Healthy Lifestyle Blog

In honor of Interdependence Day, I prepared a green smoothie to represent the wonderful abundance our earth provides for us.

This is Interdependence Day weekend, and I am enjoying my stay in Vermont where I have a garden that I planted on Memorial Day.

I like to call this Interdependence Day – last year at this time I was attending a class called “Grow Food Everywhere” and one of the instructors, Deb Habib, coined the phrase. It feels so much better to me than Independence Day.

Having just read “The Wholarian Vision,” by Katrina Meyer, PhD, I am very aware of the interconnectedness of everything on this planet. Recognizing that we are all part of the whole provides a new awareness of how our actions, our energy, our essence affects everything around us, and that has a ripple effect that is very far reaching.

So rather than celebrate independence, let’s celebrate our interdependence and envision a world where collaboration and cooperation replace competition and greed, a world where peace, love and compassion prevail.

You may recall my Garden of Weedin’ from last summer. This year, I heavily mulched the garden, and I planted it on Memorial Day. When when I returned after a month (I live in NY and my garden is in VT) there were weeds, but it was certainly manageable.

One of the most abundant weeds that I found is commonly known as lemon clover. I remember a housemate who would pick it and eat it right from the garden, so rather than discard the mounds of lemon clover, I decided to make something with it. At first I thought I’d make a pesto, but as I worked in the hot sun, a frozen dessert seemed more appropriate. Here’s a video showing you what I did.

Lemon Clover Granita

lemon clover – remove roots – all other parts are edible
water – enough to blend
honey or other sweetener to taste

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend at high speed. Adjust for sweetness.
2. Strain the liquid through a fine strainer or nut milk bag.
3. Pour the strained liquid into a glass pan and place in the freezer.
4. After about an hour, run a fork through the mixture, loosening it from the edges. Repeat every hour until all the liquid is frozen.
5. Store in a sealed container in the freezer.