Finding my way back...

It is frustrating and unfortunate that it can take losing someone (not just anyone) to make you realize that life is too short to waste.  I lost a friend a week ago today, and when I say friend, what I really mean is brother.  Brent Young was truly the essence of light, love and 'takin' it easy' and having him in my life is and has been a true honor. 

This devastating occurrence has caused me to re-evaluate a whole lot of things, but it has also had the benefit of re-connecting me with my other 'family'.  When Trent and I lived at COE for 2004-2005, we had the extreme privilege to have the opportunity to join the Nordegg family and despite having lived away from this family for the past 5 years, I still feel very much a part of this amazing group of people.  This is a group of people who are all living, as Brent did, 'all-in'.  I mean really, is there any other way worth living?  Brent would tell you that the answer to this is no way (so much so in fact, that he would probably be confused by the question!) 

The point that I am making here is that it is time for me to start my journey back to living authentically.  My five years out on the farm have served the purpose that they needed to serve, but it will soon be time to 'make a move', and return to a time where things were a lot more REAL.  Thank you Brent for lighting the way back to my true path... I will be forever indebted to you.  I miss you and love you, Shakakan Brother!

Re-inspired by people who make it look easy...

In previous entries, I have alluded to the fact that there are people out there in the world already 'living with less' seemingly effortlessly... and not feeling the overwhelming urge to bang a drum and blog about it.  In other words, they are quietly changing the world day-by-day just by being THEM.  This past weekend, I was fortunate to re-connect with friends who fall into this category...

My 'perfect weekend' took place in Kelowna, BC and was hosted by my amazing friends Tess and Loic.  It was actually more of a five-day saga, with stops in Canmore, AB both on the way there and back to pick up/drop off my friend and sister-from-another-mister Jody.  So, yeah, poor Loic had more than his share of estrogen-energy to deal with over the three days that we were together. 

Tess and Loic never disappoint in terms of planning really fun activities for their guests and this last visit was no exception.  Our weekend was filled with 'MareBare-Friendly' activities such as:

• Hike/photo session up Knox Mountain (Tess is in her 8th month of pregnancy and Jody is a photographer)
• Amazing vegetarian meals cooked both in-house and out... (Lemony Lentil Soup, Warm Lentil Salad, Kale Salad, authentic Indian food, Greek Potatoes, etc.)  Since returning home, my house has been turned into a 'Tess-kitchen' (get it? Test Kitchen? Okay, bad one, but too bad... you should be expecting bad jokes/puns from me by now!)
• TWO, (yes two) live music shows... one at the Streaming Cafe (coolest idea ever and I am officially busy every Saturday night from now until the end of time). The artist last Saturday was Dominique Fraissard... an artist who truly speaks to the language of my soul. And I am not even exaggerating... the man reduced me to a puddle of tears with his music. So talented, so humble, so REAL. Awesome.
  
• A visit to the Urban Harvest Saturday market... local, organic produce sold from a hole-in-the-wall shop in North Kelowna.  Despite the remote, out-of-the-way location, people were lining up inside.  It would appear that we as humans ARE figuring out that food is our main source of life energy and that community, consciousness, ethics and quality are (and should be) a huge part of what we put into our bodies.

 

• A lovely day spent in the afternoon sun dedicated to art and conversation.  Tess, Loic and their friend Michelle were kind enough to introduce me to printing as an extremely interesting medium for making art.  I think that I am hooked.  I will post updates as I become more involved in this art form.
• Just the fact that it was spring in the Okanagan (and we still have several feet of snow at home) was enough to make my heart sing...

And so, it is with heartfelt gratitude that I end this post and return to figuring-out how I can bring some of this motivation/inspiration into my daily life... Thank you to everyone who shared their time and energy with me this past weekend... you are all true sources of light in my life!

MareBare xoxo

A lot of randomness...

What do you mean it's March 10th!?  I am really not sure where the past two weeks went, but I do know that my 'timewarp' began with a visit to a Psychic/Healer a few weekends ago...  Since then, I have been so busy processing what went on there that I almost forgot completely about my blog!

Alas, my 'bliss' is starting to slightly wear off (although I maintain that I am forever changed from the experience), and it is time once again to talk about 'earthly' matters.

1. Earth Hour

To me, Earth Hour is a cool reason to sit by candlelight, chat with your friends, eat great snacks and oh, SAVE THE PLANET!  I know it sounds dramatic, but by simply bringing the fact that the planet needs some healing into our consciousness we are indeed beginning to do just that!  So get together some friends and celebrate this great planet (and our HOME)!!!

2. Another depressingly sobering list

I am a big fan of lists... here is one that I came across today thanks to Verge Permaculture...

7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won't Eat Them:

• Canned Tomatoes - Reason: extra-high BPA content
• Corn-Fed Beef - Reason: Cows aren't even supposed to eat corn - duh! Oh, and by making them do so substantially reduces the nutritional content.
• Microwave Popcorn - Reason: PFOA in the bag... doesn't sound too good does it?  Well, it isn't!
• Potatoes - Reason: LOADED with chemicals.
• Farmed Salmon - Reason: PCB's, DDT and yes, even more chemicals.
• Milk with Artifical Hormones - we've talked about this before...
• Apples - Again, we've talked about this before.

One more little 'Marebare' fact: I have been making the transformation into full-on vegetarianism... Hurrah!  I feel FANTASTIC!  Oh, and in case you were wondering, my husband is less than thrilled.

Thank you SOOOOO much to the three special ladies who played the 'name the plant' game - I love the names that you came up with and my plants do too!

How's that for some randomness squashed together into one post?!

Here's to Spring!
Marebare :)

Plant enthusiasts unite!

I read somewhere that how you treat your plants is a reflection of how you treat yourself... hmmmm...

This really got me thinking...

• Talk nicely to your plants = you probably talk nicely to yourself too.
• Water your plants regularly = you probably take care of your health as well: eating well, lots of rest, regular checkups, etc.
• Underwater your plants = you might be stressed and/or overworked
• Overwater your plants = you might be distracted and/or not paying attention to details in your life
• Plastic plants = ummm... I would rather not go there.
• No plants or worse, dead ones?  Seek help immediately!

Okay, so I am totally making this stuff up, but it did force me to stop and look, and I mean really look at each and every one of my 9 plants.  I always thought that I was someone who took great care of my plants (aka myself), but when I looked more closely, I discovered that some of them weren't thriving as well as they could be.  So, I took the time to give them some much needed TLC.  If you must know, I usually fall into the 'overwater' category, although over the years, I have even been known to kill a few here and there (gasp!)

One of the things that really helped me in my task was this contraption:

It is a water-sensor!  This sucker was only $6 at the hardware store and no, I don't feel bad about spending the money because hey, my plants are WORTH IT! (This is starting to sound like a really bad pep talk).

Anyway, just for fun, I have decided that I am going to name each of the plants as well, and that's where you come in.  All you need to do is go to my facebook page, and post your name suggestions for each one under its picture.  When the 'contest' ends, I will post the winners and each of my plants will get a placard with its new name and the person's name who suggested it.  I know, I know, it is kind of silly, but get over it and get creative! 

I will pick names by Tuesday, March 1.

Marebare

'Greening' your beauty routine

'Au naturale' has a whole new meaning around here! 

After more than a year of 'living with less', I have definitely had my share of successes/failures in the DIY department.  Lately however, I have been enjoying some positive results in the beauty/hygiene department that I thought I should share.

1. Using Aloe Vera juice as a skin toner - This one is oh-so-simple and really inexpensive (compared with the toners that I have previously used).  You can find Aloe Vera Juice at most health food stores and once opened it can be stored in the fridge for quite a while.  Just soak a cotton ball twice daily and apply to clean skin.  It feels oh so refreshing and soothing!

2. Using Cinnamon as blemish treatment - This is my latest discovery.  If you are like me and lucky enough to be experiencing late-onset acne (yahoo!), one of the things that I have found to work really well for spot blemish treatments is cinnamon.  Just make it into a paste with water and apply directly to the blemish.  It works amazingly fast and you will feel it start to burn/tingle.  Don't worry, this is what it is supposed to feel like as it brings fresh blood to the skins surface which helps to heal the blemish and get rid of the bacteria that caused the little bugger.  Leave on for about one minute and rinse with water.  One more thing - take care to apply only to the blemish itself and not the surrounding skin, a Q-tip can be helpful for this.

3. Using Tea Tree Oil as a deodorant - I have had many people ask me what I have done to replace the deodorant in my life and the truth is, normally I just go stinky... cough, I mean, 'au naturale'.  The truth is, sometimes I have noticed that I don't smell as fresh as I could, especially after a yoga practice or a lively dance session with my son.  So, I have taken to applying tea tree oil to my underarms in the am or whenever I need a 'refresher'.  It works amazingly well.  It won't help you stop sweating (you are supposed to sweat, remember?), but it will keep any unwanted odors at bay.  Just use a cotton ball to apply and of course, discontinue if it irritates the skin (I have been lucky and this hasn't been a problem for me)

4. Neti pot, neti pot, neti pot!!! - I am prone to sinus infections and after suffering through 6-8 weeks of cold/flu season the fact that I made it through without one is some kind of Christmas miracle (and yes, this expression is STILL in my vocabulary from December).  I would like to say that I credit this feat with my superior meditation/affirmation skills, however I firmly believe that my daily Neti pot practice has something to do with it.  After all, this 'technology' has been around for centuries, maybe even milennia.  If you haven't tried one yet, DO!  They work amazingly well. 

If you have any questions about any of the above, lemme know and I am at your service.  Otherwise, happy beautifying!

Marebare

PS.  Marebare or any of her necessities cannot be held responsible for the results that you may encounter while trying any of the above practices (unless of course they are positive results and then I am more than happy to accept full responsibility!)

I'm with the potatoes on this one...

Who needs a dirt when you have a pail?

So, my potatoes are under the impression that it is spring... I guess this means that my cold room isn't quite 'cold' enough!  They aren't rotting or anything, just growing roots.  I guess that's why they call it a 'root cellar' (yuck yuck).  Oh man, can you tell by my REALLY bad jokes that I am so badly in need of spring to be here.  Me and the potatoes, we are ONE.

Scream if you're losing it... 1, 2, 3... AHHHHHHHHHHHH!   Whew, only this many days, minutes, hours, seconds until spring:

Which, of course, in my neck of the woods, means approximately only 4 more months of possible snow storms...  maybe I should change that to a summer counter...

Yours crazy,

Marebare

Schizophrenic Shopper

Recently, I have been putting Chephren in a dayhome for a few hours a week just so I could get a few things done.  You know, quality 'me' time: grocery shopping, going to the bank/post office, etc.  HA!  Actually, I have been able to sneak in a few yoga classes here and there as well. 

Anyway, on one of these occasions, I took the opportunity to 'enjoy' some child-free grocery shopping.  Thinking that I was about to enjoy a 'relaxing' shopping experience, you can imagine my surprise when I left the store 45 minutes later with my heart racing and in a puddle of my own sweat.  Upon returning home and unpacking the groceries, I finally determined the reason why...

Here is a pic of a few of the 'pantry goods' that I brought home, see if you can guess what my frustration might be:

Ok, it is probably not that obvious unless you are thinking the way that I am thinking (which is highly unlikely), but about half of the products in my cart were organic or 'natural' and the other half weren't.  You might wonder, how in the heck did I prioritize when to buy organic and when not to... the truth is, I didn't.  In other words, other than the clean fifteen and dirty dozen theory (which I follow as closely as possible), I really don't have a 'system' for buying my groceries. 

Well, I guess that is not entirely true.  I am pretty strict on our meat purchases, which we get entirely from local farms.  If I can't buy it locally than I ensure that I buy it organically.  This one is a no-brainer to me.  Some other items that I insist on buying organically and/or locally include:

• coffee (fair trade)
• honey (it is harvested from our land - cool!)
• eggs
• things that my son eats a lot of: yogurt, cereal, pasta dinners, raisins

Other than that, I really tend to be hit or miss, some days I buy organically and some days not.  I was all about buying my dairy products organically until I found out from a very good source that we have legislation in Alberta that prevents dairy farmers from giving milk-producing cows any antibiotics or hormones.  This made me feel much better about the dairy situation and has helped me save some dinero on all things cows milk. 

Feedback, comments?  What system (if any) do you guys use?  Am I destined to forever be a 'schizophrenic' shopper?  Help!

Happy February by the way, it couldn't have come soon enough for this hurtin' Albertan!

Marebare