Raw Vagabonding : More Adventures in Moab & My Favorite Playground

In addition to the Love Muffin Cafe, there are a few other places in town anyone seeking healthy eats should know about.

One of them is The Good Place, a delicious juice bar & yoga studio that also offers massage & meditation. They custom made me my favorite green juices every morning, and also had a whole list of their own juice creations, smoothies, and several other raw items, as well as some healthy cooked eats. The owners and their baby are 3 of the happiest, glowing people I have ever seen. They were also extremely friendly and welcoming, and let us use their wifi for ages.

My favorite place in town was Moonflower Market, and it wasn't because of the food. Yes, they had a nice small selection of fresh, beautiful organic produce and other goods, and an amazing wall full of herbs to be purchased in as small or as large quantities as one's heart desires. Yes, they held educational events on food, nutrition, & healing, they petitioned to get the natural spring opened back up to the public, and they had an amazing selection of books (I kept eyeing Plant Spirit Medicine each time I walked in and finally caved and bought it on the last day!) but that wasn't why I loved it so much. The real treasure of Moonflower was hidden around a back corner of the store where it seems most people never even bother to venture. Lucky for me, I have always been overly curious (it's the gypsy explorer in me) and discovered the Moonflower Lending Library...rows and rows of books on health, nutrition, healing, food, fitness, gardening, permaculture, alternative building, environmental issues...some of them so old and rare, I bet they were out of print. Our time in Moab was chock full of activities so I didn't get to spend much time here, but it definitely added more fuel to my daydreams of coming back to live in the area for a few seasons and play in nature.

Another wonderful thing about Moab is the Youth Garden Project. I highly recommend volunteering some time there if you ever have the chance. They offer volunteer opportunities in teaching, garden maintenance, construction, and special events, and for each hour you volunteer, they give you $5 of fresh produce. The Youth Garden Project started in Sarah Heffron's backyard as a program offered to the Juvenile Court for youth to work off court-ordered community service hours. After an AmeriCorps Grant, the garden began to expand and offer more programs and apprenticeships, eventually moving to two acres of land next to Grand County High School so they could better serve the community. They offer sustainable agriculture workshops and even have a community kitchen where they teach kids how to cook nutritious & delicious meals. The YGP also organizes the Moab Farmers Market, which wasn't in season when we were there, but would be a great place to pick up organic goodies if you find yourself there in the summer.

I could seriously spend a few seasons in Moab and still never get to explore everywhere I want. We only had a few days and lots to see, so in addition to Negro Bill Canyon, we went on a gorgeous hike out to Corona Arch and then spent an entire day hiking around Arches National Park. This was by far one of my favorite playgrounds so far! We went on a few amazing hikes, and then went to watch the sunset over the rainbow-colored mineral-rich earth. It was divine. These pictures don't do it justice because they were taken with my old spy pocketcam, but when this journey is over, I'll develop all my film and post those photographs up on my Flickr page.

Raw Vagabonding: Falling in Love with Canyon Country

(Spiritual fortune cookie in Cameron's car.)

I am really behind on blog posts, and writing this far after the fact definitely makes me skip over details and write with less enthusiasm, so I apologize. These next few posts are going to be less personal than normal, just for the sake of playing catch up. Lesson learned: do not try to blog while traveling unless you own a laptop or an iphone.

After our pit stop in Escalante, we drove until we arrived in Moab, Utah where we stayed for several days...

The first day, I needed some alone time to read and experience my own reality, so I went to the Love Muffin Cafe and ended up having a really great conversation about medicinal herbs. I've gotten really into picking my own herbs and making tinctures in the last year, and want to learn a bit more before I start my medicinal raw chocolate company. It's always a pleasure to meet other healers. I connected with this girl who had studied herbs in Colorado and had lived in SF for awhile before moving to Moab to work at the cafe. The Love Muffin is one of the few local, organic, seasonal spots in town, and while not a raw food place, they had an amazing "Greenie Salad" that totally kept me happy.

In the afternoon, Cameron and his dog Niko drove from Salt Lake City to meet us in person and hang out for a few days. I was already flirting with the idea of spending a few seasons in Southern Utah to do some canyoneering, but then we decided to go hiking in Negro Bill Canyon and I totally fell in love with Canyon Country and all its secrets. It just felt like coming home to a place I'd never been before...the colors were so soothing, the water so calming, the stones so energetic. After a few hours of hiking and great conversation, we got lost in the dark, and Venus dangled over the Moon in a miraculous display, seducing us with their near-copulation.

Most people in Moab are too busy going out canyoneering, rock climbing, hiking, and spending time on the river to check email, so we didn't have much luck with hosting and it was too cold at night to camp at that elevation, so we stayed in 'America's Cheapest Hostel' instead. At $9 a night (and with Evelyn's disclaimer that it's "not like other hostels"), I thankfully wasn't really expecting too much of the Lazy Lizard. It's one of those places where you get what you pay for and just give gratitude for having a place to stay. Something was energetically off from the moment we arrived and it took me some time to realize the depths of what Evelyn meant. There was a dark energy hanging over the place that wormed its way into all the details. For example, you can often notice the amount of self-love or positive energy a person has for themselves by observing how well they take care of their surroundings and how much love they put into tasks, which further reflects what they are open to receiving. This was a place where the bare minimum was done and the place was neglected, which seemed to not only appear in the physical appearance of the entire hostel, but also in the relationships of the people working and living there. It definitely had an effect that made us want to distance from it & spend as little time there as possible, but we learned a very important thing the second night and that was to dig deeper. Since everything is connected, you cannot separate yourself from others. The key is to find the common bond.

So we ate a delicious kale & dandelion green salad and some raw hazelnut cookies out in the freezing cold while talking to strangers Helena & Chad about raw food & bacon (I swear this is the most asked question I've gotten about raw foods on this trip so far - "So, what do you do about bacon?") until we were near frozen. Then we sauntered over to the fire in front of the trailers where we had been invited to join a group of people and let our perceptions dissolve in the flame and sought out the common bond in all of us - our humanity. These people weren't really any different from us at the core, it just seemed that from a distance, they had a few layers of hurt & trauma from hard lives that dulled their luster from years of no one showing them how to clean it off so they could shine brightly again. Had we not been able to make that connection and remove judgement and realize there is only "us" and no "them", we would have never met an amazing father with a soulful song named Aspen, a hilarious musician named EtherAshe who had lived in Romania and was full of crazy stories, another guy who loved his girlfriend so much it was breaking his heart, and several other interesting souls. It was one of those really strange evenings with strangers that stays with you when you recall your travels later.

Raw Vagabonding : Zion, Bryce & The Power of Water

After I finish up odds & ends and death & taxes in Vegas, we flee to Zion National Park to get away from city life and spend some time communing with nature and delighting in uncertainty. Last time I drove cross country with my darling illustrator friend Elliott in 2003, I got sick in the Big Horn Mountains and we had to cancel the Southern Utah portion of our trip so I could make it to SF in time for an interview, so I am super excited to finally get a chance to see such amazing beauty.

We arrive at nightfall, set up our tent and get ready for bed. I feel the earth cradle my body, support my spine, and realign me with its touch. This is exactly what I needed to release the stress from the last 2 days (terminating my lease, organizing friends to remove the rest of my stuff in SF and dealing with the imbalanced sublettor) and reconnect with what is really important. The earth is always so grounding, and sleeping outside in fresh air always feels best (yes, I was nodding with agreement while reading the section on sleeping outdoors in Victoria Boutenko's 12 Steps to Raw Foods. In SF, I loved that the temperature was mild enough all year round to leave my windows cracked) to me, which is a major part of why I love camping so much.

The North Wind begins whispering and I think I'm in for a gentle song to lull me to sleep, but she has something on her mind, and her restlessness keeps me up most of the night. It's a small price to pay for being in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, a place that feels sacred and possesses strong healing energy, which I am very much in need of after LA & Vegas back to back. San Francisco, as a city, is more grounded in it's energy and nature is more accessible and abundant. There is lots of beauty near LA, but the traffic and need to get into a car to get everywhere can be a big deterrent, especially for a bicycle/public transport person like myself.

As I write this, I'm sitting on the edge of a cliff, inches away from the water curling it's fingers over the edge of Navajo sandstone, and the sound soothes me in a way that nothing else can. It doesn't matter that I only slept a few hours or that my hip is experiencing some technical difficulties - all that matters is that I am here, now. The vibrational power of water is astounding. Sound is vibration and the energy flows in all directions; the syncopation of the life force pulses with my own heartbeat, making my soul do a little dance with the molecules embedded in everything. I watch the water drop down into the Virgin River as the sky opens up above the canyon. I close my eyes and listen to the water reverberating around me and within me and drift naturally into meditation. I remember the last words I read last night before I turned off my headlamp:

Survival is in the rivers of your blood. So is death. Open to what you fear.
--Starhawk

Raw Vagabonding : More Vegas Connections & The Renewing of Energy

These last few days have been mostly about connections - reconnecting with my cousin after 25 years, connecting with my sanity regarding the sublettor situation, connecting with my friend in Vegas who will join me on this trip for a bit, connecting with a super generous host who allowed me to use his extra laptop to catch up on blogging to connect you all you, and connecting with people at a few raw food meetups. I covered the first few in my previous Vegas posts, but would like to spend some time on the last two.

Michael Nelson, my CS host in Vegas, is an entrepreneur who owns numerous companies, including several with a philanthropic twist. The Nelson Foundation is an organization that focuses on promoting contributions to five specific areas: environment, education, social development, child welfare and animal welfare. It serves as a sort of charter organization that supports several other organizations, all of which are listed on their site. But it doesn't stop there - there's also CleanH2O, which is dedicated to bringing clean water to under-developed regions throughout the world; Feed Others, which believes the problem of world hunger (particularly chronic & persistent hunger) can be solved in our lifetime; and Humancha, a social website that supports charity fundraising petitions and ideas by building human chains and tribes of like-minded folks. Michael was kind enough to let me stay in one of the spare rooms in his loft for several days. He liked my Raw Autumn Granola so much he gave me $100 and told me to buy as many ingredients as that would cover so he could have a stockpile of it after I was gone. It felt nice to spend a morning making some delicious food, and it helped me reconnect with my need to be in the kitchen nourishing people through my creations. Michael was extremely generous with his space, offered me way more than I needed, and let me use his Macbook the entire time I was there so I could keep up on blog posts, event organizing and even e-file my taxes from the road. He was a huge help, and I am extremely grateful for having found such a generous host.

And on to the meetups, both of which were full of great energy and connections...
There weren't a lot of people at our raw potluck brunch but I kind of like that sometimes. It gave everyone a chance to have a group conversation where everyone could join in instead of multiple side conversations, making for a nice intimate afternoon. We ended up lingering for a few hours after the event was supposed to end because the conversation was so intense and spirited. The event took place in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, amongst the jagged red peaks and a desert spring.

Dennis Raatz was one of the people to attend. He is writing a book that's mainly about form, space & "the unseen" and will cover topics such as living in harmony with the earth, how we use energy, living machines, and our need to stop playing with fire to produce things and seek out alternatives. He hopes to teach people to step into their power to live in accordance with their will and life force & is stiving to create a culture without fire and find more sustainable ways to manufacture things. Dennis was a raw foodist back in the 70s when he was a truck driver, and used the diet to maintain his energy and alertness while driving long distances. He eventually stopped eating raw for a few decades, and ironically enough, was working for some time as a pasteurizer, where he acquired a lot of knowledge about killing and destroying life force in food. He rediscovered raw several years ago and has experienced many benefits since, and it seems to have helped strengthen his desire to live in harmony with the land and deepen his involvement in renewable energy. He was kind enough to share his wealth of knowledge with us.


He also blessed us with the most delicious Thai Nori Snacks and shared the recipe with me:


Thai Nori Snacks (from Chad Sarno’s book “Vital Creations”)

2c sunflower seeds soaked 10-12 hrs
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp raisins soaked 2-4 hrs or 3 dates pitted
1 ½ Tbsp ginger chopped
1 Tbsp garlic
T lemon grass chopped (opt.)
T curry powder
T Celtic salt
½ t cayenne (opt.)
10 sheets raw nori

In a food processor, blend all ingredients, except the nori sheets, until smooth. Continue by laying out a sheet of nori, spreading an even ¼ inch layer of pate to the edges. Sandwich with another nori sheet, slice 6x6 and put on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 105 for 10-12 hrs. Will keep for several months in sealed container.

Then there was Robert Westhoff, who brought enough food to feed an army. ;) It was all amazing...cucumber salad, a delicious soup, and the corn salad pictured at the beginning of this post.




Robert is an accountant who previously worked for a chemical company. In addition to his delicious food, he also shared some wonderful stories. One was about his doctor friend who was studying disease instead of health. He was good at his craft, but knew nothing about health and the conversation reminded me of this great Macrus Buckingham quote about how studying depression tells you nothing about joy. It was also great for me to hear about methods for shading homegrown veggies in the hot Nevada desert, because living in Northern California, it's not a challenge I have had to face, and I'm trying to learn about growing conditions in different climates.

We all had such a great time talking about a multitude of topics outside raw foods, and had a nice lively debate about energy and how fast the world was changing, that we decided to meet at the same place in 10 years to see if any of our predictions would come true. I know I'll be curious to see if I have a lightning farm to harvest natural glass to make my own bowls, plates and cups by then. So if anyone wants to join us in 2019, we'll be meeting at the picnic area in Red Rock Canyon on Saturday, February 23rd at 1pm. I'm looking forward to it. :)

The following night, we went to a potluck at Dixie & Ted Story's place in Vegas. Dixie and Ted are two of the sweetest people I have ever met. Dixie has been a home birth midwife for almost 30 years, and has helped bring over 500 babies into the world. She's worked with various forms of healing, and has almost a decade of experience with raw foods. Even though she and Ted have been on this journey for awhile, they've just begun facing some of the deeper-rooted emotional issues that can become tightly linked to eating, and it was great hearing them discuss their personal journeys of growth and discovery so openly. I think the ultimate goal of all of us is to have a healthy relationship with food, which can change for everyone throughout their lives. While 100% raw can feel great for some, it's not for everyone all the time, and I think being too strict and dogmatic about any one thing can be even more unhealthy than eating the occasional cooked meal. Even within raw, what one eats changes so often as your body shifts and progresses. For me, I'm currently at a place where I make fruit smoothies in the morning, and eat mostly greens throughout the rest of the day in juice, smoothie & salad form. I still eat the occasional nut-based raw restaurant dish, but it's nothing like how I ate when first transitioning. As your diet evolves, so does your body, and listening to it is the best thing you can do to achieve optimum wellness.

I also got the chance to spend some time talking to Poly Arcos, owner of Arcos Design, about art, sustainability, the challenge of obtaining healthy food in Vegas, thyroid issues, and having a relationship with someone who doesn't share the same dietary beliefs. It was great hearing her good humoured accounts of her boyfriend and how they support each other even though they think what the other is into is kind of crazy. They are able to accept it and be supportive and agree to disagree. I personally find healthy eating sexier, and find myself turned off by guys who eat tons of meat & junk, but am glad to see other people make it work and have a healthy relationship despite their differences. It makes me think maybe the dating pool hasn't shrunk as small as I'd thought.

A few other highlights were the amazing raw garlic bread Steve Pavlina made from Juliano's recipe, the positive Czech enthusiasm of George, the kind offer of Ashleigh to connect me with some folks in Oklahoma, a delightful Aussie, and the abundance of dishes Darlene brought after the photoshoot for her latest book. We feasted on Spicy Sweet Peppers, Mexican Pilaf, Au Lac Salad, Zucchini Pesto, Banana Cream Pie and a ton of salads, dips, crackers and good vibes. Thank you everyone, for sharing your creations and filling my evening with love.