Spotlight on Denman Island Artists

• Matsuki Masutani (poetry) (page D1)
• Jane Masutani (country life -- with an edge) (page D3)

RawForLife Raw & Sustainable Living Ezine

• Rawganique.com Blogs -- you can recommend new hemp products here
• Edible Flowers (page 1)
• Michael McCarthy: En Route to Portland (page 2)
• Rawganique Convergence (page 3)
• Random Ruminations (page 4)
• On Hybrids and Such (page 5)
• Steve Scharmer's 36-day Fast (page 6)
• The Simple Life IS the Good Life (page 7)
• Raw Veganism and the Protein Myth? (page 8)
• Rawganique Diet (page 9)
• September 11, 2001 (page 10)
• No-till Vegan Organic Gardening (page 11)
• Rawganique.com's Story
• Humanure (book review)
• Hemp Facts & Info
• Hemp & Raw Food Books (30% off)
• Free Gourmet Living Foods Recipes

All opinions expressed herein, excellent though they may be, are those of their authors and do not in anyway imply agreement from us or our staff. We publish them here solely in the spirit of sharing and in the hope that they may be of service to others who are also seeking a simpler, more sustainable, and healthier way of life. We do not give recommendations or advice and cannot be held responsible for them. Please seek advice from professionals if you need help. There are also many excellent books out there by qualified professionals to help you on your path to health. May your journey be a gentle, loving, happy, safe, and fulfilling one.

Raw Foodists wear raw clothes made of hemp, flax, and organic cotton fibers which are pure, breathe, and promote positive vibes. Rawganique.com does not believe in supplements or extracts of any kind, only wholesome, organically grown fruits, vegetables, and nuts that are truly raw, whole, easily digestible, health-giving, and enzyme-rich. May health, peace, love, goodwill and happiness prevail!

At RawForLife ezine, you can read about Michael McCarthy's adventure through the US criminal justice system and how his one love for all sees him through an otherwise disagreeable experience that anyone can live without; you can read about Steve Scharmer's 36-day water fast as part of his inspiring commitment to attain perfect health and happiness through a raw food diet; you can also read about vegan organic gardening as well as the karmic convergences in the raw life which encompasses such world-changing concepts as raw veganism, hemp economy, raw homesteading, humanure composting, raw foods, sustainable living, and fresh and pure air, sunshine, water, and soil. We've created this ezine to share with you all the wonderful things we've discovered and invite you to take part in the dialogue at Rawganique.com. Please feel welcomed to join in with questions about and thoughts and reflections on hemp, sustainable living, raw veganism, world peace, mindful living, animal rights, save the forest, save the soil, natural living and related topics. We look forward to hearing from you!

We are 100% committed to the environment. We believe that hemp, raw veganism, sunshine, pure air, pure water, positive thoughts, and ahimsa awareness can transform the world and make it a safer, happier, and better place for us and our children to live in. We aim to do all we can to help make hemp and raw veganism mainstream, so that the world's economy thrives on sustainability and renewal rather than terrorism, fear, and depletion. Rawganique.com was created with love to make sure we're doing the best we can to stop disintegration and to build trust, peace, love, and health for all, one ever-widening circle at a time. --Your friends at Rawganique.com

Edible Flowers for the Raw, Organic, & Unique Table
July 15, 2004 by Touch Jamikorn

After a long hiatus from writing for Raw For Life due to the sheer amount of work for Rawganique.com (thank you from all of us for all your support and encouragement -- we could not have done it without you -- it's so affirming to know so many of you out there care as passionately and zealously as we do about this fragile planet of ours ), I'm now fired up again to share with you the wonderful things I've learned from our homesteading experience of five years and counting. In this article, I'd like to talk about edible flowers and their role in the raw food cuisine.

Nasturtiums, Chrysanthemums (of which the common ox-eyed daisy is a member), kale blossoms, honeysuckle, Calendula, blossoms of any edible fruit, and more will up the gourmet factor of almost any raw food dish you could prepare: they add eye candy in the form of bright colors, unique natural beauty, and sometimes surprise taste (most flowers don't have much taste, but some, such as nasturtium, do). Not to mention the curiosity factor that will keep you and your guests occupied in charmed conversation throughout the whole meal and long after.

In the beginning of my homesteading career, I was too preoccupied with leafy and root vegetables and fruit trees to have time for flowers. And to be honest, I didn't really know that you could eat flowers. I thought they were just useless ornaments that were grown for effect in the garden -- people who had nothing to do with their time. Of course, they attracted insects, which is a great thing for the rest of your garden, but that was the extent of my interest in flowers. I was too *busy* for flowers.

Then a neighbor of ours invited us over for dinner. We were served a very simple, very elegant salad of home-grown organic vegetables that was beautifully garnished with Johnny-Jump-Ups, kale blossoms, and nasturtium quite early in the spring and I was hooked. The salad was so elegant, so fresh, so alive, and so visually stunning at the same time. Soon after that, I went on a quest to find any flower at all that was edible and have since come up with quite a list.

But you don't have to put them all in your food: I've found that flowers are a great balm for the soul. Yes, I've since come around to being able to enjoy flowers for their own sake -- their subtle scents and showy displays of colors and forms have a lot to offer the tired soul at the end of the day: they cheer you up, calm you down, and act as an all-in-all conditioner for the spirit. Now that my garden is pretty much set up, I have more time to smell the roses, as it were (and yes, rose petals are edible too!).

Here are some of my favorites: Nasturtium (shown below in yellow and persimmon), pomegranate blossom (center of photo -- kind of frilly looking), ox-eyed daisy (the curled-over white petals with green stem and a bright yellow center), and Calendula (eat the petals, not the center, so I'm told--shown below, far right). Try them out. I'm sure you'll be pleased. Your guests will wax enthusiastic over their meal for days, weeks, and months on end.

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