a plan

so we have a basic plan now! we're flying (one way) to argentina in mid-october. we've joined wwoof italy because for joining italy we got the whole wwoof independents list for free. (wwoof independents is a list of several countries that don't have their own wwoof organization, so they're grouped together). so going to argentina. there are 16 farms to choose from there. we narrowed it down to 6 that we would like to go to, then 4 that we really liked, then picked our favorite. we were looking for a family farm that speaks only spanish and can teach us how to make amazing things and basics about organic farming. we've only emailed one farm so far. today. so hopefully we hear back soon to see if they're interested in hosting us. i had to write them an email in spanish, which i'm definitely capable of doing but it takes me super-extra time because i want to make sure they can understand it, since i speak pretty medium spanish.

things we can learn at the farms we picked (and we'll probably work on more than one farm): permaculture, organic farming, we can learn to make cheese, wine, beer, soap, jam, sausage (not too interested in that...), honey, hmm probably some other things i can't remember. but amazing amazing things. that's for sure.

ok, so we'll get a one way ticket to buenos aires, which is difficult, btdubs, because nancy foo can't stop over in the US without a C-1 visa, which would take time and money to acquire. so we have to find a flight that stops in mexico city instead.

we're thinking of staying in south america for around 6 months. so i think we'll go between argentina and chile. neither of us needs a visa for those countries. and we might head north toward central america, but we'll need to fly because i'm not going through colombia on a bus. but i think it would be neat to explore costa rica and nicaragua, and i'd like to make it up to mexico actually, but we'll see how much time we have. unlimited, really, because we're getting one-way tickets.

so from wherever we end up, we're flying to europe. and we're going to italy to work on farms. this is the part that puts some time constraints on the journey. because the growing season in south america is from maybe september to april or may, and the growing season in italy probably starts in april. so unless we want to be in south america for a year and a half, we'll only be able to stay 6 months.

in italy, the plan is to learn to make wine and olive oil. and eat wonderful italian food.

i had a moment today. about food. i'm changing up my approach to food. in a huge way. well, i guess i had two moments. one was the other day. one was today. here's what happened:

probably most folks reading this know that i've had some food issues. since i was 12-ish. by food issues, i guess i mean eating disorder. i don't like to call it that. it seems too harsh or something. so i've been vegetarian for 7 years, vegan for 6, and raw-vegan for a bit more than one. each of those changes was due to personal beliefs, not to be skinnier. although i have to admit i considered it as a possible benefit each time.
i've been trying to not have food issues for about 6 years. starting the raw-vegan thing helped a lot with symptoms of disordered eating. but i realized recently that it's not fixing the problem. so i'm starting from scratch. removing the restrictions on my eating. developing a healthy relationship with food from the place where the unhealthy relationship started. i never thought this would happen, but i'm not eating raw, vegan, or even vegetarian.

i guess i still have some restrictions, but i consider them healthy: only organic meat from happy animals that were killed in a way i'm ok with. i'd prefer to kill them myself, really. if i'm going to eat them. only organic dairy from happy animals. and if i'm going to eat meat or dairy, i want it to be locally-sourced. i'm thinking this will be really easy on a farm. oh also no nasto-microwave-heated food.

the moment that happened today was when i realized i don't chew my food really. it was more of a discovery, actually. i mean, i do chew, a little. enough to swallow without choking. but probably i eat way more than i need to because my body can't absorb anything from unchewed food. also, i eat really really fast. and end up really full.

so basically, food is changing for me. and i really do think eating raw and mostly vegan is a healthier way to eat. but what's good about that if my whole approach to food is totally jacked-up?

so i'm starting over.