Continuing Our Sustainable Efforts
@quinneaker, @saramiller, our friend Lucca, and I have been exploring a bit of Portugal and Spain since the end of Steemfest2. We have traveled with no itinerary, no return tickets, and no pre-planning. That is our favorite way to travel, as it always keeps the trip fresh and we never know what will happen! This trip has been no exception -- a plethora of powerful experiences, possibilities and connections are pouring forth. Every step of the way is a journey unto itself on many levels.
We have been tuning into our passion and commitment to living as sustainably as possible, even while on the road. One of the aspects of that sustainability reality pertains to our food and water.
Fresh Mountain Spring Water straight from the tap.
After indulging such elegant dining at Steemfest in Lisboa, the contrast of our food reality has shifted a lot. We have moved back into our more customary way of eating, which is tuning into the land, eating more fruits and vegetables, and more wild-crafted foods.
While on this trip we are eating local as much as possible,
hand-harvesting is our top priority,
as well as the treasure of fresh mountain spring water.
We've found Portugal and Spain to be very harvest friendly. There are a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables growing in public places, in abandoned lots, along side the road, on medians and on the countryside. We have inquired through a plethora of people about harvesting from any of these sources, to which the answer is - sure, nobody really cares. Apparently people aren't very territorial about what nature provides and there is SO much growing and underutilized, that they have no qualms about sharing. Most households in the country have some sort of a garden, vineyard, olive trees, and/or orchard, so the abundance is quite profound.
All four of us in this @gardenofeden traveling team are seriously into harvesting in our daily lives. We love so much the treasure hunt for delicious, fresh nutrition, so hunting new territory is a great joy for us.
Y E A H N A T U R E !!!!!
His is a long list of easily harvestable fresh and nutritious foods, drink, and plants we've enjoyed since SF2:
Fresh Mountain Spring Water
Lamb's Quarter
Mint
Kale
Aloe
Lavender
Figs
Basil
Eucalyptus
Lovely Fruit - I don't know the name of this fruit, and apparently none of the locals do either!! It may be my most favorite fruit ever!
Lemons
Oranges
Quince
Pomegranate
Rosemary
Red and Green Apples
Persimmons
Strawberry Tree Fruit - Medroño
Grapes
There are hundreds of lemons lying on the ground just going back to the earth. We are grateful to put to good use nature's fruit.
Lucca activating our fresh mountain water with hand-harvested lemon straight from the tree.
Lovely Fruit - That's what I've named it anyway, as not even the locals seem to know what this fruit is.
The outside is super firm and not really edible, but the inside......!!!!......oh so luscious, juicy, sweet and exotic! You can bite off the end and suck out all the yumminess.
Lamb's Quarter - this is a wild plant that we harvested in Portugal, and also everyday for our green juice and salads back in Texas at the @gardenofeden.
Lamb's Quarter grows wild here and there, and we enjoyed the tender greens straight from the living plant.
We harvested fresh lavender (to activate and flavor our fresh mountain spring water), and several large leaves of the aloe plant from the site of an old castle - with permission, of course!
Figs!!! There are lots of fig trees here.
Though the fruit this time of year is not overly abundant, we still found a few sweet treats.
Apples Apples Apples!!! Fallen to the ground under a prolific tree we found sweet and juicy apples in abundance.
Hand-harvested green apples - tart and sweet. These tasted a lot like Granny Smiths.
This was an unattended roadside tree with the apples beginning to rot on the ground. We harvested the good ones from the ground to share with the Merkabah Eco-Village we visited, and had fresh apples with their homemade porridge.
Persimmons!!
Fresh from the tree!
Harvesting food for one's self is such a fulfilling way to live, and it's remarkable how there really is enough of everything. How beautiful it i that we can upgrade our health while shifting our energy away from big corporations and back to nature.
I love how all four of us are inspired to eat fresh, and are capable of finding resources that provide us with the dense nutrition of nature, and also get to continue our ways of sharing and breaking bread with others.
I love how food does not have to be lavish and expensive to be a delight to eat and share.
I also love how diverse this food journey has been, and how it keeps changing with every interaction with new friends, new climates, new cities and new countrysides.
I will likely post more about our food travels, as I feel few people really get to experience their environments like we do, interacting with the people, and with the land. We're not going to tourist attractions, eating at restaurants or drinking in bars, but enjoying a very organic unfolding. We are having a potent adventure, and our food reality is but one small facet of the experience.
I'M GRATEFUL TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.
Here's a taste of how we do it at the @gardenofeden. And here too!
