It's the 17th annual Vancouver Farmers Holiday Market today!

Shanti Uganda is the designated Charity and they'll be wrapping gifts by donation in support of their Birth House! While you are there check out my friends Jewellery, Nancy Esworthy Designs. 

For a complete list of vendors click here

Happy Holidays! 

An Evening of Art. Shanti Uganda's 4th Annual Dinner & Art Auction.

Join me at Shanti Uganda's An Evening of Art! 
Tuesday September 25th
7pm start/730pm Dinner
Tickets $50 prepay only
Click here!

Its an evening of Art and delicious Indian food.
Dinner includes a Buffet Meal featuring a salad bar, three Meat dishes, three Vegetarian dishes, Papadum and fresh Naan and two desserts. 

It will be a great night out and the Art auction will be amazing! And of course the cause couldn't be better!

Come see why I am such a proud Ambassador for the second year in a row! 

This truly promises to be an exciting event to raise funds for Shanti Uganda's Solar Powered Maternity Center in Nsaasi Village, Uganda. Funds raised will go towards the life saving maternal and infant health programs carried out at the Shanti Uganda Birth House. Hope to see you there! 

mmm...mmm....garden.

Have you planted your garlic yet? Its the easiest thing in the world.

And you can keep those vampires away this Halloween ;)

looks like I am re-obsessed with the garden

I just love the way things grow. All year long with no help from anyone. There is just so much beauty all around us. Doesn't matter the season. And even in January.

It's Yin out there. And it's beautiful.

Everybody likes a garden right?

Made a trip down to my community garden plot this morning to do a little clean up after being a slacker for so long. It felt good. I have been debating giving it up this year (due to guilt), knowing there are so many people on the waiting list, and we could have utilized it so much more this past year. My partner and I have officially decided that we will keep it and reprioritize things. It brings us lots of peace and joy and happiness (and food)!

These two pictures are of our plot before and after my little clean up. It still needs a lot more work. I'll add some larger shots from the garden as a whole in another post. Its really a beautiful morning out there. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

yoga you can eat. yum!

Aren't these cute and yummy looking!? They are made by a woman named Patti Paige who owns a place called Baked Ideas in New York City.

Heres a link- Baked Ideas

Their work is really incredible! They sell items online but sadly not to Canada at the moment.If you love sweets and Art you could always check them out the next time you are in the Big Apple!

Black rice is better for you than blueberries...

Did you know that a spoonful of black rice contains more disease fighting antioxidants than a spoonful of blueberries? I just read that the other day and was a little surprised. Anthocyanin antioxidants show promise for fighting heart disease and cancer. They are found in fruits and vegetables that are purplish in colour, like purple cabbage, eggplant, blueberries and black rice bran. It also has way less sugar and lot's more fiber and vitamin E. We're generally a brown rice household but I've been eating the black stuff lately too, and it's delicious. It has a nutty, earthy taste and is a little bit crunchy. I picked up mine at Urban Fair bulk food section. Organic, yet inexpensive like the rest of the grains..It's cheaper than blueberries too!

Just thought I'd share. Bon Appetit!

community and garden are two really beautiful words.

Not really sure how, but my (neglected) garden plot still manages to put food on our table. I haven't been around the garden much the past few months but hey...it happens to all of us. That thing called life! Now that summer is winding down I will be making the garden much more of a priority again. Luckily for us here in BC we can garden all year long and grow much of our own food. Here are a few pics of the garden this morning. Every garden is just such a heavenly place to be. In spite of my neglect I've still got lettuce, potatos, beets, peppers, squash, basil, cilantro, thyme, parsley, chives, pumpkins, rosemary, onion...I can't even think of what else right now. Soon I will also have eggplant, and hopefully a few carrots. I am looking forward to growing garlic this year as well. Hope I don't miss the boat again on the planting of the garlic again! Really can't recommend enough, growing your own food. It is truly something I wish I started doing long ago for countless reasons.

what will be our jack-o lanterns!

Do you eat local?

This morning I read that around 900 million tons of food is shipped around the planet each year. Thats 4 times the amount that was shipped in 1961. Wow. That is staggering.
Do you try and eat local? As much as I have been slacking in my garden this year our little household really does try. We grow some of our own food and do our best to eat food that is local and in season as much as we can. I try and keep the exotic foods to a minimum (although I do love my olive oil and bananas and can not lie).

If you haven't really thought much about it before start out small. Just do what you can do, and thankfully there are farmers markets galore, community gardens, organic food delivery programs and resources of all kinds out there. And luckily for us Vancouver not only is yoga land, but it's also organic food land! Eating local is even better then buying organic food from somewhere else so why not buy fresh organic local food? Growing your own is very fun too!

Eating local not only is delicious and healthful for the environment (helps in the fight against global warming), but eating in season is really good for us from a health standpoint as well... not to mention sooo delicious.

Plus, it keeps us in touch with the seasons!

When we eat local we're helping to support our local farmers, and we're putting money back into our own economy. As well, local food is fresher and at a much lower risk of contamination due to not having to travel some crazy distance from farm to plate.

Give it a whirl and you'll see how amazing it is. The food is loaded with nutrients, delicious, and surprisingly not costly at all. You'll be doing something wonderful for you and your family, the environment, your community and your taste buds. yum!

For more information (local farmers market locations, whats in season, gardening resources etc.)

you can click here

Bon appetit!

"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."~ Thomas Edison