Chicago Bulls vs Vegan shoes

I am no stranger to the whole/organic foods phenomenon. I took a particular obsession to fermented foods and its gut bacteria improving qualities. I have been to workshops and have met my fair share of Kimchi, Kumbucha and Kefir enthusiasts; the KKK for short. This small, yet exclusive group of hummus breath, green tea, fermenting freaks tend to have very strong convictions, methods and principles. I would say that I am a KKK supporter even if it does leave a funny after taste.

While the majority of these KKK fundamentalists attract vegan shoe, wispy haired, native flora or fauna print wearing, superior beings (or beans), I am always almost the only chubby brown girl in the room.

How is this possible? The sad truth of the matter is, that, although I (as Jacinda for the millionth time would say) ‘hand on heart” advocate the eating of nutrient dense foods, my penchant for the ‘anti-Christ’ of whole foods; (burger rings, lime thick shakes, whopper burgers and dunkin donuts) has erased any visible waist reducing effects as well as my right to wear native print. This shocking admission within the KKK would punish me to a life of wearing Chicago bull’s singlet’s and tear away jeans.

I am not proud of my ways, so something had to be done. A semi wise person would say, “If you can’t take the junk food out of Roshan, take Roshan out of South Auckland.” So out of South Auckland we went.

This year is to live more intentionally and focus on changing the habits and life choices that have been not so healthy. I am by no way ashamed of my love for the deep fried and horrendously processed, but the frequency of consumption was fast tracking me to diabetes and a life of wearing elastic waisted jeans.

Eat fresh, eat whole

Fruit and nuts

Before moving to Amuarangi, we came down on the weekends and holidays. One of the first things we did was plant an orchard of over 20 fruit trees. With the help of a permaculture landscaper, we planted a range of citrus, nuts and fruits with the overall goal of having fruit available year round. The young orchard is into its 3rd year and rather than looking like a paddock with vertical sticks, the trees are beginning to fill out the space. We have chickens that share the orchard and love to escape the heat of the day under the generous elderflower tree. We love getting fresh eggs daily

Vegetables

Just after moving down, I was wanting to start a vege garden but was not too keen on the cost of building raised beds or buying soil. After a conversation with a friend, I was inspired to try HugelKulture, a method of improving soil quality by using logs, twigs, animal manure and compost, all of which we had on the land already.

I built up mounds made of logs and twigs from our felled tree and then went into the neighbors paddock with a shovel collect sheep poo. ( I am so happy to be surrounded by free poo!) We topped it off with Topsoil left over from when we got our driveway in. 3 months later our garden looks as though it is on steroids. We have been able to enjoy courgettes, silver beet and kale for meals and the white butterfly have loved our brassicas. We haven’t had to water the mounds once. The moisture from mulching around the plants seems to have been retained.

Tui planted some taro in our boggy area and although the root does not grow in New Zealand, we have enjoyed many meals with the taro leaves.

We have just bought a glass house which when erected will be used in the colder months to grow vegetables. I am also feeling excited about the extra space to hang wet clothes in winter.

Reflecting back on our time in Auckland we also had a vegetable garden, but being so time poor, many times we would choose the easier, more convenient option of buying all food from the store rather than pick from our own garden.

The best things in life are free

Our goal of slowing down has given us the gift of appreciating the little gifts that nature gives us each day. I could hardly contain my excitement when my mum pointed out to me a walnut and Chestnut tree whose canopy overhung on the side of the road filled with nuts ripe for the picking. Like kids in a candy store, we gathered up our gifts from Tane Mahuta delighting in his abundance.

One of the biggest gifts has been the ability to collect raw milk straight from a house cow.

I felt like I had hit the jackpot. I collect about 18 litres in the morning. It is still warm from the cow and then I leave to set for 24 hours. After that I separate the cream and bottle the milk. With the cream, I save some for puddings and my coffee and the rest I make into butter. Each time I make butter I feel a miracle occurs. It filled my heart with joy watch my daughter make butter for the first time.

I feel like the luckiest person in the world doing something so simple. My goal is to become the dairy domestic goddess. DDG for short. make Ghee and Edam cheese and haloumi.

Eat local

My intention this year is to try to do as much as we can as a family within a 10km radius. This means shopping, activities, and outings and you guessed it, food. When I look at my pantry and the staples I have, there are many cans. When I look at the country of origin of my pasta sauce, and I see Italy. I wonder about the amount of fossil fuels used to get this can to my pantry.

Radical community

It’s been 3 months now that we have lived here. We have met different locals and it has been wonderful. One evening we returned home to find a basket of freshly harvested potatoes, carrots and cucumbers waiting at our front gate, another day a neighbor dropped by with a bag of kiwi fruit . Someone else gave some walnuts and kamokamo. We have been able to share our raw milk with others and Tui even killed 2 roosters ( I found this very hot) plucked one to give away and made a curry with the other.

This idea of sharing with neighbors with food from the land tickles my heart with happiness.

I would say this blog pondering is getting me to think about food in terms long term fulfillment and joy.

Without sounding too hippyish, I am starting to view food differently. As the Maori world would say, everything has a whakapapa, a story, and a lineage. I am seeing that in acknowledging, being part of and respecting the whakapapa of food comes deeper appreciation and enjoyment of the food we eat therefore life we live. And even a burger ring has a whakapapa!

I realize that I no longer need my Chicago bulls singlet or Tui print skirt to define what food group I belong to but being fortunate to be able to take the time to appreciate the humanity, beauty, wonder, joy and miracle of the food we eat has definitely meant that I no longer crave a side of fries and coke with my home made courgette fritter.