Bonne Annee et Bonne Sante

Hope the New Year is going well for all of you in spite of any bad weather you might be experiencing – for us it is cold and wind today but at least it is not raining. I picked the title for this post to wish everyone a great year and good health. Bonne annee et bonne sante is a well known french expression – my mothers side of the family is French.  It also ties on with my 2012 resolution of health and happiness. I plan to respect myself more by making better choices about what I put in my body.  Now if I could only get tacoboy to get on my fortified juice kick ha ha.

Eating well is the key to a fabulous and energized body which is totally my goal. I have been doing fairly well with  clean eating and getting better at moderating with the not so good stuff. When I slow down and pay attention to what I eat and drink and how it makes me feel, it gets easier to say no thanks and opt for something better. Or just have less [coming from the girl  with the hollow junk food leg :)] I am also thinking it is a good time to revisit the Wild Rose meal plan that I saved from a Liver cleanse I did 3 years back.

My organic vegetable order this week consists of celery, moringa leaf, limes, bell peppers – assorted colors, mixed greens, zucchini squash and cucumber. I have been enjoying the moringa leaf in juices and salads, I highly recommend the raw form or the powder.

Moringa trees are highly nutritious, being a significant source of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, protein,iron, and potassium.  It has been used to combat malnutrition, especially among infants and nursing mothers. Leaves can be eaten fresh, cooked, or stored as dried powder for many months without refrigeration, and reportedly without loss of nutritional value.  It is said that Moringa leaves contain more Vitamin A than carrots, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, more Vitamin C than oranges, and more potassium than bananas,” and that the protein quality of Moringa leaves rivals that of milk and eggs.  [info from Sol Farms Limited, Farm Fresh Organics ]

To make our weekly orders even better,  Sol Farms has made a new addition to their facebook page and added a This Weeks Harvest tab to the left hand side. Each week they update it with what is available, and what is in the works. I was pleased to see that strawberries and local Maya cherry’s are on the up and coming list.

Once an order is placed Sol Farms in Teakettle Village Belize processes it and drives the vegetables to Belmopan where they are flown on Tropic Air to San Pedro. The shipping cost .65/lb and  the Tropic Air Cargo boys are great about letting us know when our order has arrived.  After we get the order we go put the money in their Scotia Bank account bank to pay for it.

For those of you who may have missed it due to rising fuel costs, Tropic Air increased airfare on January 1, 2012. New pricing in Belize Dollars for round trip flights from San Pedro to other destinations are as follows: Caye Caulker $163; Corozal: $216; Sarteneja: $216, Tower Hill, Orange Walk: $216; Belize Municipal: $163 and Belize International: $282.50, prices include rider fee of $5.00. Please check the San Pedro Sun newspaper for more details.

A Little Hammock Fun by Karen Brodie Photography

Dale's mechanic shop in San Juan

Creole shrimp

Dragonfly pottery Artisan Ruby hand

Pictures courtesy of Sol Farms Facebook page.