This issue is dedicated to:
 
Eating Healthfully during Economic Challenges

We offer you tips that have helped our family to eat well and save money.

In this Issue:

1.    Dandelion Pesto Recipe by Sergei

2.    Enhancing Your Cuisine With Wild Edibles

3.    Growing Your Own Mini-Garden and Improving Your Soil

4.    Popular Question: Do I need a Vita-Mix?

5.    Easy Sprouting

6.    Victoria is speaking at Harmony Festival, June 6-8, 2008

7.    Joy for Life, a Seven Day Spiritual Retreat with Raw Family

Recipe:  Dandelion Pesto by Sergei

To find out how to get fresh dandelions, you may watch Sergei’s video here: Video

3:½      cup dandelion leaves and flowers
½         cup sunflower seeds
2–3     cloves garlic
¼         cup basil greens- fresh or dried
1          tablespoon olive oil
1          tablespoon lemon juice
½         teaspoon sea salt (optional)
¼         cup sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

Place all ingredients in blender and blend thoroughly. Add more oil or lemon juice if necessary. Serve as you would regular pesto, for example, on crackers, bread, or pasta. Decorate with dandelion flowers. Serves 3.

Enhancing Your Cuisine with Wild Edibles

Victoria: This is my favorite time of year! Every morning I return from my hike with a heavy basket of succulent fresh greens. While a small bundle of organic kale could cost two to three dollars or more, my basket of miner’s lettuce, dandelions, malva, clover, chickweed and others is absolutely free. In addition, they taste many times better. I have been putting wild greens in my smoothies and salads for several weeks now, and have become used to their rich flavor. Everything is relative; recently I made a smoothie with organic kale, purchased in my favorite store, and was amazed at the vast difference between the taste of wild greens compared to even the best organically grown greens. Wild leaves add a symphony of taste to any dish,enriching and expanding the palette of healthful eating. I think the wonderful flavor of wild edibles comes from the abundance of nutrients in them, due to the quality of the soil in the pristine forest or field in which they grow. 

If we care which nutrients we receive from plants, we absolutely cannot ignore the quality of nutrients plants receive from the soil because we literally consume minerals from the soil through plants. The quality of the soil in which plants grow has an immense influence on the health of the people and animals who eat plants. Wild nature is the only place where soils are still undisturbed by civilization.

When picking wild edibles, be sure not to pull up the roots, so you do not disturb the continuity of the plant’s life.

Warning: While there are countless benefits associated with eating wild foods, there are also some risks. It is a good idea to first learn how to positively identify the edible plants. I urge you to take caution when harvesting wild foods.Eating wild edibles is fun, healthful, and safe when done properly. Please take the time to educate yourself and your loved ones. If you are ever in doubt about whether a plant is edible or not, please, please don’t eat it!

To help you identify the most common wild edibles, Sergei has placed several free videos under the name Stalking Wild Edibles on YouTube.

Episode about Dandelions

Episode about Miner’s Lettuce

Episode about Wild Strawberries

Episode about Fool’s Onion

More are on the way!

   News

Dear friends,

            The trails and hikes that I have already been on this year have been absolutely awesome!  There is such an abundance of wild edibles in the woods that I will surely need help eating them! My extended hikes are filling up quickly. Thus far, I have mostly women signed up! DID YOU HEAR THAT GUYS? GORGEOUS RAW FOOD EATING WOMEN! 

        I only have a few spots left in the first two hikes (the Upper Rogue River trail) and about eight more spots on the last hike (Sky Lakes Wilderness). If you are interested in joining on one of these adventures please visit my website www.harmonyhikes.com for more information. Click on the “extended hikes” tab.

            I have also been working hard to produce as many FREE wild videos as possible for educational purposes. If you are unable to come on a hike with me, log on to my website anyway and check out my videos. My videos are concise, to the point,and fun. You will learn about, the plant, its health benefits, how to properly identify it, where it grows, and one delicious raw recipe utilizing your harvested wild edible! Log on to www.harmonyhikes.com and click on the “ wild edible” tab.

Happy Trails,

Sergei

Growing Your Own Mini-Garden and Improving Your Soil

Does one need a large back yard to have a garden? Look how much I grow in one corner of my deck!

I even grow some food on a tiny windowsill in my office.

You may purchase a plant start for a dollar or less at your local health food store or farmer’s market. Then you may bring it home,place it on a plate for easy watering, and food will grow for you.

Our family’s long time favorites to grow on a windowsill are: tomatoes, parsley, lettuce, spinach, basil, green onion, dill, mint, and chives.

As you can see, we use rather small size pots for our plants but our herbs and lettuces are abundant and healthy. The secret is to use the best possible soil. The soil available at our markets is often expensive, yet not of high quality. We use our own compost with an addition of rock dust and crushed sea vegetables mixed in the soil.

Recently I learned another magical way of increasing the productivity of soil from a man named Steven. He stopped by my office to share delicious green smoothie that he made out of apple leaves and young buds blended together with apples. He brought me an extra branch to show and I took a picture of it:

Steven’s family has been preparing smoothies with different fruit tree leaves, including young leaves of avocado and olive trees. Wow! I am going to start exploring those too!

Popular Question: Do I Need a Vita-Mix?

I recently visited Russia, where almost nobody can afford a Vita-Mix blender.However, a lot of people are drinking green smoothies there,anyway. The main difference between smoothies made in a high speed blender or a regular blender is in the quality of taste, and the efficiency of assimilation by the body. Vita-Mix, Blendtec or other high speed blenders enable the health seeker to enjoy wonderfully whipped, delicious concoctions,which are quickly assimilated by the body. On the other hand, those who use simple blenders have to put up with some chunks and pieces of unblended greens and fruit skins. These green smoothies may be less smooth but still provide a great deal of greens in one's diet, much more than if people didn't drink them at all.

We now offer high speed blenders through our website. Click Here

Easy Sprouting

In 1998, when my family was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, we were growing sprouts in our backpacks as we were walking. Sprouts are the most economical food there is, considering its cost and nutritional value.For example, two tablespoons of alfalfa sprouts will grow into a gallon of greens, at the cost of around 30 cents.

In our family, we prefer the simplest and the least expensive way of sprouting: in glass jars. All you need is a glass jar, a piece of mesh fabric or cheesecloth, and the rubber band.

First we soak our seeds in water, in the evening.

Day 1 - In the morning, we pour the water out and rinse the seeds once.

Then we place the jar of seeds on a dish rack at a 45 degree angle. This way the excess water can continue to drain, while the air flows in freely.

Day 2


Day 4

July 14-20, 2008

Join us for a week long retreat of enlightening dialogues, spiritual growth workshops and green smoothies!

Click for more details and to register.

Children Learn about Green Smoothies at School

Valya and Victoria have been making green smoothies everyday for two weeks, for the local homeschooling group. There are eighteen children from age 6 to 10 years old. By now, every child knows how dinosaur kale got its name, and what a cherimoya tastes like, and which button to push on the Vita-Mix. We asked each child to come up with their own recipe, write it down, and draw a picture of the ingredients. On the last day of their school,we will present each of them with a book called, "Our Favorite Green Smoothie Recipes".