Almost the end of the week, almost time for us to fly away! And I'm going to Anchorage and back tomorrow, so busy busy… I'm so glad that people are liking the look of my no-sugar energy bars with 'chia-sweet.' If you search for that tag, I've actually done a ton of posts on them, gradually developing it. I'm glad that it's something that seems to work well for me, and hope that it might help someone else too.
Tina asks, "What challenges have you overcome? What goals have you achieved? Let them empower you today!"
Comfort Zone? Trust me, they're all relative! I'm married to a guy who likes to tackle some of the world's roughest seas in a patched-up rubber boat!
And to carry it overland when the sea runs out. And I join him sometimes.
I live in a cold northerly clime with no running water and I don't like to be cold. I used to live in Hawaii, sometimes with no running water or electricity, sometimes with no bug-screen, surrounded by voracious mosquitoes and centipedes, and nigh-lethal nematode-carrying slugs. You get used to it. I've worked bees with no protective equipment at all, and then I've worked bees so aggressive that I was stung all over even through protective clothing.
Humans are so supremely adaptable!
But I have to refer back to my post about persistence and setting goals from last week, in which I told my story about coconut tree climbing, and how it wasn't really an appropriate goal for me. I also think that for me at least, a lot of the 'living rough' that I've done has bordered on disrespectful of my body. Starvation's an obvious example, but so is living in a situation where you can't get cleaned up easily, or have an ant's nest under your bed, or don't have any light to read or write after dark.
My biggest lesson, though, has been that being around people who are not uplifting or kind or willing to work on themselves is not a good kind of 'out of your comfort zone' to be. No matter how kindhearted and well-meaning you are, perseverating in a situation where you are not valued and appreciated is not a recipe for progress nor happiness nor self-love!
I feel so grateful that now I am living with so much love around me, with a small number of friends whom I love and who appreciate me in return.
A smaller challenge that I feel some pride in overcoming today: remember my confession that sometimes I don't take best care of all my fermentation and harvesting projects? Well, today I tidied up all the yarrow flowers, lovage flowers and seeds and raspberry leaves that I had drying, before they lose their potency.(Sorry there's no photo of those.) And then this afternoon, I checked my kraut concoctions and got them covered and refrigerated. It's exciting to be able to think that I'll be eating from the garden even after the ground is all frozen. Proud of myself that I respected myself enough to take care of these concoctions, rather than letting them slide.
Cauliflower kraut-
- and chard and kale krauts in the back there!
Lol for the butter in the foreground - the food that I probably have the strongest aversion to of any food in existence, but I buy it for all the baking I do for Phil and our friends…
What's in the basket today?
Well, the bottom of it's full of more raspberry leaves to dry - you can't see those. There's a whole bunch of chives, some of which I'll dry, some we'll eat fresh and some will go in kraut or pesto. There's a few sweet little broccoli florets. Back right, a bunch of curly parsley. Front right, stinging nettles to go in my smoothies for my journey tomorrow. Front left, a whole lot of arugula to be made into pesto with the parsley and chives. And a couple little lettuces outside the basket too. Ahhh - enjoy it while we can!
