Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Beauty

The only greens we have remaining in the garden is a little patch of arugula.  I pulled out the collards because the cabbage worms were eating them.  Yesterday we planted some tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, rosemary, and marigolds.  Our little herb garden is giving us parsley, cilantro, mint, chives, oregano, and basil.  Abundance!

Lunch:  Green Smoothie; Watermelon
Dinner:  Frozen Banana Ice Cream topped with sliced strawberries.

This was a good watermelon.  


The awesome raw foods group met at our house last Wednesday. I fixed three flavors of ice cream made from frozen bananas - chocolate, peach, and strawberry. I made a salad with cauliflower, peppers, carrots, and tomatoes with an onion dressing.  This onion dressing will make a good slaw dressing, too.  I fixed up a little salad bar with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, onions, black Kalamarti olives, and a Mango Dressing.  I made a carrot cracker, chia seed crackers, and banana roll ups in the dehydrator.  The others brought delicious food, too.  It was a FEAST!  
This is the cauliflower/carrot salad I made for the raw foods potluck.
The ladies at the raw foods group had fun discussing a package of bentonite clay given to me by my friend Debbie whose husband, Paul, bought a 50 lb. bag at the farmer's co-op for less than $20.00 to use for sealing a pond. The bag is labeled food grade. Ana, one of our raw food ladies who lives on the lake, decided to host a luncheon where we can bring raw foods then mud-up and jump in the lake.  It sounds like a good time.

I ordered a colon cleanse kit from Blessed Herbs because Tannyraw told us on YouTube what came out of her colon when she did a cleanse.  I want to see if my colon has anything like that built up.  Hers was like old tire rubber molded to the shape of the intestines with worms stuck in it.  The kit costs $79.00, and I purchased it through Amazon.  One of the ingredients is bentonite clay.  The next five days Travis and I will be drinking apple juice with the herbs in the kit . 
***

What should we think about?  

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. -The Bible, Phillipians 4:8

We should think about beautiful things.  That is part of living the simple, natural life.  We can think about the beauty of Nature.  One of my favorite books is Walden by Henry David Thoreau.  Thoreau wrote about how the rising of the sun is an event worthy of an audience., and it's a shame that we are mostly indifferent to it. I don't want to be like that.  I want to pay attention to the natural beauty that surrounds us.  Focusing on beauty puts us in a position to feel joy.  What a wonderful thing to feel joy coursing through our mortal frames...joy unspeakable and full of glory.

There is no shortage of beauty, it's everywhere...in nature, music, art, architecture, literature, poetry and in the people around us.  There are beautiful and compassionate people living beautiful, virtuous lives.

The simple, natural life is the quest for the beautiful.  Being attuned to natural law and order brings harmony. Our bodies are based on natural law where harmony results from opposites being in balance....rest and exercise, sleeping and waking, eating and fasting, heat and cold, sunshine and shade. If we practice a simple, natural, healthy lifestyle we will experience more beauty in our life.  

Beauty is truth, truth beauty. - Keats

Living the simple natural life is also the quest for truth.  We feel connected to life when we obey the laws of Nature.  We don't feel isolated from other living things. Nature is an important way that truth and beauty speak to us.  It's not the only way, but it is one way.  I have become quite skeptical of spiritual teachers that disregard the beauty of nature. Life is a beautiful thing and Nature presents that beauty in the animals, the weather, the plants, and the landscapes.

"We are not here to try to get to heaven.  We are here to make our surroundings beautiful."  -Karl Hochradel

Our mission is to seek beauty.  We express it to the best of our abilities no matter how imperfect our efforts prove to be. Our greatest artistic endeavor is the practice of the simple, natural life so that we can see the beauty all around us.

A toxic body and a programmed mind will keep us from seeing beauty and will hinder our life from flowing freely and naturally.The quest for beauty is the quest for a fulfilling life.  It is living in the present moment... free from addiction and distraction. The simple, natural life is a beautiful life.  - Adapted from The Quintessence of Natural Living

Lucy loves to dig in the garden.



Here is Travis filling up our water bottles with the water from the hot springs here in Hot Springs, Arkansas.


To health and happiness.

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