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Mennonite And Amish Buggy Parking At The Farmers’ Auction
Shot in Wallenstein, Ontario
Photo by John Zeus

Dreams play a central role in the spiritual life of the people of the First Nations. The belief is that dreams are given to us by the Creator. Yesterday I acquired my first dreamcatcher. It is made by Alexis, an intuitive and creative woman, married to a Mississaugas* chief and living in Alderville First Nation. I had the best sleep in weeks. The Creator gave me brilliant dreams.

A First Nations legend tells that all dreams are caught in the web. Good dreams find their way through and bad dreams are trapped until the first rays until the sun destroys them.

In some Native American cultures, a dreamcatcher is a handmade object based on a willow hoop, on which is woven a loose net or web. The dreamcatcher is then decorated with sacred items such as feathers and beads. Wikipedia

It is not unusual in First Nation spirituality for a dream to plot the course of a person’s destiny, guiding them along their path to their place in life. ^

Photos/Story: John Zeus
*Alderville First Nation is a band of Mississaugas, a sub-nation of the Ojibwas.

Morning Sustainability…

Greek Yogurt or Goat’s Milk Yogurt, ensure it’s plain, topped with fresh berries, unpasteurized local honey, organic local walnuts and/or granola. So healthy with the added benefits of protein and active probiotic cultures. Plain Greek yogurt is available almost everywhere now.

Greek Yogurt with Berries, Local Walnuts and Unpasteurized Honey!

I’m one of those guys who would eat a full breakfast daily and still feel low energy during morning meetings and workouts. Maybe it was what I was eating? My breakfasts varied from cereals to breakfast sandwiches and muffins which food corporations advertised as “power breakfast”, “energy nutrition”, “sunshine in a meal”. It took a while for me to realize the food companies were lying. What I was really eating was sugar and gmo corn.

It’s unfortunate that most food corporations and fast food brands spend more money on advertising and marketing than food quality. Many breakfast cereals are made of chemicals, sugar and gmo corn, disguised to taste like good food. Fast food breakfast sandwiches are made from gmo soybeans and processed meats and cheeses from gmo corn-fed animals, how unhealthy.

I started to look beyond the marketing and more at the foods I was eating and asked myself; would I trust a corporation to make my food over an individual? The answer was no. I immediately thought of my Yiayia (grandmother) and the traditional breakfasts I ate in my teens. At that moment I craved homemade Trikala Greek Yogurt.

No Added Sugar!

Natural energy with no added sugar, my power breakfast for one, getting me through to lunch.

Serving: 1 • Time: 2 minutes

Medieval Fort at Trikala Thessaly, Greece

• 6 oz. plain Greek yogurt or Goat’s Milk Yogurt
• 1 tbsp honey (preferably local and unpasteurized)
• 1/2 cup fresh berries
• 1 tbsp (.25 oz) smashed local organic walnuts or local granola

Place yogurt in a dish, top with berries, walnuts and honey. Substituting walnuts with granola would taste great too.

A traditional recipe from Trikala

There’s nothing new about Greek Yogurt. In my early years I would spend some of my summer vacations in the old country visiting my Yiayia. Every morning I’d wake up to fresh Trikala Greek Yogurt as I would call it with fresh fruit, walnuts and honey. The true power breakfast of champions. ^

Source: John Zeus
Cover Photo Source: Web

Blow Me Down, Come-By-Chance, Pothead, Dildo….

In all of it’s Awesomeness, Newfoundland has some of the strangest place names on the planet.

Cupids,
Conception Bay,
Cow Head,
Heart’s Desire,
Heart’s Content,
Nick’s Nose Cove,
Whitless Bay,
Square Islands.

“Newfoundland, rugged and beautiful even through the rear view mirror of my car.”

Location: Island of Newfoundland
“The Rock”
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

Photography/Author: John Zeus

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! Have a wonderful holiday! Gobble Gobble.

Many blessings…Remembering with thanks is what causes us to trust, to believe and to have hope.

Photos are of heritage breed turkeys.

Back on the farm the miracle of autumn is spectacular…

The crisp cold air, exploding colours everywhere, the harvesting of our own food, the playfulness of the animals and the smell of the soil underfoot.

The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life. – Wendell Berry

• Related Post: The Heritage Farm – Sustainable Living…
• Related Video on the pigs: Mama & Piglets on Walkabout.

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” ―  Masanobu Fukuoka

7:00am dark outside, Murray’s Farm, Cambridge, Ontario “Pigs need a feeding, Turkeys need a watering, Eggs need collecting…” 

I prefer to leave the city and spend time on this farm whenever we can. Doing chores from morning to night, experiencing a true heritage farm lifestyle. As I wrote in one of my previous posts “farm life is hard work yet there’s something essential about growing your own food. Getting back into rhythm with the earth and animals that sustain you.”

Why do I love spending time on a farm?  I love to watch and nurture the crops & plants. I love to live in the presence of the animals. I love working outdoors. I love watching the weather. I love the independence that farm life provides.

Support Your Local Farmers…

Food performance surveys show that a majority of food shoppers are willing to pay more for food grown locally on small family farms. Follow that up with consumer buying habits and we will change the tradition of farming in North America.

Don’t Eat Anything Your Grandmother Would Not Recognize As Food!  

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1:00pm EDT, Monday October 08, 2012. Cambridge, Ontario
Related post: The Heritage Farm & Sustainable Living

Cambridge, Ontario. “Doing my chores from seven in the morning until seven at night”.

Experiencing the life of a farmer at my friend’s heritage farm. Sustainable living and ethical farming is hard work. Yet there’s something essential about growing your own food. Getting back into rhythm with the earth and animals that sustain you.

Adopt food sustainability as a lifestyle. Grow your own urban vegetable garden. Eat whole, raw and natural foods. Reduce your consumption of fast and overly processed foods. It you’re on a plant and animal diet source out free range, pasture raised/grain fed meats from your local farmers.

Related Posts:

• New autumn post: Heritage Farm Life – Calves & Pigs & Turkeys…
• Colourful chicken photography on: Heritage Breeds
• My video on the pigs: Mama & Piglets on Walkabout Video.

In many communities food resources go furthest when people produce their own food near to where it is consumed.

Taking it globally, hunger-relief organizations provide assistance not in the form of cans of food, but in technology, education and programs that teach sustainable farming.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.