat eat, eat!"
And the tree can withstand the voracity of my appetite,
and it welcomes the intensity of my intimacy.
The tree never says no, is never off doing something, or wants to be alone.
E is always ready to love, and e has no prejudice
to type or amount of partners. E is a perfect lover.
E calls me to the dance through my open senses,
and e gently and clearly tells me when to move onto another song.

There is a magic voice that tells me when I am done with this oral Ecstasy.
The voice was heard in my mind when I believed in limit and right and wrong.
The voice was heard in my pocket when i believed in money and working.
The voice was heard in my stomach when i didn't know what to believe in.
But my stomach never signalled until I was too late,
and I had struck the dissonant note. For the food i used to eat
was no longer alive, so it could not speak to me.
But now the magic voice is heard by my tongue. The voice whispers,
"you've had enough of this song for now, go enjoy another one."
I know to dance on because this solid that explodes sweet life
into my mouth in endless ecstasy signals me by not tasting quite as sweet.
Oh, and if I continued to push this union song - a "yuck!"
The signal received, I move on in ecstasy to another ecstasy.
Goodbye my beloved.
In the afterglow of this oral union I lie down beneath loving shade
as I watch the one I came with continue to listen with e's mouth.
Soon I will be dreaming of liquid clouds and colors.
And unbeknownst to me a seed has been planted in me.
For there are two songs that the tree cannot sing without me.
The tree happily does not dance unrooted, and joyfully does not sing aloud.
But now that I am good soil, and now that I know my role,
and now that I am living compassion - found in this circle of nourishment -
I will sing and dance, sing and dance for me, and
I joyfully sing and dance by the tree,
and the earth, and this friend, and all.

And What's more is that when the big light dances elsewhere
e leaves a wonderful darkness for sound to play in undistracted.
Oh how bright the sound and rhythm are now that it is dark at night,
as I am ever-pregnant with the song of foraging...

--<>--

I was asked by a dear friend to write a poem about what I see when I forage:

I see this suicide note -
For I'll no longer survive in the cold, in the hard, in the rules, in the fear.
My love - all i have, all i live for - feels crushed and unwanted.
I can no longer martyr my love to save the old growths or the ozone.
No longer can I cling to the deep love of friends I have grown with.
I have sung with thee. I have danced with thee.
But i cannot sing nor dance anymore.
I must leave, I am leaving.

I am going to claim the joy i cannot have here.
I am going to sing with purity and truth -
because I'll be living what I am saying.
This I cannot do here.
And I go because I love. i love so much that I would stay to sing with you.
I love so much I would live through winters of colorless trees
to ignite dreams with you.
And I thank that I also love enough to leave.

And I know that wherever I am, you have a home.

-Zephyr



For me fruitarianism is the instinctive way of eating. It's also the most species specific diet, the most pure, it brings the most joy and peace. For me it is right.

Paradise Found

Yesterday was unbelievably beautiful. We took the bus along the coast, through Kapoho, and Kalapana. Words can't describe the paradise we found there. A lot of the photos are from there, but just snapshots as we drove along. I could have spent years walking the roads. The sky was so blue, and it reflected just as brightly on the ocean. Palm trees lined the entire coast, with tropical jungle encroaching on all the properties. For the past year I have dreamed of finding my home on the Kalapana coast, but it was more than I ever could have expected. It will be soon that I find my place there. Nothing can stop me now.

Today me and Rowenna went to the Hilo farmers market. Saturdays are always magical. I'll mention right away that there was fresh durian...but I didn't buy any. I had already bought a ton of new fruits and it was really expensive, but I'll get some yet, I promise. Ok, so here's how it went: First I bought a chocolate sapote. It's in the persimmon family, but instead of being red inside it is the color and texture of chocolate mousse. It even tasted quite chocolatey. Very sweet and delicious:) I also saw baskets full of jackfruits which were certainly over 20 pounds each. I ended up buying just a 5 pound chunk and sharing it with Rowenna on the street corner. It was a soft one, tasted very much like bubblegum. I brought the rest home and ate it for dinner(in one of the photos). The same vendor had a champedak, suppossedly better than jackfruit, and closer to durian! It's the huge fruit I'm holding in another photo. I haven't tried it yet, but it smells like durian. I'm so excited! I got some chico sapotes(brown sugar fruit), more mameys(tastes like pumpkin pie, very rich. The one I bought a week ago is almost ripe, just in time to have with Row for breakfast before she leaves). Oh, I also got two huge soursops(in the same family as cherimoya, but more sour. Still very sweet and creamy though.)

I'm amazed at the life I'm living here. I literally don't think I could dream of something sweeter. I know Rowenna is leaving tomorrow, but my time in solitude will be very powerful, and probably necessary. I need some time to look within, see where my path is in this life. But I'm happy now, more than I've been for a very long time.

First Week in Hawaii

Day before yesterday was spent at the beach. Me and Rowenna both got a bit of a tan, which she's really happy about. Yesterday we went to the Pahoa Museum(where a lot of the photos are from). There wasn't much in Pahoa and I really didn't love the vibes there. Too much of a druggie town for my liking, but the grocery store there did have a few good deals.

Rowenna is only going to be here for a few more days. She's getting pretty stressed about the trip, and I'm also worried about her leaving. Being here all alone will probably be rough for a little while.

Yesterday I got to try eggfruit for the first time. I've been waiting for years. Yes, it does actually have the exact consistency of a boiled egg yolk. It even tastes a little bit like one. It's extremely sweet and filling. Not a very tropical taste, more like a sugary maple syrup. I bought eggfruit and more mamey(both organic) from a store in Pahoa for $2.29/lb. That's a pretty good deal since they're both high in calories. I still haven't gotten to try any mamey on this trip. None of them are ripe or seem like they will be anytime soon. The papaya I picked outside our hut is starting to look ready though:)

I've got about 30 papayas in our storage cupboard. Most of them aren't ripe yet, but they're my main staple food for the winter. I've been getting them as cheap as 8 for $1! I am having a bit of a problem with carrying them home though. They're very heavy and easy to bruise, and since I need about 10-15 each day, I keep damaging almost half of them on the walk home(which, I might add, is quite strenuous, especially after dark). Hopefully I can get a bike rack soon so I can bike into Pahoa(about 5 miles) and buy a lot of fruit on the Sunday market there.

Today the plan is to hike over to the lava tree park and then take a bus around the coast to see Kapoho and Kalapana. We'll be sure to take lots of photos.