Ahimsa Life



It won’t be long now before I stop or at least slow Foodstagramming activities and start reporting on the progress of the food gardens, yay! Here’s a couple of pics I posted on Instagram this week: we jarred up some amazing homemade nam chim sate (Thai peanut sauce), and we’re making sprouts every week to keep a steady supply of really fresh sprouts and microgreens on hand. This is a jar of fresh broccoli sprouts that were sprinkled over the Thai peanut noodles I made with the nam chim sate.


Today is March 25 and we are gearing up for spring at the homestead. Yesterday, my husband cut a hole in the shrink wrap and climbed into the boat to check things out. He was in there a long time and when I checked on him he was sitting in the captain’s seat with his hands on the steering wheel, dreaming of his first day of the season on the water. It was adorable.

It’s still too chilly to go to the garden and do any clean up, but this past weekend, I felt like the house needed an energy shift now that it’s spring. I burned white sage, emptied and cleaned out the fridge, and moved his nautical décor and my Balinese décor around. A change of scenery, and of consciousness. I painted some walls that had been scuffed by the dogs. Repotted some plants and moved a few to different locations. Threw open windows and let the air in.

In about two weeks, the garden beds will be tilled and the greens seeds will be planted. We already have the seeds: Bionda Ortolani romaine and Cavolo Nero kale will go in first. We’re going to move the compost bed closer to the main house this year. After 6 years of traipsing to the wooded area to compost we decided to be kinder to ourselves and relocate it right next to the deck. Rather than moving all the compost we made this winter, we’re going to spread it across the garden when we till. Family members are already asking when the tomatoes go in. Not for a while yet.

I’ve been reading Will Tuttle’s ‘The World Peace Diet’ and loving it. Tuttle makes all the powerful ethical arguments in support of a plant-based, non-violent, ahimsa life. The book is chock-full of factual information and intelligent, informed arguments in defense of animals. These facts on animal consciousness are no longer arguable by science or philosophy: if we’re willing to face reality, there’s no choice but to stop eating animals.

Tonight’s dinner is a homemade yellow dahl with our own coconut milk yogurt. We’re eating lighter in the evenings now: it just feels right after a long winter of overeating and eating too late in the day. This summer is going to be an active one with lots of traveling. It’s good to get used to a light stomach. It’s good to be free of the physical and metaphysical burden of animal products in the belly. When folks ask me if I’m on a ‘vegan diet’, I let them know that in my world, it’s called the ‘freedom diet’. Truth is, I hate the word ‘diet’ altogether. Veganism is not a diet: it’s a way of living. It’s so much more than what we eat.

My next post will probably be about the first plantings in the greens beds! You can’t possibly understand how happy I am about that. We might get a rogue snowstorm still, but it’s looking a lot like spring wants to settle in. I think the snow has gone away. This weekend, temperatures will be in the 60s. We’re close.

Also, in case you didn’t know, I started a new blog. Check it out at https:///strawberrypapaya.blogspot.com. Thoughts on purpose and meaning, our lineage to the Earth, sustainability, spiritual practice, eating prana, social justice, joy, compassion, truth, and love. A mission statement is in the description.

Barbie xo

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