Slow Food

I have always been a foodie and I abhor fast food. I also am a follower of the Slow Food movement and because I honestly couldn't have described it better myself, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia... For the article in its entirety: Slow Food

"The Slow Food movement was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy as a resistance movement to combat fast food. It claims to preserve the cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within an ecoregion. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to over 83,000 members in 122 countries.

The Slow Food movement incorporates a series of objectives within its mission, including:

• forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems
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• developing an "ark of taste" for each ecoregion, where local culinary traditions and foods are celebrated
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• preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation
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• organizing small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products)
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• organizing celebrations of local cuisine within regions (for example, the Feast of Fields held in some cities in Canada)
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• promoting "taste education"
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• educating consumers about the risks of fast food
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• educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms
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• educating citizens about the risks of monoculture and reliance on too few genomes or varieties
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• developing various political programs to preserve family farms
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• lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy
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• lobbying against government funding of genetic engineering
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• lobbying against the use of pesticides
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• teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
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• encouraging ethical buying in local marketplaces

From time to time, Slow Food intervenes directly in market transactions; for example, Slow Food was able to preserve four varieties of native American turkey by ordering 4,000 of their eggs and commissioning their raising and slaughtering and delivery to market."

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Here is a lovely book to savor...
The Pleasures of Slow Food: Celebrating Authentic Traditions, Flavors, Recipes (April 2008)
by Corby Kummer, Eric Schlosser (Foreword), Susie Cushner (Photographs)

Other links:
http://www.slowfood.com/
http://www.slowfoodusa.org
locavore

100 Mile Diet

Lexie Masterson

Roxbury Farm

I live in the beautiful Hudson River Valley, in Upstate New York near Roxbury Farm. It is Community Supported Agriculture, meaning over 1000 shareholders own the 225 acres that Jean-Paul Courtens and his wife Jodie Bolluyt farm in Kinderhook, NY. The farm is biodynamic and organic, and the land is protected by a Trust. One of the perks of being a shareholder in a CSA farm is the weekly fruit and vegetable share. Once a week I go to the barn and fill my basket with the fruits and vegetables that are fresh from the fields and ready to cook... Bountiful is the word that comes to mind!

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a growing trend in the United States. In the 1990s there were fewer than 100 such farms... Now there are close to 1,500. People buy shares in farms for a variety of reasons: to support small-scale farming; to know where their fruits and vegetables are coming from and how they're grown; to eat locally grown produce as part of the "locavore" movement; or to be a part of a community project - the other shareholders are such a variety of interesting people. On this farm one can also come and help "farm for a day" - something the whole family can do together!

Living near to Roxbury Farm I get to see the farming up close. This Spring a flock of sheep and lambs appeared there along with three baby bulls to protect them from the coyotes. Two sows and a bunch of piglets also moved in! I love to visit and see what's new. Jean-Paul and Jodie are such fun! Check out their website at www.roxburyfarm.com for a fascinating introduction to CSA farming.

Lexie Masterson

stars above

I guess I might as well confess right now to the fact that I am pretty intuitive. However when one thinks of "clairvoyant" most people mean "psychic". When I experienced a reading by intuitive/astrologer Robert Brown I knew I was in the presence of someone who really had "the gift"! Robert has predicted so many things for me and my family that he has made believers out of every one of us! He uses a combination of astrology, clairvoyance and the metasymbology of the playing cards to do his readings and they are always fascinating. Check out his website:
Writings In The Sky

I am constantly astounded by astrology and have studied that ancient art and science since I was a young girl. I'm not talking about magazine horoscopes - but a chart done by a trusted professional can provide amazing insight into the way one walks through life... Astrology has been practiced for centuries as a way to connect with the power of Nature and the Heavens in the realization that we are but a microcosm of the Universe - As Above, So Below - and so here are a few more links to have fun with:
Free Will Astrology
Celestial Timings
Tarot.com
SabianSymbols
Have fun and be clairvoyant!!*

*able to see beyond the range of ordinary perception

Lexie Masterson