Food is life! Yet for something so important to our survival, we often turn our head to what we put into our bodies, fueling it with pesticides and toxins, all without a second thought!

I believe that what we eat and where we get what we eat are life changing priorities!

That is why you'll always find me posting about healing through food, sharing recipes and inspiring as best I know how to help encourage us to change our habits concerning food!

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Food to table:

Where does our food come from?
How does it come to be on our plates?

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For most of us, the simple answer is the grocery store, the super market, the big box chain department store grocery sections, right?

Well, what if we stopped to think about that for a second. Where does food come from to begin with? A lot of it nowadays comes from labs and huge factories producing synthetic, plastic covered nonsense, they are claiming to be food but where does real food come from? The kind that nourishes the body, fuels it with strength and energy?

But food comes from the Earth, first!

Whether it be fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, even meat/animals... all come from the Earth. Mother Nature prepares the soil, sows the seeds and conceives everything we need to survive.

• Fruits grow on trees, on vines, in bushes, on shrubs...

• Veggies, grains and herbs grow from the ground...

• Your coffee comes from a bean called... the coffee bean.

• Your bread comes from wheat which grows from the ground.

• Your chocolate bar (before being processed) comes from the cacao bean which is ground up and processed into chocolate.

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Plants comes from a wonderful natural system where the sun, water, soil and elements collaborate together to produce their life, for us to gather and consume to survive.

Nature works intricately to flow through this cycle, with or without our assistance.

Food doesn't just grow in gardens, it grows in the wild, all on its own without any intervention or interference on our part.

There was food long before agriculture. Yet, we don't see that connection anymore, we most often don't pick our own food or prepare our meat from hunt to meal time. We let big corporations take care of everything for us.

They line the shelves with produce, sprinkling altered water onto the rows to keep it fresh longer. They butcher the animals from the large factory farms and wrap it in plastic so we can't smell it going bad (oh, it is, don't kid yourself, from the moment that animal is killed, it's decaying and how do you think they prevent that decay from happening so it has a long enough shelf life for you to be able to buy it?)

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But wait, there's another way, in fact we have many options!

You don't have to hire a monkey to get it for you...

And no, you don't have to climb all the way up a coconut tree to get it, (though it sure is fun to try and a great work out!)

Have you ever collected your own food before?

Have you picked a fruit fresh from the tree or a veggie straight out of the garden?

I am a huge advocate for growing your own food, however if that's not your specialty or interest, I encourage visiting your local farmer's market. I wrote a post about that here if you want to hear more about that!

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In the sake of this not turning into a novel, let's get down to why we're here.

I just moved into my house here a few months ago so much of my garden is still too premature to harvest and so I have a strong relationship with the local organic farmer's market. I have my main farmer's that I rely on to support me with fresh, pesticide free, produce for which I am incredibly grateful to be able to have access to.

Given that food is so important to me, I decided to go visit one of the farms of my favorite farmer! Let me take you along, on a little educational journey about food and what it's like when we connect with it instead of purchasing dead, processed crap at the store.

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The Garden Tour:

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The tour starts off with a fresh coconut waiting for me on the table! I don't get that service at any store!

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After the delicious refreshment, we took off walking down a drive, on the sides of which are rows of papaya and banana trees. If you're not from a tropical climate, you may not have seen these trees before, so let me show you where those delicious fruits come from!

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Papaya

Here is a small papaya tree, not yet fruiting in comparison to fruit producing mature trees. The leave are very distinguishable and I always know when I see one straight away. The fruits can grow very large so they need a steady trunk to support them. I have been throwing my papaya seeds into my garden and now have a bunch of babies popping up!

Did you know:
Papaya seeds are an excellent natural antibotic? If you eat some of the seeds, it's like a bomb going in their and killing any bad guys you might have hanging out in your gut!

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Banana

These are banana trees, the bananas grow in clusters and in commercially farmed plantations, are often wrapped in plastic and sprayed frequently before being picked much too early, packed up in refrigerated cargo transports, shipped across the world, and presented to you by your local grocery store.

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The Blues, Butterfly Pea:

The first thing I saw when I got to the other side of the gate was a bush with striking blue standing out at me. Being obsessed with bright and vibrant colors, I went over to it to realize that it was butterfly pea! Commonly used for teas, they are edible and wonderful in salads so I collected some for dinner.
Did you know:
Butterfly pea added to rice gives it a vibrant natural blue colouring!

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Oh KALE Yeah!

It's no secret that kale is a superstar of veggies, related to cabbage and sometimes called leaf cabbage! Raw kale contains high amount of vitamins K, A, C, B6, E, folate, maganese, thiamin, riboflavin and hosts a party of minerals within it as well! I love kale, it can be put in smoothies, made into a salad, gently "cooked" by salting and massaging it, however cooking kale over high heat or boiling it, removes many of these health benefits! Of course, it's best right out of the ground!

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Green Power!

Greens are so easy to grow and come to harvest quickly. I just planted some spinach seeds 2 months ago and already have more bounty than I know what to do with! They are a great starter for anyone wanting to learn how to garden and provide tons of vitamins and minerals. We have had a lot of sun here recently so as you can see, the uncovered plants are getting a little bit dry however they are still thriving and producing for our favorite farmer to sell to me at the market! Variety is the spice of life and trying new veggies will keep things fun and exciting. I tried everything I was offered, most of it completely unknown to me!

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Passion!

We've got a vining plant that blooms these unmistakably gorgeous purple flowers that look like something from outer space and provide a calming effect which is a natural elixir for anxiety and stress see my post here for more on that!
It also produces one of my favourite fruits in the world, the passionfruit! Inside an egg like shell, tiny, gooey seeds contain a sweet and sour taste that is amazing eaten raw like this, put in smoothies or atop smoothie bowls. It even makes a great ingredient for fruit-centered desserts! Eating the fruits raw off the vines were the best passionfruit I have ever had- you cannot get more fresh than that! As for the flowers, they provide such a sweet sense of relief from the hectic day. I grabbed one for the road!

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Herbal Remedy:

How often do you eat fresh herbs? I know I rarely used to because they are expensive in the store, in the plastic containers in the produce aisle. I would always go for the dried versions in the jars over paying ridiculous prices for herbs that never seemed very fresh anyways.

Good thing herbs are super easy to grow! Look at how much coriander and Mexican cilantro there is here! He doesn't have to do anything but let it go, let it go... planter pots of herbs can be placed on decks, in windows, on rooftops... you don't have to have much room but your recipes will thank you for the kick the fresh herbs provide. A meal with fresh herbs vs dried is night and day different and so I always try to use fresh if possible!

Did you know:
Coriander and cilantro refer to the same plant! Coriander is typically considered the whole plant, especially the seeds, whereas cilantro only refers to the leaves!

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Okra-wha?

Have you ever tried okra? It's an interesting veggie, slimy on the inside and often used in Indian dishes. I had no idea it grew like this, on sticks! Walking through the garden it felt like one of the movies where the tribes have heads on a stick! The harvest for the okra was coming to an end but these few are left to go to seed (meaning, they will return to the soil and produce more!)

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It's What's Inside That Counts:

Soursop is what I call the 'ice-cream fruit' because it's texture and flavor are so sweet and delicious! If its available, I eat soursop everyday. It's such a strange looking fruit, don't you think? Spiky and green up there in the tree like that! However, don't let the skin fool you or put you off, when its ripe, the spikes soften and you know it's time to open up and enjoy!

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The One:

Last week, I found the best eggplant I had ever had! It was round and perfect for so many recipes! Asking where I could find this in the garden, I was brought to this small plant and told that because no one liked the "different" eggplant, the plant had been killed to put the regular, purple, Japanese eggplant there instead. There was one tiny one left on the plant so we brought it along, hopefully I'll be able to grow some more from its seeds!

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Flower Power:

There were so many flowers everywhere! It was like a dream! I stopped to 'smell the roses' for hours!

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The Collection:

After a whole day of harvesting and foraging in the two gardens, we ended up with a huge bucket full of fresh goodies! How much better is this than the grocery store?

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Dinner Time!

Well now with all this fresh produce directly from the source, it's only reasonable to make something delicious with it right? I must confess by the end of the day, after being out in the sun for so long, I was quite tired. I also had some chickpeas that were soaking and begging me to eat them so I thought, "what should I do?"

The answer ended up being this relatively simple (See? I do do simple sometimes!) ;) stir fry of chickpeas, okra and herbs and let me tell you... it was jam-packed full of flavor and was a huge hit with my taste buds! Yum!

Recipe

• Soaked and boiled chickpeas
• Thinly sliced okra
• Red Ginger chopped finely
• Green spring onion chopped
• Rosemary
• Mexican cilantro chopped
• Coriander chopped
• Wild oregano chopped

There was no measurement, just added all together in a wok pan with some salt and coconut oil and voila!

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Tell me how this experience compares to collecting food otherwise!

I can tell you even though this meal was quite simple(by my standards), the freshness and quality of it was undeniable!

Even though the produce was coming from the same place I always get it, having it picked fresh was an outstanding difference in taste!

For this reason and many more, I think it is so important to grow our own food or buy from our local farmer's when not possible. Having a relationship with our food source, brings in such opportunity to heal! Food fresh from the earth is filled with everything we need. I hope this encourages you to give your food choices some extra thought!

Knowing who grows my food is one thing but seeing where it comes from is a whole other level! Seeing that there is no spraying, no chemicals and no additives to my food gives me an added sense of trust and satisfaction knowing that I am giving my body the best food possible.

I love my body and I believe it deserves the best, don't you? I know it's easy to forget in the convenient world we live in but your body with thank you!

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Sending you love through (plant-based/organic/vegan) food, as always! If you are new here, it's great to have you stop by!
I am a food fanatic as you'll surely see, and I am a strong believer in the power it has within it, and the ability it has to heal us! I love to sprinkle inspiration, love and happiness throughout all of my posts and I hope that your heart feels drawn to this, so we can have a @heart-to-heart connection. Some say the way to the heart is through the stomach, I definitely agree with that theory ;)
If you'd like to see more, you are welcome to 'creep' my blog, leave me a comment or add me over on Discord!

PS: I am also running veganwednesday challenge every week! See here for more details on how to participate (and win by sharing some love!)

Until next time,
XO,
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