Travel Tuesday: Quarzsite

    Quartzsite is a unique place. Because of all the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land surrounding it, there is lots of space for RVers to meet up. And meet up they do! In droves! Bunches here, circled wagons there. The Escapees RV Club have several smaller groups called BOF (Birds of a Feather), and this year the Boomers moved to Plamosa Rd where several other Escapee groups meet. This made it easier for us to stay put and visit other groups nearby. This year we decided to meet up with the Christian Fellowship BOF for the first time. But we were also within walking distance of the Boondocker BOF as well as the Boomers BOF. Solos BOF were next to us and we had some fun inviting them to a biscuits and gravy breakfast with a raffle and concert following. We also had a fundraising auction where everything was wrapped and there were only obscure clues as to what you were bidding on. There was a lot of hilarity and it was fun to anticipate what the clues might point to.
     We really enjoyed getting to know many in the group, having potlucks and starting the day with Worship and Bible teaching. It was a treat to have Barb Maxey there for the worship and also a concert. Nancy (on guitar) and I on keyboard got to play with her for worship and that was great fun. She's very encouraging, so instead of feeling intimidated, I learned and grew in my abilities to follow and fill in. Love that!
      We then moved over to Boomerville where I taught another class on Foods That Heal. It got scheduled late, so there were only six, but a perfect size to fit inside the rig out of the wind and cold. I might just keep to small classes since it was easier for me than hauling all my stuff outside.
       Next we moved over for a few days with our Boondocker friends and enjoyed catching up with a few friends we hadn't seen for awhile.

Barb Maxey doing her concert.

My quickly seen recycled jeans leg bag for the auction.

Fabulous Quartzsite sunrise!

Fermenting Fun

Showing how fermented salsa is made. Lots to sample!

Friends gathering to taste while I concentrate on a question.

Today at our 'Home Base' in Olympia, WA, I taught another class on fermented foods and their wonderful benefits. I love teaching these classes! Over the winter I did three of them in our travels and it's so much fun to meet up with people again and hear of their successes and the benefits these foods have brought them. I love it that eating live foods brings life to the body. I love sharing this knowledge that I've learned over the years in hunting for answers to my health challenges. To see the lights go on as someone 'gets it' is pure joy! I have long been accustomed to being the odd one who doesn't eat like everyone else. I don't make a big deal out of it, it's just part of my journey. The benefits by FAR outweigh the crazy comments, sidelong looks and no food I want to put in my body at a potluck. I just bring my own food, smile at the looks and joke about being an oddball! So it's a delightful surprise when I encounter people who want to learn about what I do and why I do it, and best of all to embrace it and head off on their own journey of health and a happier gut.
  The microbiome is getting to be quite a buzzword these days. That's the name given to the trillions of microbe friends that live on and in you. They outnumber the cells of your body 10:1! They are super important and do more than was ever suspected. When I first learned about it about 5 years ago after doing the GAPS Diet (which made a huge difference for me--it's a way of healing your gut) you didn't really hear about it. I did find some great books talking about the research on the microbiome and the importance of nurturing my gut microbe friends. (See the list on my Class Notes page). Now that I eat to keep them happy, they return the favor by keeping me healthy and happy. And, yes, keeping your gut happy is more effective than antidepressants.

Sunshine and friends

Boondocking area of Jojoba Hills SKP Park.

  One of the joys of traveling south is to meet up with friends we've made along the way. We are at Jojoba Hills SKP Park in Aguanga, CA and I finally feel like we've 'arrived' in the Southwest! No more Casino camping until our return. We love visiting this place and these people and enjoying the amenities and many activities.
   We went to church on Sunday at the Chapel in a neighboring RV community and it was a great experience. Songs we knew, friendly people, good teaching from the Word of God. And we got to ride over in an old restored trolley! I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, but I didn't even think of it at the time. In the afternoon I joined the Zumba Gold class and really got a workout!

Roasted drumsticks and pumpkin cheesecake cooked in the Sun Oven. Yum!

Roses from Diana Ruelen's garden.

    Now that we're where the sun shines and not in a parking lot I can finally get out my Sun Oven and do some solar cooking. Since the sun goes down so early (whose bright idea is this 'daylight's savings time' anyway?!) I have to get things going pretty early in the day. I made chicken drumsticks and veggies, then wrapped the pot in a wool blanket while I baked pumpkin cheesecake. Yum! We ate dinner a bit earlier than usual, but I didn't mind one bit! Then we went off for a walk, ending up at the Clubhouse. I got pulled into playing Hand and Foot (not at all hard!), but Jerry managed to sneak out. He's not a fan, and that's OK. He has enjoyed jogging the hilly streets around Jojoba as well as relaxing in the hot tub--when he's not puttering around checking or fixing things on the motorhome.
   We have taken advantage of the great shopping in Temecula, so we're all stocked up and ready for the desert. My freezer is packed! I've made more fermented salsa and Curtido, as well as water kefir, milk kefir and kombucha. Travels with my ferment-friends keeps me going. And I love to share these with anyone interested.
   All too soon our visit here is over. A week here just isn't enough time to do all we want to do and see all the people we want to see. But we made the most of our time here and we saw those we wanted to the most. Now off to another lovely place.

2 jars of Curtido and one of fermented salsa. Yumminess!

Of meals and eating

By the time we get to Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, CA, we're ready for a couple days to rest up. By last night, I'd rested up enough to make a fun dinner. I had all the ingredients and since running the generator is no problem here, I was able to bake a pizza. Yes, grain-free and healthy! I used the crust recipe from Wheat Belly Cookbook (which I would love to share, but that would be stealing). Suffice it to say that is uses almond flour, coconut flour, ground flax, an egg and 1/2 c cheese to hold it together. It's quite filling and we find we can only eat half the pizza at a time. So, leftovers! Yay! I used dried tomato powder reconstituted and with Italian herbs, pepper and fennel added. No waisted 1/2 can of tomato paste! I love the Trader Joe's Chicken Spicy Italian Sausage since it's one of the few without garlic and has decent ingredients. I sliced up the frozen sausages, sauteed them with the onions and added olives and organic mozerella cheese for the toppings. Totally satisfying.
  I often get asked "But what do you eat?!" when people find out I don't eat grains, processed foods, corn, soy or garlic. Well, there's meat and veggies, for starters. Have you even just stood in the produce department and noticed how many different vegetables there are? With meat, we're usually limited to a few varieties of fish, pork, beef or chicken. Not a huge variety there. For grains there's usually wheat. No variety there. Of course if you go gluten free there are the various mixes of rice, almond, millet, quinoa, amaranth, coconut, and teff flours. Variety, but still not huge. But veggies, now there you can find all colors, flavors, and textures. There is so much variety that you can eat a different mix of veggies every meal for a week and still not duplicate. So it just makes sense that focusing on veggies and the nutrients, colors and variety they offer with enrich your eating and well being. I have come by the moniker "The Vegetable Lady" for obvious reasons!
  Healthy fats are another key thing that are so satisfying. Because fats take longer to digest, they keep you from feeling hungry longer. I've been pursuing the healthiest way for me to eat for a long time, and some of those methods left me pacing the kitchen trying to figure out what I could possibly eat that wouldn't cause me problems. I no longer do that. Healthy fats include butter, coconut oil, olive oil, hemp seed oil, avocado oil, flax oil, avocados, nuts and seeds. Unhealthy fats are vegetable fats cooked at high temperature, hydrogenated fats and rancid fats. Corn oil, canola oil and shortening are not good for bodies. The best info on fats I've found is in "Eat Fat, Get Thin" by Dr Hyman. I know there is a lot of conflicting information out there about fats, and he takes you by the hand and walks through the research to sort it out and make sense of it. Worth the read.
 A few weeks ago I took a picture of a typical dinner for us that I'll throw in as a bonus! Large green salad with shredded cabbage, mixed greens, cilantro, avocado, tomato and topped with live sauerkraut and flax oil. Next is steamed veggie mix of carrot, broccoli and cauliflower with melted butter. Mahi Mahi cooked with sauteed mushrooms on top completes it. Often for my desert, if I'm wanting something, it's kefir-cultured cream with English Toffee flavored stevia, cocoa powder creamed together and then some almond butter added. Topped with chopped nuts, it's pretty decadent and satisfying. We certainly aren't suffering any with our healthy and tasty food.

On the Road Again!

Fun gift and perfect for the road.

    After several months at our summer home in Olympia, we have put away the deck furniture, battened down the hatches, and hit the road. This will be the first time to leave so soon, and we don't expect to return until May when the weather get nicer. I've really enjoyed the Fall weather which has mostly been beautiful, but I'm happy to be back on the road and headed for the desert and the many friends we've made on our travels. Before we left, we had a Holiday Celebration, rolling them all together; giving gifts, and eating until we were stuffed! And all before Halloween. Crazy! But efficient. I love the tea towel I got from my daughter; it says it all!

Looking out their kitchen window to our parking space, home for one night. 

Dad is 91 and hanging in there!

My sisters, Judy and Sue sharing pics at Dad's place.

    Our first stop was in Canby, OR to visit some dear friends we've know for decades. It was handy to be able to park right across the street from their house in the field they own. We had a good visit and the next morning it was on to Albany and sister Sue's place. As soon as we got parked on the street across from her house, we took off for Turner to go visit my Dad, with sister Judy meeting us there. It was fun to gather there and visit with Dad. He was greatly cheered up by our visit. After relaxing for the evening, we were off to bed early and then up before dawn the next day so we could get over the Siskiyou Mountains before the coming storm made our trip difficult. We had thought to spend a couple of days in the area, but the weather changed our plans and added some urgency to our departure. Thankfully, we only encountered a few sprinkles and had a good trip. Stopping several times for breakfast, potty breaks and walking helped to keep us from getting too tired. But now, settled in for the night in Corning, CA, we are glad to no longer to moving, and to be able to relax a bit before another day of travel.
    Dinner was a green salad with avocados, steamed California Blend frozen veggies (appropriate!) with  and beef heart previously cooked, sliced and frozen and put in the steamer with the veggies. Yum! Top that off with Bubbies live sauerkraut and my homemade Curtido fermented cabbage mix and you have a delicious dinner. Desert you say? But of course: kefir cream with toffee flavored stevia, cocoa powder and nuts. I may have to cook all my food, but we're definitely not suffering.

Chili Cook-off Soup

Potlucks are always a challenge for someone with food issues. I have learned over the years to bypass much of what is there, scanning for veggies, salad without dressing or something that looks safe. Even then I am cautious. Much easier and safer for me (and my microbiome friends) to just take my own food and focus on being social.

So when the Annual Boomerville Chili Cook-off happened, I just made my chicken soup and took it, pot and all, with me to the potluck. I debated whether to put it on the table or not, but finally decided it would be easier to dish out that way. Since the potluck had already started when I got there, I wasn’t really expecting anyone to be wanting any. Not only were there many pots of chili, but also all kinds of other potluck things to enjoy. But then a couple of friends found out my ‘bone broth soup” was there, they made a beeline for it! There was only a small bowl of it left. Who knew? I'm happy that they enjoyed some good gut-healing soup. Today, one of them came up and said, “I want the recipe for that soup. It was so good!”.

Recipe? What, recipe? You mean I have to write this down? When I make soup and stir fry and a number of dishes, I just put in a bit of this and a little of that, whatever I have on hand. I base what I cook and eat on foods that will heal the gut, and this kind of soup is great for that. Bone broth made from beef, chicken or fish bones--and meat--is full of good things that heal the gut. This link here goes to a website that tells you all the benefits of bone broth. Once you read up on that, you will really be motivated to include this in your diet!

So here is what I think I made (quantities are approximate!):

Drumstick Bone broth soup
5-6 organic chicken drumsticks
1/4 head cabbage shredded, organic
1 cup Broccoli Slaw, organic
1 leek sliced
1 pkg frozen broccoli/cauliflower/carrot mix
1 yellow pepper chopped (has some heat to it, not a bell pepper)
1/2 TBSP celtic sea salt
1 tsp pepper, freshly ground
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar (I forgot this, but usually add it to help pull nutrients from the bones)
water to nearly cover it all

This gets brought to a boil, the pressure cooker lid put on, brought up to where it gets a little bit of pressure, then taken off and wrapped in layers of wool blankets and it sits for 4-6 hours. When we're ready to eat dinner, it's all ready for us! I especially love to do this on traveling day. If you are not traveling in an RV and want to make this, just use a crockpot if you have one. I put into my soups whatever veggies I have at hand. It changes with every batch, but there are some constants: bones, salt, pepper, apple cider vinegar, water and lots of veggies!

the tables of food in the lee of a couple of rig to block the wind

 

Boomerville gets busy

  We left Ehrenberg for Quartzsite on Jan 15th, arriving in Boomerville held at Scaddan Wash. There were a number of rigs already here even though it hadn't officially started. We were #34. It was great fun to be reunited with friends made last year and to meet new ones. Last year there was a total of about 110 or 120 rigs coming and going during the 2 weeks. This year by the official start date we already had nearly that many! The word has gotten out that this is a fun place to be.

   We are only a few days into the activities and already the schedule is filling up. Since I was here early, I was able to get my "The Why and How of Veggie Ferments" class done right away. It was well attended and well received. I enjoyed the feedback and sharing the fermented foods I love so much and have done so much to improve my health and energy. I have had several people express disappointment in missing the class because of something else they were doing, so I may have to see if I can find time on the schedule to do a repeat.
   I have enjoyed a few nights around the campfire and have played my tenor recorder to an appreciative audience. Last night I was able to join in with some ukulele players and we made music together! It's always fun to find other musicians. I anticipate more musical fun.
   We braved the crowds and went in to the Big Tent RV Show today briefly and met a few people we knew. We saw lots of interesting things and bought 4 postcards! Then we got groceries and made it back in time for the announcements at Happy Hour.
   This evening there was a presentation on RV travel in Europe by a guy who takes 6 - 8 small rigs (they call them Caravans in Europe) on tour in several places in Europe. The pictures were beautiful and it made me want to do that. What a fun way to do any European country!

BOOMERVILLE!

Strawberry lemonade. Yum!

BOOMERVILLE! Current location:  33.649956,-114.151274   No longer an empty part of the desert, it is currently a hive of activity with over 100 RVs of various sizes and types:  The Boomers are a “Birds of a Feather” (BOF) group of the Escapees RV Club. When they have a gathering, they call it Boomerville! We heard about them at Jojoba and were invited to join them here at Quartzsite, AZ. Every year at this time, thousands of RVers flock to Quartzsite to hang out in the desert, shop at the HUGE RV and Recreation Show big tent (this week only), the several swap meets, or the ongoing Rock and Gem shows. It is quite an experience. We had planned to ‘Do Quartzsite’ anyway (“everyone should at least once…”) and check out a few BOF groups who typically gather here. So far we have only been hanging with the Boomers, they are a laid back and fun group and we seem to fit right in. Several of the people we met at Jojoba Hills are here, too, so we have already seen some familiar faces.

    Every day there are different activities that various people volunteer to host or lead. Each day’s activities are written on a white board at “Headquarters” (a pop-up with tables and information) and you can choose to join whichever interests you.  We quickly discovered that no one starves in Boomerville, as Boomers have bountiful potlucks, free pancake breakfasts, and chili cook-offs with all the trimmings.

    4:00 daily is Happy Hour whose main purpose is for everyone to gather to hear announcements, greet newcomers; find out what activities are coming up, or any things that the group needs to know about. Activities have included potlucks, stargazing with someone who knows the names (the stars are spectacular here!), yoga or walking in the morning, “Boondocking 101” where we picked up a few good ideas of how to make resources last longer, TV shows (Downton Abbey) or pictures of travels (Albuquerque Balloon Festival) shown on the side of someone’s RV. The list goes on! I got in on a gathering of crafters, all making things and showing what they were working on. I took my card weaving which was quite a novelty. The lady hosting it has a toy hauler filled with lapidary equipment and thousands of beads! She does beautiful metal and bead/gem work.

Bottling the kombucha in my RV.

   Also a couple of times a week, several people with pickups volunteer to collect everyone’s trash and make a dump-run. Someone else coordinates to have a holding-tank pumping truck come in for those who need it, as well as fresh water refills. This place is like an instant little city where things get taken care of and people look out for each other. It’s fun to talk to experienced RVers and those who have boondocked for years and hear their tricks and tips, some of which we’ve already discovered.

My gallon jars with kombucha SCOBYs in new tea/sugar solution, ready to sit and do its thing.

Newly bottled kombucha.

    It’s not all been desert and socializing. I have also been making kombucha (bottling every 8 - 9 days) as well as kefir (daily) and cultured veggies (every couple of weeks). I am delighted to be able to continue my ferments as we travel. Mainly I’m motivated by wanting to have them always available since I love having some every day and certainly reap the benefits. It has taken a bit of planning and finding space, but it is working. They all seem to like the winter desert.

   We’ve been gone 3 weeks now and it seems like a blink of the eye! Fulltimers have told us that the 10 years they’ve been traveling seem like nothing and that the times goes by so fast. There always seems to be something to do, something to see, another place to visit, people to meet…