Give. Thanks. Everyday.

On Saturday, October 12th, we marched with a crowd of protesters in Cleveland, Ohio. This was the second of a series of worldwide protests against the behind-the-scenes takeover of our global food systems.

An estimated 400 marches took place on that day around the globe. Millions are standing up and telling the government that we are not ok with the fact that GMO (genetically modified organism) foods are not labeled in our grocery stores. 

We passed out hundreds of fliers to educate the public about the devastating (not to mention the yet-to-be-discovered) effects that Monsanto is single-handedly (with ample government support) having on our worlds food supply, people and environment. It was astounding how many folks looked at us puzzled and said "G-M what??" It was also exciting how many people in cars passed by and honked and waved in support. Gave me shivers of hope.

It was such an inspiring experience. We met families who are educating themselves together by growing some of their own food, reading, watching documentaries and spreading the word to others. We also met folks who are becoming bee keepers because they want to be part of the honey bee revival that will help to move our planet back to a state of thriving. 

We highly recommend joining the next global MAM, which will likely be in the spring.  Stay tuned, and in the meantime, do some research to keep yourself up to date on the topic. There is an official Facebook page that will list upcoming marches. 

These are two flyers that we handed out that I believe are very informative. Please feel free to print many and hand them out to everyone:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/ten-things-monsanto.pdf

http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/gmo-no.pdf

We decided to take a walk after the march to see the Rock and Roll hall of fame. It was pretty neato. Cleveland was fun. The squirrels there are very friendly. We couldn't resist stopping at this awesome little place at the end of the day for some delicious vegan pumpkin soup. 

We scooted back across the Canadian border to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with some family near Niagara Falls. It's funny how little we know about some family members. In a nutshell, we learned about Eco-friendly mining practices, Transcendental Meditation, Ayurvedic cooking and shared a wonderfully-fun-to-prepare (and eat) organic, GMO-free Ayurvedic Indian Thanksgiving dinner followed by a trip to the falls. This will be hard to top next Thanksgiving. 

What do you get when you follow your heart?

This blog has been created to do two things:

1. Allow me to empty my brain when it's overwhelmingly full of ideas and questions. 

2. Share our adventures in sustainable and spiritual living with other souls who are in also search of a more meaningful world. 

My fiancé and I (call us 30-ish, give or take a bit) are in the process of freeing ourselves from the entrapment of the far-too-widely accepted cycle of debt and overconsumption. When we met one year ago, we were both at our wits end with this seemingly hopeless vortex of exhaustion and lack of meaning in our lives.  At Christmas time (and forecasted apocalypse time) in 2012, a friend passed to us an excellent book called You Can Buy Happiness (and it's Cheap) by Tammy Strobel. It was exactly the inspiration we needed to start down a road less traveled. 

Our solution to our entrapment so far?

Step1.  We minimized (by selling and regifting) our personal possessions to the point where we have a mental inventory of exactly what we own. How many people can make that statement? 

Step 2: We then purchased a slightly squeaky and finicky (but oh-so-magical) motorhome, which houses pretty much everything short of our two (seasoned but lovely) vehicles (of which we plan to sell at least one).

We have thoroughly enjoyed these adjustments to our new way of life and we don't miss ANY of that useless stuff we once thought we needed to feel secure and happy. 

We originally intended to make "the moHo" our home for the 5 months (if we are lucky!) of the year where our toilet water won't freeze in  northern Alberta. Well, we are now more than half way through those months and we are firmly uninterested in paying rent or strapping ourselves to a mortgage for eternity, as so many elect to do. 

Step 3: We are working on acquiring the financial means to call the moHo home for as long as it takes for us to feel like we have gathered the wisdom and knowledge to pass on a recipe for sustainable living to our future generations (which will IDEALLY involve following the sun south) by the time toilet-freezing temperatures arrive, roughly late September to early October. *fingers crossed*

...and so this blog begins... 

Please follow along as we document our tales of all manner of things non-conventional and our minimalist life in a tiny home on wheels.