And Then We Went Home: The Afterglow

A few weekends ago, I went to the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona, Arizona. It was my second raw spirit festival. I barely took any photos, but I did take a few and they are mostly of Suki Zoe. I couldn't help myself as she is such a captivating and beautiful person. I thought it would also be okay to take photos of her since she took all the photos of everyone else (here and here). At the festival, I ran into a lovely couple who have the same last name as me. This delighted me because I don't know anyone else with my last name (aside from family members). I felt an undeniable instant connection with them and would be surprised if we didn't share any ancestry.

Me and the other Herberts


Here are photos of some of my favorite presenters at this year's festival:

Lydia of Lydia's Organics:


The Wild Women's Panel:
(Heather Salmon, Katrina Blair, Kerry Dancing Butterfly, Happy Oasis)



Terces and Matthew Engelhart of Cafe Gratitude:




Shea and Suki:




These are yellow flowers that I woke up to in the morning:


This was some natural art at the festival:


And, as promised, some shots of Mademoiselle Suki Z.








Here we are together:


And here we are joined by the hauntingly beautiful and inspirational G-O-D-D-E-S-S (!!!) Katrina Rainoshek:






Kooky Beauties are we.

Last of all, here is a little something I wrote the morning after I got back home:

"It's Tuesday morning. We are getting our first crisp, promising hints of fall here in Birmingham, AL. My mind is so deliriously satisfied and cozy. Yes. Cozy mind. I'm reveling in a delicious state of Cozy Mind right now where my thoughts keep delighting me from moment to moment and I feel so satisfied and excited at the same time...welcoming in all the magic as the familiar friend it is becoming. "Hello, Magic! There you are again! Of course."

Everything feels perfect. All the guys I have crushes on are my boyfriend in some way. All the people I am attracted to are attracted to me back. All the people I love, love me too. Even the ones who don't know I exist. Even the one who think they don't love me, though I am not even sure they exist. Most importantly, I feel happy with myself. I feel beautiful beyond description and surprised and delighted at my perfection. Even the weather is whispering it to me. The weather. My Lover. Our relationship is my example to you of True Love. It is tumultuous at times, not always romantic but sometimes hopelessly so, sensuously stimulating, infinitely beautiful and insanely passionate, but best of all - everlasting. Loving me to the end of time. And always there. So what about soul mates and love at first sight? Now you know. Its all true. We were destined for each other and nothing can keep us apart.

I went to the raw spirit festival this weekend and it was good. I got to meet, watch, admire and soak up the presence of many amazing people and I feel that only now that I am back home is it starting to affect me powerfully. Only now is the experience really starting to and sink in. While I was at the festival, I just felt sort of normal. All sorts of magical things happened, but I knew they were going to, so it didn't surprise me. I saw all sorts of beautiful and amazing people there, but I knew I would, so that didn't' surprise me either. I even felt inspired and touched by many experiences I had, but I had expected that also. So now that I am back home, I have begun to experience the greatest part of it all: ahhhhhhh yes! This is the way things are now. This is the way life is becoming now - more and more incredible and I get to just settle in and enjoy the ride. "Hello, Magic! Good to see you again, as always. And yes. I think there is enough room at mom's place for you to move in with us."

Yes, I am corny and deliriously romantic at times, but its fun that way.

New Job!!

Guess what, folks?
I got a new job!!! I will be training to be a cashier at the Whole Foods here in Birmingham, AL. I couldn't be more excited as this was the job that I truly wanted the most. Just wanted to share my good news :)

Day 26 update

Day 14, fun in Atlanta, and SLUMBER PARTIES!!

Here is my Day 14 check in video:



Here is Beth Bunny Berry's entertaining video from our raw food meetup in Atlanta this past Friday:


To view the photos I took at the meetup, go here.

If you live near Atlanta and would like details on the next raw food meetup, go here.


Finally, here is a shot of me and raw food celebrity Bunny Berry, 100 day raw food challenger, and creator of Raw Fu - a brand new social network for people who want to do the next 100 day raw food challenge beginning on August 1st (please join us if you are so inclined!). If you have not yet had the opportunity of visiting Mrs. Berry's blog, you are in for a treat: www.BunnyBerry.blogspot.com. Join her as she nears the end of her first Epic 100 day raw food challenge...

It was truly a treat for me to meet her and spend some time with her. She is so down to earth and she is so much FUN!!! Oh my goodness...I am a huge fan...

Wouldn't it be fun to have an all girls raw food slumber party somewhere??? This is just a thought I keep having b/c for some reason it sounds soooooo fuuuuun to me, so I'm putting it out there. Come on, pajamas, raw ice cream sundaes, movies, giggling, talking about boys, board games, etc...

More FOOD! Look what we got...

Garlic


Most delicious peaches in the world


Prescott heirloom melon


Inside a Prescott melon


tomatillos


Peppers


tomatoes


tomatoes forever and ever


Sun Jewel heirloom melon


Inside a Sun Jewel - tastes a little like apple maybe


Eggplants


Merit heirloom corn


Simon packing CSA boxes


CSA box last week.


This weeks CSA box


What will we do with all the leftovers?


marinated eggplant pizza


There was a snake in the hen house and Simon captured and relocated her. We thought it was a rattle snake at first, but there was no rattle. Can anyone identify it? Just curious.


Zinnia bouquet

New Medium

Raw Abundance

The food situation here just keeps getting better and better. Right now we have heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, squash, carrots, blackberries (those are wild and oh my goodness), blueberries, onions, garlic and cucumbers out the wazoo.











We've also got a big patch of kale that I tend to with great care,

lots of fennel, and best of all, organic peaches ripe off of the tree!!!

AND there are all kinds of melons and winter squashes getting ready to ripen up in the giant melon field, the peppers and eggplant are just about ready, various kinds of corn and okra are on the way, etc. etc. And yet, it still gets better. There are some zucchini, cucumbers, and squash that are too big to sell. (aw shucks)


There are a lot of tomatoes and peaches that get a bad spot.


And sometimes we just have plain old extra.


Guess who gets to juice it all up?????

I made some raw pizza for the first time in quite a while. I did a buckwheat/carrot/flax crust, spread some homemade pesto on and topped it with zucchini alfredo and brandywine tomato chunks.



I went to visit my mom this weekend and we went out to the movies a couple of times. We saw Sex and the City and Get Smart. I enjoyed both of them very much. The former reminded me how much I've been missing female company and just feeling girly in general (I've got to devise some ways to feel girly and feminine now that I'm out here on a farm). The latter made me laugh. a LOT.

I found out some wonderful news yesterday morning: Druhmil (from WLIR) is putting together a raw food meetup in Atlanta on July 11th!!! Yay! I get to go hang out with some raw food folks!!!! I am really, really looking forward to this.

David Rainoshek of juicefeasting.com just published an excellent piece on his and Katrina's blog entitled: Where is the Raw/Living Foods Movement Headed? In it he talks about the loving attitude behind the raw foods movement and the shifting emphasis towards growing our own food. It was a great read. Mr. Rainoshek has a way with words.

I would like to add, I believe it is in the interest of both raw foodists and organic farmers to work more together towards our common goal of healthy bodies on a healthy planet. Organic farmers can offer raw foodists places of beauty teaming with life of all sorts, lessons in growing food, opportunities to get exercise and be in the sunshine, and best of all: tons of good food. Raw foodists can offer farmers their energy, cheer, support, enthusiasm, and tons of good recipes!! Do you have any good ideas about how raw fooders and farmers can team up? Let's talk!

Bonus: beautiful wild hydrangea growing in the woods out here: