Spring is time for new beginnings and awakenings. The flowers and trees are budding. We just took some of our houseplants outside for the warm half of the year.
Our bodies are ready to liven up after the rest and digest period of winter. Movement and cleansing are good areas to explore this season.
I have been drawn to cilantro recently. Chopping it up along with spinach and cabbage for a salad is amazingly refreshing and energizing. Cilantro is good for detoxing too. Perhaps that’s why it has come to me with such strong feelings this season. Give it a try. Or add some other light and leafy green if cilantro doesn’t float your boat. You can add it to sandwiches or salad. Use it as a garnish or make your own version of pico de gallo or a relish. Yum Yum!!
It’s your choice!
Along the thought line of “you get to choose”, how about choosing to NOT accept that guilt trip? Do you ever feel those? Either from inside your own head or from another person? You get to choose. Thank the guilt trip for reminding you to be mindful and let it go on it’s way. Don’t hang on to it. Seriously, guilt will find a home somewhere. You don’t have to hang on to it.
Life gets to be your choice. Live it as you like.
If you could make a change in your life, what would it be?
We put purple dead nettle and onion grass in our salad.
Purple Dead Nettle
Onion grass
Did you know that plants in the mint family have square stems? Purple dead nettle is part of the mint family. It makes for easy identifying. Plus there’s no toxic twin, so it’s fairly safe for foraging newbies like us.
A square stem
We only forage from our backyard. We don’t use chemicals so we know they are safe.
A friend of ours eats all of the nettle except for the root, but we only used the leaves and tips. We only used the blades of the onion grass. This was simply our preference this time. We may use the stems of the nettle and the root bulbs of the grass next time. Whatever parts we don’t use goes in our compost bucket.
We soaked the greens in a tub of water to clean them. They looked clean on the surface so I didn’t feel that a simple rinse would be good enough. There wasn’t a lot of dirt but you just never know. We have a cat that has to pee somewhere, you know what I mean…..
Then a quick chop and in they went into our salad.
You would not believe the flavor of these greens. Wow!! You know how much better home grown food taste than the store bought stuff. We could not believe how fresh and powerful the taste and smell of these plants were. It was wonderful.
I’m looking forward to foraging dandelion and plantain too.
How do you feel about foraging? Is it a yay or a nay for you and your family?
You’ve heard that gardening, or hiking, or basically any outdoor activity can help alleviate depression, right?
Yesterday proved it. After checking the news yesterday, I was feeling very down and depressed. I wanted to crawl under the covers and hide for a few hours.
Instead, a fairly rare occurrence – the sun was out! – was happening so I went outside to feel it for a minute. I started piddling in the yard. Not intending to actually accomplish any tasks, but just to feel the warmth.
Next thing you know, we had planted all of our seeds. We had moved the house plants outside and got them all arranged and watered. And we got some light cleaning done. It was still early and bright and warm enough that I got some meditation in the sunlight done. Plus a sun salutation.
Talk about a good afternoon. My spirits were off the charts compared to the low vibration from the morning’s news.
I accepted a challenge last weekend to pick up five pieces of trash that day. I accepted because it’s easy and very good for the planet, as well as good exercise bending down to pick it up. I needed to go for my daily walk anyway, so it was a no-brainer to accept the challenge.
We prepared for our walk, shoes on, house keys, mileage tracker, etc. This time we also brought two plastic bags from the grocery store. (I know I should bring my own bag. That’s a habit I’m trying to develop. Meanwhile, I have way tooooo many of those things.)
The street in front of our house is about 100 feet away from our front door, so we start there with our trash pickup. Within the length of our property line, I had picked up fifteen pieces of trash. Far exceeding the five I had promised to do.
The bag was only about half full, so we turned the corner to get some more trash. Because frankly we were astonished with how much trash was just thrown out. Within ten minutes both my friend Charlie and I had filled up both of our bags.
At this point, I was thinking, well, I came out to get some exercise and to walk. But there is so much trash that I feel like I should spend my time picking it up. It was a dilemma I hadn’t faced before.
We decided to do both – pick up trash and get our walk in. We went back to the house (we hadn’t made it around a second corner yet. We weren’t far from home.) We threw our two original bags in our trash can and went inside for more. We brought three bags with us.
By the time we had walked two blocks, we had two bags filled. We threw those in the local quick shop’s bin because it was probably mostly crappy junk purchased from their store anyway.
We held onto the third bag for a little bit because we were out to get some walking exercise but the trash we were passing became almost like some sort of ghost calling us. It wasn’t too long and we started filling the third bag.
Mind you, we had already filled and properly disposed of four full bags at this point.
The fifth and final bag of garbage was 90% single use plastic beverage bottles!
So, I have two points about this endeavor.
Combining trash pick up and exercising works but it feels like I’m not doing an effective job at either of them. So exercise or pick up trash. Also in some areas it may take you a while to pick up five pieces, but in my little town it took less than two minutes. Houston, we have a problem!
The second point is that the vast majority of the trash was junk food and sugary beverages. When did we get so indoctrinated to purchase crap from the gas station? When did we start feeling like we had to have that thing with all the sugar just because it’s there? Has advertising and marketing done such a good job that we aren’t even conscious of our habits anymore?
There’s a soapbox with my name on it. But seriously, what is wrong with us today? Can we begin to answer that question?
Why would you do such a thing? Well, living by design – choosing the wise option, the healthy option, the loving option, is living your life with purpose, not by default.
Making a choice that will enhance your physical well being, your mental stability, or your spirit, will prolong your life. Or at least give you more joy while you are here, right?
That’s why I’m hosting a seven day free online event called One Good Choice Today.
For one week, we will make the wise choice and post it in our Facebook group, on Instagram, or you can email me directly.
Choose to park farther away from the door.
Take the stairs.
Drink a glass of water.
Drink another glass of water.
Comment below if you are interested in learning more. We can hook up on social media or via email.
Mindful living is a better way to live, dontcha think?
This is easy. It’s simple. It’s free. It’s online.
Comment below if you would like to join.
The official event will begin on September 9th and conclude on September 15th.
When you join, you will receive an email with a list of suggestions and a link to join the Facebook group.
Do you have a friend or an accountability buddy that interested in living well? Bring them along! Everyone is welcome.
Comment below and we can hook up via email or social media.
Suzanne Horrocks 