Yesterday we had the wonderful pleasure to go to the market again - and it fills me with gratitude to be able to buy all the yummy delicious healthy greens and fruits :-)

We bought:

• sorrel 200g;
• lettuce - a huge buttery one;
• cherry tomatoes - 600g (oh yeah!)
• 4 big cucumbers 
• spinach 300g;
• bananas 2 kg
• lemons 2 kg
• apples 2 kg

Nettle
I believe we all know the nettles, however not for the best reasons.. I remember as yesterday the first time I encountered one - or actually a few - with my butt, in shorts, in the forest. Nobody warned me about them - but as the experience proves, i would never forget them :-)
And now I am looking for them, haha :-) 
Today some ideas about how to pluck the nettle (and later the dandelion) leaves and how to use them.

The best time for plucking the nettle is when it's young. 
Please use  thick leather gloves:-)
Use the top third of the plant and if you have time, pluck directly only the leaves, and only after plucking the leaves, cut or break the "bold" stem. If you do not have the time to do that on the spot, cut the leaves at home, but know it takes more determination and some extra logistics:-)

I know, this picture does not exactly make you want to stretch (or wake up!) in the morning but well, somewhere on this website and in April's shine I had to have a kitty :-)

This practice is short and powerful.

In the morning, when you wake up, try to think about the day ahead with a smile on your face and anticipation.. Plan what you will do - in your head or on paper - and maybe read a few lines from an inspiring (to you!) book.

If you forget and you find yourself in front of the mirror brushing your teeth, you can do it afterwards:-)

You might know by now - but if this is the first thing you read about or by me: I love fresh raw food.

So today an invitation to think about it a bit.

It - as in the title - processed food versus fresh.
And all the "food" in-between.. I actually do not believe that a lot of it should be named "food" but I know I would insult like 95% of humanity by saying that so I will stop here:-)

I will give you my categories, though, because in this world of all kinds of info and commercials, it is useful to try to make things simple.. And although I write / talk a lot in these articles (a lot more than the "basics", anyway), I believe that sometimes I can make things simple:

Shining Mama's list of preferences:

• A - organic produce (above B in preference)..
• B - non organic food - stuffed with antibiotics, pesticides, colors, fragrances, nitrite and other stuff to give it a "healthy color" or interesting taste or smell..

If you want to do a simple experiment, put a peeled lemon (or orange, or grapefruit) in the fridge over night, together with non-organic strawberries and make sure the white skin of the lemon touches the strawberries. The next morning I can almost guarantee that there will be (artificial) color on the peel of the lemon. I do not know how they do that – but they put color in the strawberries..  :-(

This is an older picture of the organic Farmer's Market in The Hague, with thanks to Sjoerd Feenstra and the website of the organic markets in The Netherlands. 

I will use it for today's list of yummy fresh organic produce.

I hope it will serve as an inspiration if you want to buy produce for one week of green smoothies (and yummy fresh raw snacks).

We all have those kind of days - or weeks - that we feel like this one big world is against us..

And we feel we are small and maybe that we cannot go any more against it all.

So, this is for you. 

If and when you have one of those days, think about coming back here, read this and try it: a bath to forgive.

I know not everybody has a bathtub.

This one is maybe a nice ending after yesterday's shower and/or maybe after the sauna / bath of a few days ago..

You will need a spray container, like this one (V. uses this one to make rain in the living room but I have a similar one for my lil projects)..