Blogs

By Happy Oasis, Raw Spirit Community News

Laura Fox's enthusiastic focus on Best Of Raw also continues to inspire us here(!), especially that the "Best Of" Awards are deepening from joyful, playful competition into also including social action awards as was the initial dream of Raw Spirit years ago!

You may recall when Raw Spirit proposed on the back of our event programs in 2005, 2006 and 2007, in the spirit of The Noble Peace Prizes, these categories: the Raw Spirit Children's Outreach Award, Raw Spirit Prison Outreach Award, Raw Spirit Hospital Outreach, Raw Spirit School Lunch & Education OutReach, Raw Spirit College & University  Outreach, Raw Spirit Church Outreach, Raw Spirit Africa, Raw Spirit China, Raw Spirit India, Raw Spirit Elder Care, and Many More.

To our surprise, almost nobody nominated anyone for these noble and compassionate awards. As our community continues to expand and diversify, may it also be maturing by nurturing not just the hip and happening, but all of humanity, including those ill, forgotten, misunderstood and otherwise disadvantaged.

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Best of Raw 2012 Season Announcement:
5th Annual Awards Celebration for the Plant Based Raw Foods Movement In Development

Contact: Laura Chiraya Fox 310-460-9987
Email: BestofRawFoods@gmail.com

Founder of Best of Raw Laura Fox announces the 5th Annual 2012 Season for the Best of Raw Foods Awards, the annual online awards contest and Gala for the plant based Raw Foods Movement. In its 5th year, Best of Raw welcomes partner Michael Shields of Earth and the Next Society, a band whose music is the raw vegan icing on the top of the cake of fulfilling the mission. And what is the mission of Best of Raw? To help restore the health of humanity and the health of the planet by encouraging people everywhere to add more raw organic plant foods to the diet. Eating all or mostly raw vegan or beegan is "The Sustainable Feast." We not only assist our bodies in reclaiming higher vibrancy, health, mental and emotional well-being; we also reduce our impact on the planet, by simplifying our way of eating. When we also reach for local organic foods in their natural raw state, we've just reduced our footprint dramatically in the arenas of packaging, shipping, processing, marketing and more, as well as enhanced the energy of our body's biofields by putting into this sacred temple foods that have a pure, strong biofield, thus adding unto our physical well-being instead of taking away from it, as processed cooked foods do.

Best of Raw celebrates everyone's initiatives towards a healthier diet and eco-footprint. In other words, whether you are simply adding more raw to the diet, reaching for a healthier way of life, or are all raw vegan, we encourage you to have fun nominating your favorites and voting in the contest.

People, Places, Products and Media of the plant based raw foods movement will nominate themselves or be nominated, in more than 45 categories, in order to spread the word about these awesome rawsome initiatives.

The Nominations process will begin mid-September, followed by the voting season from November through December. The Awards Gala & Announcements will be in Los Angeles early in 2013.

New this year:

1. Our logo and website are receiving a much needed facelift!
2. Our VOTING PLATFORM is completely revamped and highly professional, offering an exceptional voter and contestant experience. Contestants will be able to see company images, videos and listen to any audios contestants care to upload, and vote with a click under the company logo. They can also immediately post to facebook any comments they care to make about their vote, and easily share their choices with their friends.
3. We are announcing the first year of the Founder's Awards and the Advisory Board Peer Review Awards to satisfy the needs of our growing industry. These awards will include the Founder's Award for Innovation; The Lifetime Achievement Award; The Eco-Friendly Company Innovation Award; The Soil Quality Improvement Award; The Organic Produce & Farming Award; and The Children's Education Award.
4. We are announcing our new Blog, which will focus on industry initiatives & news as well as highlighting eco-friendly innovations and "Sustainable Feast" related articles. 
5. The Annual Awards Gala will return to its birthing grounds in Los Angeles, and will be an all day event, featuring music, comedy acts, speakers, the awards announcements, product give-aways, live sampling and live chef demos, and more. Tickets will go on sale soon at the website BestOfRawFoods.com.
6. We are integrating a Plant Based Raw Foods Resource Directory this year as well. All Sponsors and advertisers will automatically receive a directory listing, and the community of raw foods products and services are welcome to register as well.
7. This year we are also offering two Title Sponsorships of the event for the first time ever. With the support of Title Sponsors, we are co-creating a very powerful day long raw foods focused event with all the bells and whistles.

Having an awesome team on board helps us to get organized much earlier and create the event to the next level. Founder Laura Fox is very grateful for Michael Shields, Natan Mallinger, Jillian Love, Sara Paul and Paul Mamakos for coing on board and helping to give Best of Raw the facelift and upgrade it requires to fulfill its service mission for the planet.

By Happy Oasis, Raw Spirit Community News

We were honored to enjoy an afternoon with Victoria Boutenko in Ashland's lovely Lithia Park this week. Victoria's authentic presence gladdens my heart, the way she looks into the soul of a person, fully listens and really sees. Victoria shared sumptuous cups of her papaya nettles smoothie. Just two ingredients, yet powerpacked with flavor and nutrition! We brought fresh-picked blackberries. Just one ingredient! :) Victoria also gifted us her four newest children's books, among her latest creations.

Victoria Boutenko's books for kids are precious, refreshing ways to joyfully introduce our little whippersnappers to the natural fun of enjoying raw greens and smoothies via playful paintings of hip animals eating greens. If you dare read them, be prepared to grin and giggle and to start your blender! Why believe me when you can have a look for yourself and purchase these essential, uplifting-while-edutaining reads at www.RawFamily.com?

The perennial researcher, Victoria, also relayed to us her current focus of enthusiasm: encouraging us Americans to read more of the classics. In contrast to best-sellers which may be more often about marketing hype than an author's genius, Victoria reminded me that reading classical literature with a deep mind, can ignite spiritual insights and more profound understandings. Yes, please.

By Happy Oasis, Raw Spirit Community News

Born the Middle East (Indiana), highly-entertaining and well-informed, Katharine Clark is not only a gourmet raw chef with 25 years of innovative recipes, but also also a professor of algae, a cosmopolitan traveler, and fascinating encyclopedia of health and nutrition with whimsical twists for fun, love and adventure.

Katharine recently completed two years as the Health Education Director at the Hipppocrates Health Institute in Florida. In July, Dr. Gabriel Cousens invited Katharine to speak as the sole female presenter at the Elders Conference at the Tree of Life. It's easy to imagine that dynamic Katharine could be an even more famous circuit speaker. Perhaps she is too free-spirited and too humble to take such ambitions seriously?

H: Katharine, What's inspiring you these days?
K: How many new and young raw fooders there are! A growing number of bloggers are not so knowledgeable, jumping on and off a healthy diet, but are very popular - which is amazing.
H: Perhaps because they are ridiculously honest?
K: Yes.
H: Katharine, What lights up your life?
K: Nature. Friends.

Katharine and I shared stories of the heart about our treasured friendships with many raw leaders including Dr. Gabriel Cousens, David Wolfe, and Viktoras Kulvinskas - the original presenters at the first Raw Spirit Festival back in May of 2005. As we spoke about the unfolding of relationships, we call now on all Raw Spirit leaders to lead by example regarding honoring differing perspectives, arousing the compassion that begets forgiveness, dignified respect, and unconditional lovingkindness. After all, We Are One LovIng Being expressing its magnificence in so many marvel-us ways. We are Godus.

We talked about the joys and challenges of creating community event, when Katharine surprised me.

K: The greatest thing about Raw Spirit Festival was that all the leaders were there. Raw Spirit was the first and only event that brought everyone from around the world together.
H: Interesting. Viktoras Kulvinskas and Gabriel Cousens, who have been the Raw Movement for decades, told me the same thing. Dozens of Raw Spirit leaders have asked me how the apparently-miraculous Raw Spirit gatherings happened year after year. Behind the scenes, as you know, Katharine, that I realized the only way I could pull it off was by the spiritual practice of radiating love while eating one's ego. I learned this while living at ashrams and at a particular Buddhist monastery in Thailand on and off for many years. With love filling my heart I consciously took responsibility and expressed my sorrow again and again for wrongs that I did not commit, and acted as a mediator between countless opposing parties. Thereby I willingly became a door mat, and eventually became the Raw Spirit Movement's most popular scapegoat. What an honor! (giggle) in order to bring us all together in relative peace and loving harmony to actualize the miraculous with 'education inspiration and celebration'.

Katharine shared how she founded and managed smaller events. After just a short while, she said she was disrespected by the entire group of about 100 participants who, unaware of the expenses, inaccurately imagined that she was raking in too much money. The next year Katharine wisely handed over the reins to the group to discover the challenges of event management for itself. Without Katharine's guidance and highly-energetic focus, the group failed. Spectacularly.

For decades I've wondered, Why is it that in Asia the ashrams, monasteries and even businesses often succeed for centuries? The followers respect the wisdom of the leaders. Here the youth and uniformed are sometimes less humble, respectful, or ready to help make things better. Instead it's vogue among some to complain and disdain without understanding. This attitude may be harming America more than any other factor. The leaders who are doing their best in all fields often lack support, so many of the best businesses are now on cosmic vacation.

H: After you leave summer Ashland, Oregon, what's next, my friend?
K: I love to live in summer around the year. My life is very open.
H: Your life always seems open. That's one of many reasons why I love you!
K: This autumn I'll be on a speaking tour of the East Coast.
H: Speaking about...?
K: "How Raw & Living Food Can Put You In The Mood!"
H: Any hints for how the readers can increase libido?
K: Durians. Figs contain seeds like little ovaries. Eating nuts increases libido, especially for men.
H: Men have nuts. They need to feed them.
K: Exactly. (giggle) For vitality, greens and sprouts.
H: A large bunch of parsley blended with water is apparently a great Viagra substitute. Katharine, you are so vibrant yourself. What are you eating for breakfast these days?
K: Chia and nutmilk, sometimes fermented like yogurt with local blackberries or other sub-acid fruits. Blackberry smoothies. Herbal teas with super blue green algae.

Since we both prefer summerlike weather we shared a few ideas of where we might meet in the tropics this winter. That Katharine has enjoyed ample sunshine in her life is evident in the warmth of her smile and sunlike sparkle in her eyes. If you'd like to book Katharine to present at your conferences health spa, yoga studio, home event, etc, call 808.280.8414 or healthworkshi@gmail.com

Katharine Clark is such a brilliant thinker and engaging communicator that I could have asked her questions all day, had not the phone rang. It was the amazing love-musician Larisa Stow calling for her interview which will be featured in next week's Raw Spirit Community News.

By J.D. Hayes

There is a food revolution taking hold all over America, whether it is in the form of demanding labeling of GM foods, the right to produce and sell raw milk and other commodities, or - in the case of Sedgwick, Maine - declaring all local food transactions of any kind free and legal.

According to the website FoodRenegade.com, Sedgwick is the first city in the U.S. to free itself from the constraints of federal and state food regulation. Published reports say the town has passed an ordinance that gives its citizens the right "to produce, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing," regulations be damned. The ordinance includes raw milk, meats that are slaughtered locally, all produce and just about anything else you might imagine.

And what's more, three additional towns in Maine are expected to take up similar ordinances soon, said the FoodRenegade.com.

Gee - good, ol' fashioned buyer-seller agreements?

Observers of the Sedgwick ordinance say it is much more than just "statement" legislation. Writes blogger David Grumpert, at TheCompletePatient.com:

This isn't just a declaration of preference. The proposed warrant added, "It shall be unlawful for any law or regulation adopted by the state or federal government to interfere with the rights recognized by this Ordinance." In other words, no state licensing requirements prohibiting certain farms from selling dairy products or producing their own chickens for sale to other citizens in the town.

What about potential legal liability and state or federal inspections? It's all up to the seller and buyer to negotiate. "Patrons purchasing food for home consumption may enter into private agreements with those producers or processors of local foods to waive any liability for the consumption of that food. Producers or processors of local foods shall be exempt from licensure and inspection requirements for that food as long as those agreements are in effect." Imagine that-buyer and seller can agree to cut out the lawyers. That's almost un-American, isn't it?

According to Deborah Evans, a Sedgwick citizen, the ordinance further states:

1. Producers or processors of local foods in the Town of Sedgwick are exempt from licensure and inspection provided that the transaction is only between the producer or processor and a patron when the food is sold for home consumption.
2. Producers or processors of local foods in the Town of Sedgwick are exempt from licensure and inspection provided that the products are prepared for, consumed or sold at a community social event.

For those questioning the legality of the ordinance - as in, it obviously circumvents state and federal food laws - she notes:

[W]e the radicals who concocted this mutinous act of infamy believe that according to the Home Rule provisions of our State Constitution, the citizens of Sedgwick have the right to enact an ordinance that is "local and municipal in character."

'It's about time'

Many of the local farmers say the ordinance is just what is needed.

"This ordinance creates favorable conditions for beginning farmers and cottage-scale food processors to try out new products, and to make the most of each season's bounty," farmer Bob St. Peter told the website FoodFreedom.com. "My family is already working on some ideas we can do from home to help pay the bills and get our farm going."

"Tears of joy welled in my eyes as my town voted to adopt this ordinance," said Sedgwick resident and local farm patron Mia Strong. "I am so proud of my community. They made a stand for local food and our fundamental rights as citizens to choose that food."

St. Peter, who is a board member of the National Family Farm Council, a food freedom advocacy group, notes that small farmers have a much tougher row to hoe, especially in today's economy, so they need the ability to sell their products more freely.

"It's tough making a go of it in rural America," he said. "Rural working people have always had to do a little of this and a little of that to make ends meet. But up until the last couple generations, we didn't need a special license or new facility each time we wanted to sell something to our neighbors. Small farmers and producers have been getting squeezed out in the name of food safety, yet it's the industrial food that is causing food borne illness, not us."

Sources:
www.foodrenegade.com/maine-town-declares-food-sovereignty/
www.thecompletepatient.com
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com
www.nffc.net
www.naturalnews.com/039633_Sedgwick_food_freedom_federal_laws.html#ixzz2OelZxHwz

By Happy Oasis, Raw Spirit Community News

Happy: Dr. Elizabeth, What's the bliss?
Dr. Elizabeth: I'm completing my first book, Skinnydipping In The Fountain of Youth: Seven Keys to Eternal Radiance.
H: What a fantastic title. I'm inspired to read it already. When will it be finished?
Dr. E: It will be finished, as you love to say, in "PDT", Perfect Divine Timing.
H: Dr. Elizabeth, you live up to your exuberant book title. I'm wondering why you are so dang energized and so incredibly beautiful? Have you ever fasted?
Dr. E: Yes, after doing the first juice fast, it was as if I had plugged myself into a light socket. My cells get so excited to receive such food in this way.
H: Which foods are you referring to that give you the greatest strength?
Dr. E: I've been on 100% living foods for years. Fruits and vegetables.
H: Besides strength, joy, health and beauty, what else does dining on fruits and vegetables do for you?
Dr. E: Living foods burst my pineal gland wide open. It helped me to remember my inherent intuition. I'm a second generation medical intuitive. I can now help guide people. My father is very third dimensional, rooted in religion, and a phenomenal diagnostic physician. Due to his keen perceptions, I asked him not so long ago if he uses a power greater than himself. "Do you use your intuition?", I asked. He answered, "I always get  a hunch."
H: What else have you learned from your father?
Dr. E: That if challenges arise with family members, we can remember to ask, "What is the gift in this relationship?"
H: What are your healthiest habits?
Dr. E: Being willing to be open to the possibility of saying "Yes" when I've previously been saying "No"; living from the heart, and dancing. I started dancing at age 40. I started interviewing people who have done extraordinary things. When I turned 50, I was told I would be a circuit speaker within 6 months. And I was! Part of my mission is to demonstrate that a woman can be more beautiful in her 50s than she ever has been in her life. There are a zillion expressions of beauty. The question is, is she in her joy? Any woman who is in her joy is absolutely radiant and also absolutely undeniable. I love boogie boarding and swimming in the ocean.  I love to see how much stronger I can be today than yesterday. I am going to dance rehearsal tonight with women who are half of my age. I love being on stage because I know that the Universe expresses its love and joy through me. It is about shifting our choices from fear to love. I rely on joy and also on service. If i can inspire and remind people to do whatever they love, that is delicious to me. We can all ask, "How much younger, stronger, kinder, deeper, more loving, more radiant, more beautiful can I express today?"
H: Wow. Inspiring.
Dr. E: It's so much fun realizing that we have the capacity to get better every day.
H: What is your observation of what is happening in America these days and do you have any suggestions?
Dr. E: I am going to the place that is health and wellness. I am observing people committing to jobs they don't' love, and lives they don't love by watching tv, eating dead (cooked) foods, and consuming pharmaceuticals. I would love to see everyone opening up to what gift that each would love to give to the world. I suggest that each of us move forward with our heart, just doing what we love. If everyone chooses to live and lead with lovingkindness, compassion and joy, together we can create heaven on Earth.
HO: I can hear the angels applauding.
Dr. E: I was so inspired being part of the Wise Wild Women's Panel at Raw Spirit Fest this last New Year's in Phoenix, Arizona. Happy, let's have a Wise Wild Women's Panel soon on the Dr. Elizabeth show!
Contact: Speaker@DrElizabeth.com • Call: 310.383.8764 • Website: www.DrElizabeth.com

Jackie Graff has been teaching raw food preparation and food science for more than a decade. An RN with 40 years’ experience in various areas of patient care and education, Ms. Graff is considered one of the country’s top raw food chefs and nutrition consultants.

Gideon Graff, alongside Jackie, has taught raw food preparation for almost a decade. His roles include raw food chef, health coach, and director of Sprout Raw Food, the Graff’s consulting and raw food catering and distribution business. He has served as an instructor for Hallelujah Acres® Culinary Academy. Gideon has 35 years experience in food and hospitality management.

Accomplished public speakers, they experienced in both conference planning and fund raising. Previously, Gideon and Jackie co-founded and operated the Sprout Café and Shinui Living Food Learning Center, a first-of-its kind center devoted to teaching and promoting the raw food lifestyle in Roswell, Georgia. Together they lost weight, and eliminated many physical problems, resulting in them no longer requiring blood pressure, cholesterol and other medications. They attribute their healthy state to eating raw foods and invite you to their classes in Miami, FL and Roswell, GA. Visit their website for a complete schedule of upcoming classes. www.RawFoodRevival.com