I have released four recipe books so far:

The Best of the Sunny Raw Kitchen
The Best of Raw Freedom Community
Delightfully Raw and
Deliciously Raw

These feature some of the most delectable creations to have come out of my raw kitchen and will appeal to anyone interested in a healthier diet, regardless of their level of knowledge and experience. From easy one-step everyday fare to more elaborate and involved gourmet dishes and layered cakes, they offer something for everyone and every occasion. Incredibly tasty smoothies, creamy and comforting warm soups, sexy salads, delicious nut cheezes, satisfying entrees and scrumptious guilt-free desserts...

Healthy food never tasted so good!

To learn more about my recipe books, click here!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

One Last Homage to the Summer's Bounty

Fall is now upon us and we've wrapped things up at the garden for the winter months. I wanted to share with you guys some of the photos that I've taken over the summer in one last celebration of the season's wonderful bounty.

As I must have mentioned before, although I've been wanting to play in a garden for a long time our circumstances never really supported that possibility until fairly recently. A couple of years ago I had the good fortune to get involved with a community garden project in the Slocan Valley. A good friend, Larry, generously gave us the use of a portion of his beautiful property to create beds. The soil is simply amazing - it's so dark and rich! - and the garden has full exposure to the sun, not to mention a stunning view of the mountains in the distance. Truly the Garden of Eden! ;-)

I feel that time spent in the garden is so very healing and meditative for me. I love love it! There's something special about being in the presence of growing plants. It gives me a sense of pure connection to Nature, its benevolence and incredible abundance.

It was raining pretty much every day until the beginning of July, but once the sun showed up we scarcely had a day of rain in two months! Woo hoo! This of course meant that we had to go to the garden regularly in order to water. Next year we'll be better organized and have the water system on a timer. Yay!



It being the first year that we've had a garden of our own we took things slowly and mostly planted simple no-brainers, lots of root veggies and greens for our juices and smoothies.

Carrots


We had a variety of beet that was astonishing! (I think they're known as chiogga.) The bulbs were beautiful; dark red with white strips on the inside and super sweet. They grew into the biggest beets I'd ever seen! ;-)


Their greens were also ginormous and very similar to Swiss chard.


Chard


There was lots of kale that volunteered, and while we don't use much kale in smoothies or salads we did make tons of Kale Chips. Mmmmm!


Donnie loves potatoes so we planted a large bed to share with Larry. Many of the seedlings came from left-over potatoes from last year's harvest.

Covering the potato plants with straw to ensure that they're not exposed to light.


We lucked out at the local greenhouse as there was a 2 for 1 sale. Yay! We bought several tomato plants.



Also lots of basil. Yum!


Don harvesting the basil before the frost. I sure got to make heaps of pesto!


At the greenhouse we also bought several summer squash plants, including patty pan. They're so cute and have such a delicate flavor!



A gal who is quite knowledgeable about gardening had beds close to mine, so I got to learn a few tips. Here are some of the veggies she grew.




She also had several sunflowers - something we'll definitely plant next year as I so love them! In case you haven't noticed they've also sorta become the symbol of my Sunny Raw Kitchen. ;-)


I was able to capture a magical moment with little bumble bees drinking their fill.


Bright orange marigolds to help keep the bugs away...


And while on the topic of flowers I'll leave you with some shots I took of our friend Livina's garden.





A lovely Iris



Wild rose


A stunning red begonia


Columbine


Petunias


Foxgloves


Peonies


When I was a young child, probably about 4 years old, my photographer uncle took several shots of me with peonies. In one of the photos I had my nose right up to a blossom which was nearly as big as my head then! lol Now that I'm all grown up, I thought it would be fun to pose with this magnificent flower again. These will warm my mom's heart. ;-)

Ces photos sont pour toi, Jeanne! ;-)



And lastly, a few pics of Miss DaPuss who had a wonderful summer. She was so at ease exploring the woods nearby. We joked that she's turning into a dog as she kept following us around the property. ;-)



A pussycat needs her rest too!


And that pretty much wraps up our summer adventures!

We had our first snow flurries yesterday (Eeek!) so the countdown has officially begun before our departure for the southern US. We figure probably another week or so... Sunshine here we come! Yippee!

Talk to you from the road!
 

12 comments:

  1. Hi Carmella :)

    Lovely post! I'm curious to know why you guys don't eat much kale in your salads or smoothies?

    Love all your recipes & adventures!

    Kristen

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    1. Thanks Kristen!

      Oh, that's purely a taste thing, as Don doesn't like its strong flavor. I don't mind it at all but since we usually uncook for two we end up prepping foods that we both enjoy. ;-)

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  2. Beautiful photos, especially of the flowers... although several of the veggie pics had my mouth watering.
    Love to you both, and wishes for a peaceful/happy trip south.
    Diane from Santa Barbara

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    Replies
    1. How good to hear from you dear one! Thanks for your good wishes! We'll soon start making our way slowly towards you. Yippee! ;-)

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  3. For the few moments I was looking at these beautiful photos, you transported me into Nature. The wondrous beauty of it all - the gorgeous flowers, the bees in the sunflowers, the beautiful cat, all of it - kinda brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing this!

    Ronn

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    Replies
    1. Ronn,
      It makes me so happy that I brought joy into your day! ;-)

      Delete
  4. Hi Carmella,
    You are making me homesick - I went to high school in Lumby B.C. and used to travel to your neck of the woods quite often. It is so pretty! Your garden looks amazing, what bounty! Your photos are so full of light, I was wondering if you would grant permission to use a couple of them as painting resources? I really like the sunflower and the iris. Let me know if you are okay with that :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Laurel,

      We lived in Lumby for a few months, just before we became nomads. ;-)

      I'm flattered that you like my photos so much! Yes, please feel free to use them.

      In light,
      Carmella

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  5. Absolutely beautiful pictures. And my wife loves your cat. We went to our first raw food restaurant and tasted some interesting items: Pad Thai, Kim Chi, and Egg[less] salad. I enjoyed them very much. - Tom and Patti Bruno Manorville, Long Island, NY

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  6. My Hubby and I are slowly planting our first veggie garden. I recently started going raw (at the beginning of the year) when I found out I was pregnant with our first little bundle of joy. I adore your blog, and have become a devoted little follower :) ...I do agree with Don on the kale in salad, but I find I'm ok with it in my raw smoothies or juices.

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  7. Sunbeam Carmella, Bee the joy you wish for the world.
    Photographs of Eden, how clever of you! Do you apply Biodynamics to your planting and harvesting? I have started to do the same with my magical herb garden and indoor sprout arena. Those beetroot are certainly blood-ee nourishing foods,rich, earthy and rebuilding. This is a strong transition time for travelling and seeking the curtains of yellow from the sky. I live in the southwest of England, (UK), alas going south for me ends up in the English Channel, brrrr. Sunflower faces smiling xxx

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  8. Thanks guys for dropping by! ;-)

    Moonkitty,
    I feel like a toddler when it comes to gardening as I've only just begun to explore that fascinating world. I have heard about biodynamics but have yet to learn how it works and apply it to my own 'dirt box'. Guess I'll be in kindergarden for some time to come! ;-)

    We'll be sending some sunshine your way as soon as we find it!

    ReplyDelete