Simple Raw and Natural

I have decided to make the best of this curly hair after encouragement from Sheila and Mary Shapiro. It was raining most of the day.  I found an old raincoat in the garage and put it on over my work clothes.  We can't let a little thing like rain stop us.  My job today was to weed one of the overgrown beds.  I have to admit the idea of snakes did cross my mind about a thousand times.  My white USA t-shirt is probably ruined and my jeans were covered in mud.  You can see in the pictures below the bed before and after my morning's work. There were some berries growing on the fence that looked something like blueberries.  I almost ate one of them but decided I better check first.  Turns out the berries are not edible.  It is a plant called Ceylon spinach, and you eat the leaves. For lunch I had black sapote, sapadilla, custard apple, avocado, papaya and coconut. I am studying about Henry Lindlahr, MD who said that the proper use of surge...

When I wake up during the night it is so dark, and I have absolutely no idea what time it is.  I will just lay still and try to guess whether it is time to get up or not.  The first time I did this Wednesday morning it was 12:30 a.m.  I read a while and then went back to sleep and slept until 7:00 a.m. so I only had one hour of computer time.  John showed up at 8:10 wanting to know why I was late to work.  I was trying to get Travis on Skype, but I couldn't get it to work.   John went to his house and signed on to Skype, and I could talk to him. It was a rainy day.  This is not the rainy season, but it sure is raining a lot.  I did some domestics today.  I cleaned all three rooms in the office, and the shower/toilet building.  Then I put mulch around one of the little custard apple trees.  John had already fed it with blue stone and compost. Then I pulled the Singapore Lilies from around the lemonade tree.  The Singapore ...

I have been having computer woes since last Sunday.   For some reason there was no power coming through the 240 v system that I had my computer hooked to.  Maybe I was draining it....not sure.  Also, we have not had a lot of sun.  On Monday, we went to Mareeba and I bought for $75.00  a 12 v adapter for my laptop hoping that would solve the problem.  But it didn't.   My computer was still pulling off the battery and shutting down.  John figured out that I was blowing fuses so yesterday we drove to a nearby little store and bought 10v fuses.  I'm hoping that will fix the problem.  The only other problem I have is that I can only charge my computer during hours when we have sunshine...10:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m.   If I use it other that those times, then I have to pull off my computer's battery.   At least, that's the way I understand it.  I still can't get Skype to work.  Maybe it will work during hours when I can...

I got up at 3:00 a.m. to spend the day in Cairns.  I even sneaked on a little eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss.  I didn't get a chance to straighten my hair, but I wore my Brighton jewelry...the charm necklace, the earrings that Molly and family gave me for Christmas, and the charm bracelet that Travis gave me for my retirement. John, Jim and I left for Cairns at 4:00.  Our first stop was Rusty's market.  We were among the first customers.  John bought papaya, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and mandarins. Then we went to the radio station where John recorded his program.  It is a small community radio station manned by volunteers.  I met another DJ named Ron and the office manager, Chris  There were two computers at the station so I got to use one and Jim got to use the other. We took Jim to the airport about 9:00 so he could fly home to Melbourne.  John took me back to Rusty's and bought me a sugar cane drink with lime.  It is WONDER...

It was a good morning.  I got up at 4:30 to have computer time.  Skype is awesome.  I got to talk to Travis and my grandson, Zac.  They looked so good!  Today was Deborah and Priscilla's last day.  They said I woke everyone up at 4:30 banging around in my room.  The walls in the cabins are paper thin.  They have woken me a couple of times at 3:00 a.m. with an alarm going off and then reading aloud to each other, too. John, Jim, Deborah, Priscilla and I rode into Cairns to take the girls to the Hilton.  They are staying in Cairns for three nights before heading home.  The Hilton is right on the Coral Sea.   Very lovely.   I would love to stay there a few nights and just enjoy that breathtaking view. John, Jim and I then went to a little shopping center...Raintrees Shopping Centre.  I bought some clothes pins (called pegs here) at Woolworth's.  Woolworths is a grocery store, not a five and dime.  An...

Everyone here calls Dr. Fielder John....all the clients, his son, everyone....so I will start referring to him as John, also. I laid awake from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. again.  Then ventured out in the dark to the office to get on the computer. I cleaned the bathrooms first and then went to finish my pineapple weeding.  John was still top dressing the banana trees.  He first puts on a layer of blue stone which is ground up volcanic rock that has 36 trace elements.  It's quite expensive.  He paid $2000 for the pile he has here on the property.  After that comes a layer of compost, then a layer of mulch.  I put the blue stone around the pineapples and started on the layer of compost.  John started helping compost the pineapples, and I was glad because he is much faster at it than I am. I met John's son, Ben, and his partner, Sarina.  They live here on the property not very far from us.  They are very nice.  I carried the scales an...

I am waking up really early.  I woke up at 3:00 a.m. but just laid in bed until 5:00 a.m. because it is too darn cold to want to get out from under the covers.  But finally, the desire to get to the computer overruled and I jumped out. My jobs today were mostly domestic.  I cleaned the toilets and shower then I tackled the kitchen and dining room which needed a good cleaning.  I finished those jobs at about 10:30 and then decided I'd go work on the pineapples again.  Most of the weeds I can pull by hand but some are so entrenched I have to use a mattock.  We prepared lunch and then cleaned up before eating. Our lunch was 1/2 papaya, a mandarin, 1/5 of an avocado, a banana, and a bowl of freshly grated coconut.  The clients ate with us today and got the same food we did. After lunch I got a chance to put on my swimsuit and lay out in the sun a little while.  Then I found a spot outside where I could practice the flute. Jim, one of...

My schedule at the Clohesy River Health Farm is as follows: 4:30 - 8:00 am     Computer Time 8:00 - Noon         Outside work and domestic chores Noon - 12:30       Lunch 12:30 - 2:00         Sunbathing, Practice Flute, or trips to store 2:00 - 3:00          Consult with clients 3:00 - 5:00           Study time for the course 5:00 - 6:00           Supper I was still feeling like I had nothing to do after supper so I went to sleep at 6:00 p.m.   I woke up as 12:30 a.m and did not go back to sleep.  I talked to Dr.Fielder about using the evening to work on my French, and he says that will be okay.  Sheila suggested taking up needlework, like the pioneer women.  ha It was so peaceful in the morning.  I heard some loud squawking that sounded like geese, but Dr. Fielder says that is is cockatoo.  It's quite cold a...

Yesterday Dr. Fielder, Deborah, and I took a walk around the property here.  It was a good work-out with plenty of steep hills to climb.  I saw so many things that I can't begin to remember the names of the plants.  I remember the banana trees, passion fruit, and sapotes. There is also a molasses grass that smells like burnt molasses.  It was pretty chilly when we started out, but by the time we got through the temperature had warmed up so that I had to go change clothes. For lunch we served each of the clients 1/2 of a papaya.  They are breaking their water fasts.  Dr. Fielder says that how you break a fast is just as important as the fast.  That why it is so hard to fast on your own. Dr. Fielder and I had a wonderful fruit lunch....more than I could eat.  We each had 1/2 papaya, black sapote, pineapple wedge, a banana, 1/2 avocado and grated coconut with coconut juice.  I have to have a coconut scraper.  Dr. Fielder found his in Sr...

It was cold in my room last night.  I had terrible cramps in my feet during the night, and I had to get up with them several times.  I woke up at 12:30, 2:00, 3:00, 5:00 and laid awake for long periods of time.  I had to use my flashlight twice during the night to venture out to the restroom.  There is a dog somewhere on the property that began barking at 3:00 and barked almost non-stop until I got up at 7:00.  I haven't heard him since then.  He's probably sleeping somewhere. My bed is comfortable.  The electricity in my room consists of two wall mounted little spot lights.  There is no receptacle.  Neither is there a receptacle in the shower room.  My temperature control consists of opening and shutting the windows. I had dinner with Dr. Fielder last night.  The others here are coming off of fasts so they are just having juices.  I got to use a mandolin for the first time.  I have been wanting a mandolin so was glad fo...

It's a long way to Australia.  It was close to 40 hrs door to door.  All the flights went well.  I have had a peaceful feeling all through the trip.  I followed the instructions to avoid jet lag....no airplane food; no alcohol, coffee, or soda; drink plenty of water; get up on the long flight and walk around.  I think it worked.  The longest flight was from LAX to Brisbane.  It was 14 hours.  I managed to sleep seven hours on that flight. The drug dog at customs in Brisbane accused me of having undeclared contraband.  I explained I had mango, kiwi, almonds, walnuts, etc. in the bag earlier, but I had left them all on the plane so as not to have to declare them.  Turns out it was my neck pillow which may have been filled with buckwheat.  They said it was okay and let me keep it, but when I got to the ladies room I threw it in the trash.  I don't want to have to try to get back through US Customs with it later on.  I n...

Just a few more hours until time to hop on the plane and fly to the Clohesy River Health Farm near Kuranda, Queensland, Australia.  The farm is about 13 miles from Kuranda, and near the Kuranda Rain Forest.  Cairns is about 35 miles away.   I am so excited about this trip.  I will be interning for six months with Dr. John Fielder as a part of the four year Lifestyle Consultant's Course in Natural Living that I am studying. The question I am most asked about this trip is "What is Travis going to do?  According to Travis his main job will be to meditate and reflect.   Grandson Zac is coming up next week to spend a week or two with him.  That should help with the transition.   The garden will keep him busy.  He plans to go pick peaches and freeze them for fruit smoothies.  He is planning to take Ashlyn to the diamond mine at Murfreesboro to hunt for diamonds.  There is a Dallas trip planned with Ashlyn and Molly for back to school sh...

While we were visiting in Philadelphia, my daughter-in-law, Amy made a wonderful Mango/Avocado Salad.  It is totally raw and totally marvelous.  We had it twice while we were up there.  The recipe calls for 2 mangoes, 1 avocado, cilantro, a little olive oil, the juice of one lime and some poppy seeds.  Since there were so many of us, we used 4 mangoes and 3 avocados.  I recently read a book called No Impact Man by Colin Beavan.  The surprising thing he and his family learned was that the reduction of wasteful use of resources actually increased the quality of life.   There is a tipping point, he learned, where the use of less resources causes misery.  Many people around the world live below that point.  While many of us need to decrease our use of resources, there are many more people that need to use more resources in order to have a better life.  Colin Beavan found the tipping point for his family was having a way to do laundry other...