A deeper connection to nature.
We have entered into the season of abundance at the Peters-Jannone residence. We have been swimming in peaches and now a cornucopia of tomatoes, 3 different kinds of cucumbers, apples, zucchini, summer squash and pears line the countertop. We are still sprouting, which we do religiously from spring through summer and have begun stocking up on fermented veggies, which we munch on all winter long.
We roll with the salt brine method of fermentation versus vinegar. We are all about the natural probiotics of fermented food and as far as I can tell vinegar diminishes the nutritional value although it will lengthen it’s shelf life. Sandor Katz wrote a great resource book, Wild Fermentation and a few others if you are hot on the topic and want to learn more. Dan is the maestro on the fermented foods around these parts and we were talking just this morning about teaming up to create a few short videos on how to ferment and how to sprout. We’ll keep you posted!
After almost 13 years contributing to the soil on our modest piece of property, we have a bountiful garden, a neighborhood of urban/family orchards and wild edibles in abundance growing in and around our mailbox (in addition to normal kinds of places – like the general backway). Miles calls the backyard, the “backway” and the frontyard the “frontway”. I love this. I’m pretty sure its a combo of driveway and frontyard and he’s adapted it to the backyard too.
We’ve been striving to diversify our diet and eat nourishing foods one season at a time.
A lot of what I’m finding along the way is I’m making more consistent and clear choices. This doesn’t mean I don’t indulge from time to time or live some purist, solely green juice lifestyle over here. Don’t kid yourself. That’s not how I want to come across. It’s more that the times of indulgence don’t have strings attached (i.e. shame or guilt), but it’s definitely not every day. It’s a non-issue because 85% of the time I’m on point with my habits and feel great, so to indulge doesn’t pull me from the center. Meanwhile I’ve learned how to celebrate without attachment to certain drinks or foods, which can still be challenging from time to time.
That didn’t happen over night, my friends. After these past 2 years of studying habit transformation and habit evolution, it’s clear that changing our habits, whether it’s how we sleep or how we eat or how we talk to ourselves or how we talk to others, becomes a gateway. A doorway into a deeper relationship with ourselves. One that requires kindness, self love and a desire for connectivity.
The gateway to nature.
To me, eating out of the garden and especially eating the weeds in my yard, was an access point; a gateway, a doorway. The doorway to nature on another level. Six years ago, I had no idea what plants were edible in my yard, but I slowly became more and more interested and then one day Dan came home with a rubbermaid of purslane. We were both honing in on how we could connect more deeply with the plants that grow here. Are you going to enter the connection with nature via the frontway or the backway as Miles would say? Through a bike ride in the forest or through the food you eat? Or both? Both will deepen our relationship with our ecosystem and provide deep nourishment. I don’t know about you, but both of these practices are pretty much guaranteed to make me feel better than I already do. The more plants I eat and the more time I spend outside, the better I feel in my body and in my mind.
I realized the more I streamline my habits, my calendar and weekly schedule and line up my actions with my values, I’m aligning myself and my family to be outside more. That may mean a frolic in the forest, a walk around the neighborhood or pushing tractors in the “backway” at sunset. All in all it makes for an even better day and that’s what we get, one day at a time. So, if you don’t have time for that long bike ride you yearn for, eat more plants or vice versa and see how it feels. Make a list of your the species of plants you eat in a week. Is it diverse? Or are you stuck on carrots and kale?
Recipe for my 10 minute garden salad:
Mun
g bean sprouts, Chopped lemon cucumber, Cherry tomatoes, and shredded carrot. Top with with basil and the Peters-Jannone House Dressing.
For dressing blend ½ c olive oil, 1-2 T mustard, ⅛ c nutritional yeast, ¼ c hemp seeds, salt & pepper
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Rachel Peters is a yoga teacher, yoga health coach, lifestyle and habits expert, easeful living advocate, and lover of wild places. She leads others towards Embodying Ease through a yearlong wellness & lifestyle journey to dissolve perfectionism, embody daily habits that promote mental clarity, overall ease, and deeper connection to life on this wild ride of modern living. Learn MORE today!