three cheers for the goats.

J and I decided to take a much needed vacay over Memorial Day Weekend this year. As our first "official" vacation together, I decided to consult Sunset Magazine's opinion on where to spend our time. Being a loyal subscriber for 2 years now, it's time I used their services :)

We decided to make San Luis Obispo our home base. One would think we would have spent our weekend wine tasting, but no we zoomed past the wineries in search of true white gold - goats milk.  Yes, it's true - as we pulled up into the driveway of Templeton's Happy Acres Family Farm I felt a twinge of what I can only describe as embarrassment; and I turned to J for reassurance. "Wait, is this the kind of thing that families are supposed to do together? We must be the strangest couple ever!! Look at all of the little kids..." He smiled his trademark patient smile and patted me on the shoulder - "We'll have a great time, M." And then I remembered the promise of fresh goat cheese that we'd get to make and take home. Yep, we will have a great time.

                                          (how can you say no to that face??)

In short, the tour was a BLAST. We (or I, rather - J is less self-conscious than I am) were relieved when we walked over to the gathering group, where families and couples like us stood browsing various goat milk products in the farm store. Stephanie, owner and tour guide extraordinaire took us on the educational adventure of a lifetime - her sheer energy testimony enough to the fact that she loves what she does. Her goats all have names and personalities. We got to learn how to milk (J and I proudly won the milking competition), we took a tour of the farm which includes not only goats but Alpacas, chickens, and some miniature ponies, we got to flavor and take home our own fresh (not to mention organic) goat cheese, oh and then we topped off our tour with some freshly-churned strawberry goat-milk ice cream, which had a refreshing taste and a texture somewhere between sorbet and frozen yogurt.  Fun, delish, educational, a place we'll definitely come back and tour again when we have small-children in tow (a crazy thought).

                                         (the unveiling of our goat cheese)

We spent the rest of our weekend frequenting local SLO restaurants (Big Sky Cafe remains my favorite), making our mark in bubble-gum alley,  tasting at a microbrewery and taking an ocean kayaking tour which led us through sea-caves and introduced us to some new friends.

As far as our adventures in dairying go, I'm sure the next time we're driving up 101 to visit my family, we'll stop in to say hello and to load up on our new favorite goat-milk products.

<3 Meg

                       (we're the tandem kayak in the middle)              

                                                                                                                                                                                               

  

(our contribution to bubblegum alley)

Morning Prayer

As a way to relieve stress and limber up, I've been practicing yoga. This morning, a prayer came to me while I was performing Sun Salutations. Go to the link to see the moves, practice a few times, and then allow the poses to guide you through this prayer or your own. Each line of the prayer corresponds with each pose.

          Father, I stand with firm feet on the earth you have created
     I greet this new day with joy and thanksgiving
        I greet this new day with reverence and respect
  I gaze at the earth from whence I came
    I remember the ground from which I was formed
            I feel it firm and solid beneath me
                   I am thankful for your love, and I accept it
          I come into your presence
  Use this day to teach me
                      I will keep my heart and mind open
                That my love for you will deepen
                        And that I may deeply love and respect self and other

Blessings,

M

to shake the hand that slaughtered your chicken.

My roommate has it right, sort of. In response to the exuberance I exhibited over my recently bought farm-fresh chicken breast, she point blank turned to me and said, "I've just got to say, M, you're WEIRD!"

Weird, maybe. By certain definitions, yes. Unconventional? Probably a kinder adjective. Whatever I am, it doesn't change the fact that I'm making an effort to shop more locally, more sustainably, more "insert buzzword here."

The beauty of my farm-fresh chicken find is that I had just read about the joy of raising chicken to eat in Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. In her book, Barbara describes her family's experience as they move from the burbs of arid Arizona to a farm in rural Virginia. They make a pact - give up all food whose source is unknown or shady. Their goal was to improve their health, the economic health of their community, and to cut down on their dependence on fossil fuel. They end up growing most of their own food. Written by Barbara, renowned novelist, with additions by her husband and eldest daughter, it describes the family project with plenty of grace, humor, and facts. A great read.

So when I drove up to the Sierra Madre Farmer's Market that meets on Wednesdays from 3-7, I was elated to find more than the usual fruit and veggies. Chicken! Eggs! Mushrooms! Woot! And to think I almost drove past it, as it meets in a parking lot off the main road. I was like a kid in a candy store. I brought the bird home and popped it in the broiler Julia-Child style - brushed with butter and sprinkled with herbs. To know that my chicken was raised just a few miles away and lived a happy little free-range chicken life made savoring it much more enjoyable. Knowing that my money went towards a family enterprise made savoring it much more enjoyable. Thank you, Rivadeniera Farm.

Adventures in local, sustainable, farm-fresh are turning out to be quite rewarding.

An education is a dangerous thing to have. With knowledge comes power, and with power comes obligation and the need for a wholelotta wisdom.

It all began when I watched Food, Inc., a modern-day equivalent of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Thanks to filmmaker Robert Kenner, my eyes were opened to the truth behind the industrializaton of food - how big business has sacrificed food quality increase profits. The cow and the chicken are no longer complex creatures belonging to an ecosystem but commodities to be processed, genetically modified organisms are beginning to dominate our landscapes, and single-crop "farms" are depleting the soil of vital nutrients leading to an increase in disease and need for more pesticides and antibiotics. Ignorance is bliss; after seeing the film I felt like crawling into an imaginary void and curling into the fetal position - my understanding of food and American culture was deconstructed before my very eyes. (Paradigm shift anyone?)

Since my curiosity was piqued, I felt obligated to take a stand, for my health and the health of my community. Encouraged by the movie to vote with my dollar, I chose to only buy organic for 40 days. In doing so, I had to give up the myriad of choices offered to me by my local grocery store and get creative with my cooking. Saying no to tomatoes since they weren't in season was difficult, but it also made me look forward to summer when they would be available in the organic section.

During these 40 days I also began reading. What do all of the different organic certifications mean? What is a grass-fed cow? What is the difference between a free-range chicken and an organic chicken? I read In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. I've contemplated joining a CSA. I've bought more food from my local farmer's market. I'm currently reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson as a continuation of my environmental education.

The bottom line is that it's all about stewardship. It's incredibly disheartening how our fast-paced Western lifestyle has disconnected us from the very earth we live on. We favor accomplishing tasks and have forgotten that the greatest joys are found in the process of getting from point A to point B. And this lifestyle has permeated the very core of our culture - our eating habits - as evidenced by the fact that we no longer know where our food comes from, how it's made, or quite frankly what is in it. Eating is a means to an end instead of a daily time to stop, gather together and share.

It's all I can do to keep my feet planted here in LA, where a grass-fed dairy seems nonexistent and where fast-paced is the norm. I daydream about my little utopia; I live in a small community where each of us is interdependent upon the other for the necessities in life, neighbors share meals, and nobody worries about reading food labels because they simply don't exist.

Living in the Interim

Life often takes us to a period where we are meant to rest, to wait, and to grow. These are not the times we yearn for; but times we yearn to move past from, to escape, move beyond to what is bigger and better.

A good thing can not be rushed.

I currently find myself in an "interim" period. As J and I wait to get married, seeing each other only on the weekends, there is a temptation to speed up the process. If I try to fight time, I get tangled up in the weeks and minutes and seconds that will tick by as they will, ever constant, ever steady. The only thing to do is wait, and learn to enjoy the events that will come to pass before this big life change that we are eagerly anticipating.

In my previous post I made a statement about choosing to be happy. Sometimes happiness is not a choice, rather sadness is the appropriate response. In fact, sadness is often the appropriate response to reality. Instead of stating that we must choose to be happy, I'm changing my approach: We must choose to be content.

Therefore, even though I am sad that J and I must have this "commuter" relationship for now, even though the words we say to comfort ourselves are beginning to fall flat, I will choose to be content. I will choose to take each day for what it offers, be it happiness, sadness, or somewhere in between. And I will choose to enjoy this time, the friendships I have in proximity, this final year and three months of "singlehood."

Blessings,

M

"Perfection of virtue is not required of me. Perfection of love is, and that is a very different thing."

Madleine L'Engle

The Beginning.

Alright, the time is ripe. I'm ready to make my first post. It's a little bit silly to make an event out of this - it's not like I have any readers eagerly anticipating the thoughts that are dripping from my fingers.

I've given a lot of thought as to what to write about. I'm getting married soon; write about my wedding? I'm a nurse interested in alternative medicine; write about health? I love cooking; write about my latest culinary creations? None of these topics are any I could write about for any period of time.

So I've decided to integrate them. This blog will be about my experience in seeking a holistic lifestyle. My struggle to balance, to grow, to never stop adventuring.

Join me!

Blessings,

M

...we are only as happy as we choose to be...