Green Harmony Living

Exotica

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After conferring with our friend who we were staying with, it was decided that we needed more fruit trees and shrubs for his edible garden, for which I had done the landscape design and installation four years ago. So, we drove in two separate cars down to Vista to visit our favorite organic fruit tree nursery called Exotica, owned by Steven Spangler. So we selected two Pomegranates, one Pineapple Guava, two Goji Berries, one Jujube, and one Surinam Cherry for our friend’s garden. I also bought two Goji Berries to take home to Maryland with me since I was having a hard time growing them from seed. We were sad to hear that Exotica Nursery was not doing so well financially and that Steve was behind on his payments and was in a protracted legal battle to hold on to the property. He said he needed an investor of some sort to assist him in continuing Exotica Nursery as an arboretum, botanic garden, or park. He showed us recent newspaper articles detailing his plight. We said we would try to help by contacting people we knew who might be willing to provide investment. We certainly hope he continues Exotica Nursery for a long time and it would be nice to see this land preserved in the public realm as a park since it is a botanical treasure trove that Steve has been tending for twenty years.
Do you have any ideas how to save Exotica Nursery? Do you want to help?


Barry Koral
Next, we drove a short distance up the hill to visit my friend, Barry Koral. Barry calls himself an “International Fruit Broker, Speaker, Author, Artist, and Motivator”. His card states “The Art of Healthy Living on the Planet”. He grows many kinds of fruit trees at his Korals’ Tropical Fruit Farm and other farms, and sells the fruits at a local farmers market. He was happy to see us and graciously showed us his newfound passion for creating art with india ink and colored pencil, showed us his dazzling custom built outdoor privy and shower bedecked with his creatively designed mosaic of tile, glass, stone, and shell walls, made us a fresh orange and peach juice, introduced us to his friends, let us sit on his deck, and gave us a tour of his orchard. His orchard of apple, avocado, fig, guava, passion fruit, and sapote was thriving. It was very neat and well organized in straight rows, with a row of stones around each tree trunk and wood chips covering the ground everywhere else. The circle of stones was to contain the worm castings and rock dust that he fertilized the trees with. Barry is steadfastly against using animal wastes and slaughterhouse products which are commonly used at organic farms as fertilizer, since they supplement the fruits with all the hormones, antibiotics, steroids, etc. the animals are injected, and it supports these nefarious industries. His farm is not officially organic because of the bureaucratic quagmire and expense one has to go through. Instead he calls his farm “better than organic”. After looking at how healthy his plants were and not detecting any noxious smells as is typical at farms, I believe him. He also, has a large compost heap and a vegetable garden for his own use.

What is your favorite fruit?

Ocean Beach People’s Coop

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Afterward, we drove to San Diego to visit Ocean Beach People’s Coop. This is a very nice natural food store with a two story nicely designed contemporary building. Upstairs is a decent deli counter and seating areas with fresh foods prepared every day. Unfortunately, their rawfood selection is slim; there were only two raw dishes that day. We tried many different things since we were hungry after the long day. Unfortunately, I ate too much of the cooked stuff and later got a detox reaction. Anyways, we had a nice meal there and later bought some produce and rawfood snacks. There we met a friendly woman who loved talking to our baby and he loved the attention. On the drive home the highways can be tricky. We ended up at the wrong side at Sea World instead of reaching the 5 freeway.
Have you visited a coop? What did you like/not like about it?

Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living – Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store – Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design – Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours – Sustainable Ecotours to Germany

Miyako Hybrid Hotel

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In the afternoon we visited Miyako Hybrid Hotel in Torrance so that Naoko could confirm her reservation for the banquet room for Saturday’s meetup for her business. The hotel was fabulous, just built last year and it received a silver LEED rating for its sustainable design. It had a nice contemporary designed interior, the outside almost white. I felt the gardens could use some help since they kind of plain, nothing unique. They could have really designed a beautiful Japanese style garden but didn’t and there was no fish pond, only a water fountain.

What is your favorite green building that you have visited?


Tree People

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After that we drove north clear across town, making reasonably good time during rush hour. To visit The Tree People’s headquarters located at Mulholland Drive and Coldwater Canyon Avenue on top of the mountain ridge. There were many people there enjoying the sun at the adjacent Coldwater Canyon Park system of hiking trails. We visited the yurt village where the Tree People have there offices. A friendly young man gave us an impromptu tour of the village and let us walk inside one of the yurts. This was my first time inside a yurt! Interspersed between the yurts were various fruit trees including large carob trees. Next, we hiked in Coldwater Canyon Park and then we hiked into Wilacre Park up the hill where we had breathtaking views of the San Fernando Valley, otherwise known as the “valley” (remember valley girl from the 80’s?) Well up here in the mountains all one seems to see are wealthy people’s home perched precariously on top of the mountain or along the edges. This area is certainly prone to earthquakes, mudslides, and wildfires so I wondered about the sanity of who would want to live here, just for a view that is more often than not shrouded in stifling smog. Los Angeles is a real melting pot of cultures and one sensed it even up here as we heard many different languages being spoken upon the trail.
What is your favorite park?


Planet Raw Juliano’s Restaurant

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Next, we drove along the storied Mulholland Drive for a bit enjoying its winding curves and scenic views in all directions. There were quite a few for sales signs up, most likely casualties from the economic downturn. We drove south to Santa Monica where it felt about ten to twenty degrees cooler and there was no sun. After searching many blocks we finally found parking to visit Juliano’s restaurant, now called Planet Raw. I was ready to enjoy a nice rawfood meal, but unfortunately our baby felt otherwise as he started crying off and on the whole time we were there. We later realized that he didn’t like the very dark interior of the restaurant. He must have felt afraid. We didn’t like the extremely dimmed lights either since we couldn’t really see the food we were eating. So we ate hurriedly. The one standout was the Blood drink. It is one of the best fruit juice blends I have ever had. It’s very refreshing and tasty!

What is your favorite raw fruit juice or drink?

Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living – Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store – Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design – Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours – Sustainable Ecotours to Germany

Mother's Market in Huntington Beach

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Today, after much rest, we visited Orange County’s finest natural foods store called Mother’s Market. There are about four or five stores across the county and they are very nice to visit since it is a great natural foods store and each one has its own mostly vegan restaurant. The produce is excellent since they have a large selection and they always seem to have the best mangos, melons, strawberries, and other fruits. We visited their Huntington Beach store which has a nice selection of rawfood products, although not nearly as extensive as Erewhon’s. Since there was an amazing special of 10 mangos for $10, we bought 10 of them and many other fruits and veggies. We also ate dinner there. I felt the meal was disappointing since it relied heavily on salt, most likely soy sauce to give the cooked dishes flavor. Afterwards, it left me feeling full, but dehydrated. The salad was nice, but with a little too many shredded beets on top and not enough cucumbers and tomatoes. Now I was yearning for a nice rawfood meal.

What was your favorite raw food meal?

Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living – Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store – Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design – Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours – Sustainable Ecotours to Germany

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During our flight to L.A., we decided that after we landed at LAX, it would make sense to head straight to the ultimate natural foods store called Erewhon, located in West Hollywood.

Do you know how sometimes people or places come into your consciousness and it means the universe is trying to tell you to pay attention to what it is telling you. Well this is why I started paying attention to Erewhon. I had heard about it many years ago in 2003 while working at the Good Mood Food Café in Huntington Beach, CA since our café made packaged rawfoods that we sold to various local natural stores including Erewhon. Well, recently I heard David Wolfe talking about the amazing Tonic Bar at Erewhon in his 2009 Longevity Experience conference. And then just before we left, we ran into Daniella Troia who owns Zia’s Café in Towson, MD, a mostly vegan and rawfood place, although there is some animal foods there too. Daniella mentioned that her friend just visited Los Angeles and loved Erewhon. So there it was, I kept hearing about Erewhon and thought we must visit this place. And we did!

I was immediately impressed with the large movie like posters of the rawfood speakers that have lectured at the store, such as David Wolfe and Ani Phyo. It looks like Hollywood already. They would never have such large posters for any rawfood leader in Baltimore, or any poster for that matter. Also outside there was a generous seating area with picnic style benches to sit at while you chow down on their food. Inside the store was nice, though nothing really extraordinary in terms of interior design. What was different was the features. There was the typical deli, juice bar, produce department, and many aisles and refrigerators of vegetarian and vegan packaged foods, as well as aisles of beauty products. The standout features were the Tonic Bar and the aisles of many rawfood products, the most I have ever seen in any store in the world. So, right away I know this is the biggest center for rawfood in the world. Every major brand of rawfood products, and many small brands I had never heard of, were represented there. We spent much time perusing the aisles, finally selecting some intriguing rawfood products to try. We skipped the Tonic Bar this time since we were dehydrated and tired and just wanted a simple green juice to drink and not the potent superfood, superherb blends the Tonic Bar serves up. The green juice was excellent and the avocado sandwich was very nice, although the gluten free bread gave me an allergic reaction later that day. Also, the avocado from the produce department was excellent. One of the employees was super friendly and loved to talk to our baby. Of note, there were a lot of vain beautiful people visiting the store of which the Hollywood area is famous.

The rest of the day we rested since we had a very early morning flight and little sleep.

Have you visited a really nice natural foods store? Tell us about it.

Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living – Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store – Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design – Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours – Sustainable Ecotours to Germany

First we visited the Pure Food and Wine restaurant that we have heard has great rawfood, and the menu certainly looked tantalizing, but unfortunately, the prices were out of our reach during this trip, so we had to pass. We just looked inside and glanced at the menu, which we wanted to take with us to study but the staff gently denied us.

Luckily, the same restaurant has a carryout and small dine in establishment just around the corner called One Lucky Duck. Here the prices were a little more reasonable although still not what I would call affordable. Everything is organic and/or local, raw, vegan (except for raw honey), free of dairy, refined sugars, animal products (except raw honey), and processed ingredients. The menu features “sweets”, “cookies & snacks”, Norwalk pressed juices”, “juices”, “shakes”, “prepared foods”, and “salads”.

There were many seemingly delectable choices on the menu, of which we wanted to try many of, but alas we only could try two dishes and one drink. They have these interesting and supposedly nutritious Norwalk juicer made juices made the night before, but they are stored in plastic containers in the deli case. So I opted instead for a fresh made Thai green drink that was nice except it had too much ginger in it. The Caesar Salad was excellent with chunks of romaine lettuce coated with a creamy dry sauce, topped with decorative Nori strips. The Spicy Thai Lettuce Wraps was a dud as nobody in our group liked it very much. It seems it was a bit too hard to chew being mostly cabbage shreds wrapped in collard leaves, and it had little distinctive flavor.

Overall, the staff was not particularly friendly probably because they looked overworked, some food was very nice, some not, and the atmosphere was lacking. It is quite obvious that the place is setup for carryout because of its tiny space and deli order setup. We look forward to trying more entrees and desserts next time we visit.

One Lucky Duck (Pure Food and Wine’s “juice & takeaway” place)

Overall: **

125 East 17th Street, New York, NY 10003; P 212.477.7151; www.oneluckyduck.com

Hours: Open daily: 9:00 – 23:00

Atmosphere: ** Noisy, not relaxing since people are in line behind you, and people are waiting for tables in this cramped space

Food: ***

Service: *

Credit cards: Yes

Drinks Available: A diverse offering of fresh juices (including daily made Norwalk juices) and shakes.

Price Range: Prices run the gamut from $3.50 to $100; entrees are $10 to $19

Recommended Dishes: Thai Green juice (no ginger), Strawberry Blonde shake, Caesar Salad, Zucchini and Tomato Lasagna

Reservations: None needed.

Sound Level: Noisy.

Wheelchair Access: Yes

(Key: **** = Excellent, *** = Good, ** = Fair, * = Poor)








Roland's Websites:
Green Harmony Living – Planet friendly webstore
Green Harmony Design – Sustainable landscape design
Green Harmony Tours – European ecotours

Bonobo’s Restaurant
Address: 18 East 23rd Street New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212.505.1200
Website: www.bonobosrestaurant.com


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Bonobo’s Restaurant was quite easy to find since it is prominently located on a busy street across the street from the popular Madison Square Park and nearby one of NYC’s historic architectural gems, The Flat Iron. Unfortunately, there was façade renovation being done on the building where it was located so there was scaffolding in front. Once inside the place felt rather sparse and almost had a diner feel to it, except most diner’s have more decoration. There was a large deli to the right and large refrigerators to the left and simple rows of seating straight ahead in the back. Perhaps you can tell that I didn’t enjoy the atmosphere. I got the feeling that this restaurant is designed to be mostly for lunchtime crowds since for dinner it doesn’t give one a comfortable feeling that makes you want to stay awhile.

The next shortcoming was ordering experience which for a first time customer was hard to navigate. Diners order from the large board hanging on the wall or one points to the items in the deli case and orders that way. Since the board is hard to read and understand we ordered by pointing at the food directly. Unfortunately, two of the staff did not speak fluent English and this made it difficult to understand them when asking questions. And questions we had a plenty since items were not marked clearly. After awhile we got tired of asking the same questions twice or thrice. We also made the mistake of ordering packaged foods from the refrigerator since they had a buy one, get one free offer. I say mistake because it was obvious to me upon tasting these packaged foods that they were not the freshest foods.

Bonobo’s Restaurant calls itself a vegetarian restaurant, but as far as we could tell, everything was raw and vegan. The menu states “organic as available”. The menu features “beverages”, “blends (coconut water and fruit)”, “tapas”, “soups” (cold and warm), “salads”, “organic dressings”, “scoops (delicious on salads)”, “organic seed nut crackers, crisps & wafers”, “entrees”, and “sweets”.

The best item we ate was a simple mixed green salad and the Lemon Garlic Tahini dressing was super! The other packaged items seemed old, not fresh. A small pancake like nut pate was not very tasty. The Tomato Soup was nice. For dessert were tried two of their balls: one was chocolate, one was halvah. The halvah ball was very tasty, the chocolate not so good.

Overall, I was glad to have been able to eat mostly, organic, raw, vegan food at a dedicated restaurant, but some of the foods were not fresh or tasty or were poor recipes, and the atmosphere was lacking. Next time I would like to try some of their juices like Pressed Sugar Cane Juice (since this is hard to find & healthy), raw lasagna, and raw ice cream.

Bonobo’s Restaurant
Overall: **
Atmosphere: **
Open box dining hall and deli creates a rather cold, unwelcoming atmosphere. This is not a restaurant you want to linger over a relaxing, candlelight dinner.
Food: **
Service: **
Credit cards: Yes
Drinks Available: A diverse offering of fresh daily made juices and smoothies made of coconut water and fruit.
Price Range: Prices are reasonable and not expensive.
Recommended Dishes: Pressed Sugar Cane Juice, Young Thai Coconut Water, Pressed Fruit & Vegetable Juices, Agave Lemonade, Fruit Blends, Banana Coconut Cream, Tomato Soup, All freshly made salads and dressings, Lasagna, and Halvah ball.
Reservations: None needed.
Sound Level: Relatively peaceful with only a few diners; may be noisy with many people since the space is an open box and there is no real decorations, furnishings, or plants.
Wheelchair Access: Yes

(Key: ****= Excellent, ***= Good, ** = Fair, *= Poor)

Thank You and Make Today a Wonderful Day!
Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living - Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store - Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design - Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours - Sustainable Ecotours to Germany

Here is the Roland’s Review of NYC Rawfood Restaurants

• Bono's
• One Lucky Duck
• Quintessence

Thank You and Make Today a Wonderful Day!
Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living - Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store - Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design - Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours - Sustainable Ecotours to Germany

Hello Everyone!

Naoko, Yuma, and I attended David Wolfe’s lecture last night and we had a wonderful experience! David gave an inspiring and entertaining talk on his latest research findings into many topics of healthy living that increases longevity. Some of the major points he covered include the best and the worst quality drinking water, the single cause of most major diseases and health issues (including anxiety, arthritis, body lumps, brain chemistry, cancer, candida, cell phone issues, dental issues, diabetes, poor eyesight, heart disease, weak immune system, intestinal issues, liver issues, lyme disease, osteoporosis, pollen allergies, prostate problems, and more), why calcium supplements and wearing shoes are the worst things for your body, the solutions to the major diseases of the body, the main points of his Longevity Now program (1st edition is sold out, 2nd edition available in June.2010) including medicinal mushrooms, superherbs, superfoods (like bee pollen & honey, raw cacao, Goji Berries, Maca, marine phytoplankton, noni fruit) super supplements (like enzymes, MSM, probiotics), super technology, the dangers of static electricity, raw, live foods, seaweeds, and more! As you can read, he covered much ground and many important topics. I will be covering more of these topics in more detail in future blogs and newsletters, so stay tuned!

I am currently reading David’s Longevity NOW book and watching some of the ten videos from 2009’s Longevity Experience conference and I highly recommend this series to anyone. No matter who you are or what your ailment or if you think you have perfect health you owe it to yourself to purchase this book and videos or attend the next live conference in Sept.2010. I guarantee you will learn much new information about a healthy lifestyle with infinite positive possibilities. In short, it will change your life in ways that never thought possible. Since I have been reading the Longevity NOW book I have been inspired to eat a healthier, higher percentage living foods diet and I have been able to share this desire with my wife. David makes it easy by emphasizing taking in the higher quality foods and herbs, and not by emphasizing what one should not eat which tends to leave people discouraged. Our health has improved markedly as I have read this book, and after meeting David Wolfe in person last night and hearing him speak, we look forward with eager anticipation to the future as we put into practice the other concepts in the Longevity program!

We offer many of the highest quality superfoods and supplements that David Wolfe recommends everyone eat including Raw Cacao Beans, Nibs & Powders, Digestive Enzymes, Goji Berries, Wild Honey, Maca Powder, MSM, Raw Nuts & Seeds, Probiotics, Sauerkraut, Seaweeds, Shilajit, Spirulina, and Zeolite! We will be carrying more of his recommended superherbs, superfoods, super supplements, and super technology in the near future as this is our current main goal!

So check out our many fantastic specials on the above super products, our new and improved home website, and our new cheaper shipping rates today!!! Visit us at www.GreenHarmonyLiving.com

Thank You and Make Today a Wonderful Day!

Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living – Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store – Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design – Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours – Sustainable Ecotours to Germany

There are only healthy, life giving ingredients in all three: Plain Flax Sprouts’ ingredients is certified organic sprouted flax seed; Flax Sprouts with Blueberries’ ingredients are certified organic flax sprouts, certified organic blueberries (organic blueberries, organic evaporated cane juice, organic maple syrup, and organic sunflower oil); Flax Sprouts with Cranberries’ ingredients are certified organic sprouted flax seed, certified organic cranberries (organic cranberries, organic evaporated cane juice and organic cranberry seed oil). That’s it!

The powder form allows for easy mixing into applesauce, cereals, smoothies, yoghurt, baking or entrée recipes, by itself, and so on. One to three 10 grams scoops a day is all that is recommended.

Of course, the myriad of benefits of flax seed are well known today. BioSprouts is even better in that it is made of “a truly living, enzyme active superfood providing the perfect blend of health promoting nutrients including omega 3 fatty acids (over 2300mg per serving for the Plain Flax Sprouts, 1600mg for Blueberry and Cranberry), lignans, soluble and insoluble fiber, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.”

We have tried Organic BioSprouts™ Flax Sprouts and found it to be a delicious and easy way to get the many health benefits of flax seeds into our diet. Flax seed oil does not stay fresh very long, and flax seeds by themselves are hard to chew or require grinding to make more digestible. In contrast, the BioSprouts is ready to use, just place a scoop into your favorite food, stir it together, and reap the benefits!

Roland’s Websites:
Green Harmony Living - Planet friendly website
Green Harmony Living Store - Raw, Vegan, & Organic Foods & Products
Green Harmony Design - Beautiful, Edible, & Sustainable Gardens
Green Harmony Tours - Sustainable Ecotours to Germany