I signed up this week to listen to the free interviews that are happening at Rawkathon. I honestly hadn't listened to any. I was looking forward to the talks given by Matthew Monarch and Karen Knowler, but had the day wrong of when they would be interviewed, so I just got to catch the interview with Karen Knowler.
However her words really resonated with my experience right now and seemed to be just the thing I needed to hear. For one thing, she talked a lot about connecting with your life's purpose and how raw foods can actually be a catalyst in this because of their affects. Most people will say that raw foods help them to be more sensitive and deepen their awareness, which naturally will bring you to your core being- the truth of who you are. I have found this to be true in my own life as well.
I think sometimes when all this stuff comes up with raw foods there might be a reaction of whoa!, that's a little too intense, that's a little too true and I am not quite ready to feel that open and maybe your brain will trick you into thinking that maybe a little cooked food might be alright.
These are the points that stood out to me because that is what is relevant in my life right now. I am sure other folks viewing the program had other things that stole the spotlight.
I have been struggling a lot with what exactly is my purpose here on earth. I thought I knew or at least had some sense of direction, but lately it has all been a jumble in my mind. I have been in prayer quite a lot over this lately.
Karen said that a lot of times raw foods will come into your life when you are feeling ready to make big shifts and I feel this happening but I am also feeling resistant too. It is especially a bit overwhelming right now as I focus on finishing up a home study that has been about 3 years in the making and is quite intense for me as it requires me to explore all sorts of boundaries outside of my comfort zone. It has been very enlightening to shedding light on how my brain works and the different thought patterns that have conditioned the person I am. But as these things are challenged and as raw foods brings them into light even further, I really find myself crying out to God, "What is your purpose for me?" But this is a whole other post in itself.
Also, Karen talked about her own journey into raw foods and that it took her about five years to commit to 100% raw. She said she kept banging her head into the wall with the thought "oh, a little cooked food won't really affect me." Yet, it always does. I feel like the same lesson is beating at my door. It's o.k. I accept where I am and I am on a slow path to raw foods, but I think that is where I am traveling to. I know this past week, I have eaten more cooked foods than I have for several months and it is really affecting me. I feel bloated, I have a couple blemishes, I feel tired. And the cooked food I have been eaten would most certainly be dubbed "healthy" but it is just too much.
The good news is that I am reversing my ways almost immediately for one week has certainly been long enough to show me that there is NO WAY that I will slip up into this. I think it is a good lesson for me. When you eat raw foods and you have a cooked meal here and there, I think it is true that you are feeling so good and clear that it doesn't really affect you all that much. It does affect you in the way though that it invites cooked things into your life and they are strangely sneaky and will dominate quickly if you don't watch out!
So, I guess I am going to have to search deep about what a high raw diet over the winter will look like for me. I have some ideas in mind and they are going to be implemented straight away. I will share some of what I come up with on a different day.
I suggest checking out Karen's website though and if you can find her video of her kale avocado salad, check it out. It's one of my favorites!
I found a quote today that I liked while studying...
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. If you want something new, do something new, especially when there are so many alternatives." It's from a book with many contributing authors, so I am not sure who to give credit to.
He then made 12 grids which definitely gave him practice with a ruler and his measuring. The woman overseeing this project in our group said that this project would develop will. It was interesting to witness how it worked. At first Silas went pretty gung ho at the first few grids. The middle grids were awful. He was frustrated and wanted to give up, but we kept encouraging him on and refused to give him any help other than planting the seed that he could do this. The last few grids, though, you could seeing him climbing over the hump and he realized again that he could do it. By the end of the project, he was pretty pleased with himself. After drawing the grids, he had to write in the names of the month (in coordinating beeswax crayons colors), fill in the days of the weeks, and the numerals of each day, so it was a lot of writing practice as well. (Don't let all the blank days fool you, I am not in a good habit of calendar use!)
These next two pictures are exceptionally blurry, I apologize, but you can see what I want to show which is how Silas customized a lot of his letters. The swan S....
And the peace symbol O. All the y's in the line have little bubbles that say GO, GO. Very cute!
Here is the painting for July as well. My photos definitely do not do the calendar justice, but it was a fun project. We used a hole punch and put it all together with metal rings. 
Here is our latest bed, a key hole bed. We double dug it a couple of weeks ago and Steve, of course, built the frame. You can't tell from this photo, but it is actually at an angle in our yard, to capture the most sunlight. We have mostly shade in our yard, so we are capturing every sunny area we can! 
To make the oil, you have to wait until the flowers are in bloom like the ones above. For the oil, you use the flower blooms, the leaves, and the stems. I just read on one site about yarrow that after the early summer blooms are gone, you can cut down the plant for a fall bloom as well. I am just making a small amount here because I know it will be plenty for my needs.
After gathering the herb, you need to macerate the herb- crush it, so that it is able to release its medicinal properties in the oil. The stem is pretty fibrous. I personally haven't tried using a mortar and pestle for this which would definitely be a nicer way to go about making the oil. I am not sure how the stems would do though. I think with the mortar and pestle I may only try the leaves and blooms. I just load the herb into a food chopper and grind it down and then place the final product into a glass mason jar.
And then to compensate for using a food chopper, I use the sun's energy to extract the properties of the fresh yarrow into the oil. It sits in the sun for 2-3 weeks and I shake it every day, sometimes twice. Alternately, you could pour oil over the macerated herb in a shallow baking pan and bake on a very low (like 200 degrees) temperature for a few hours.
I hope to make a post in the next couple of weeks about the actual making of the yarrow sticks, so stay tuned! 
I tried my hand at making living bread. All and all, I am happy with the results and eager to experiment as I am sure the flavor and texture will improve with practice.
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