CSA is Back!



©2012, R.L. Delight, The Beginning, 6"x6" oil on panel. http://www.rldelight.com.

It has been a long winter and I am hungry for greens. Thankfully our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)  will be starting up again on Saturday! This wild coastal area continues to shape the way I eat. During the winter abundant vegetables are hard to come by and expensive. A lot of vegan goodies that are available in the cities are not available here. In fact, we find ourselves ordering hard to find food and sundries online. Eventually, I hope to be able to grow much of my own vegetables.
Overall, I feel the process has been a good one for me. My diet has been simplified to very basic and nutritious food. As for eating out at restaurants, I have yet to find anything that is equal or better to what I can make at home. Finding vegan, and now gluten free, continues to be a challenge.
Time to cook can also be a challenge! In addition to vegan and gluten free, I strive to eat a high raw diet. I live in a very cold and damp climate and find it challenging to stay warm on a 100% raw diet. I find it easier to eat mostly raw. I am a busy artist and find the extra planning and organizing to eat nutritiously a challenge. With that in mind I decided to set aside some time to organize a series of menus and shopping lists. I am planning to publish some of that here on this blog which has not been very active to this point. Hopefully others will find the information useful. It will be an interesting adventure to develop the menus and will help me out time-wise.
If anyone has any thoughts on that topic, please do leave a comment. I would love to hear ideas and requests at this point.
More to come soon! -Renee

Beginning Anew

Hello, it has been quite a while. I had to do a bit of re-thinking on where I wanted this blog to go. There are so many wonderful Vegan blogs out there dealing with delicious food and many of the issues as well. I knew I would not have the time and interest to compete with all the great information they provide. I want this blog to be more about a vegan lifestyle on the Northern Oregon Coast.
There is not a lot of resources here for a vegan, nor a lot of vegans here. After living here for over a year, I am just now starting to meet a vegan or two. We are planning to get together for mutual support and community.
My quest to find vegan and vegan friendly restaurants has not been exactly successful. The establishments that do serve vegan options offer up the usual fare of bean burritos, veggie burger (if you are lucky to find a vegan one), and hummus platters, are few and far between. Perhaps we can change that eventually.
Fortunately, during the growing season, I have access to plenty of beautiful, fresh, and locally grown food. We joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm and received weekly boxes of veggies and a bit of fruit, all grown here on the Oregon coast. The picture above is of the final box of the season. We ate well this summer. Alas, the local growing season has ended and now I am hard pressed to find a variety of good vegetables. Eventually I plan to grow my own but, until then, I need to find a good source.
It has been a good year. We have plugged into this small beach community and have grown to love it. The natural beauty and wild weather complete the picture. We have decided to settle here in spite of the challenges and are now doing our best to find a way to make a living. I am working on my art career and will have more to post about that later.
I have more to post on life here and have a lot more to look forward to writing about. I will let this blog grow organically so patience may be needed. I will post again in a week, give or take a day or so. Until then, -Renee