7/12 Home From the Vegan Retreat
It is Sunday night and I am writing Monday morning’s blog. We just got home from the Vegan Retreat at the Leaven Center. I am exhausted in the most satisfying way and already missing my new friends. There were six of us including Sandy and myself.
To be completely honest, I don’t even know how to begin telling you about this life changing experience. This weekend blew my mind. The Leaven Center is a sacred and magical place. The lodge, where we stayed, played and cooked was warm, inviting and felt like the ideal place to explore and grow.
Photo By: S. Duquet
We walked through fields and woods picking wild black raspberries and flowers. We saw deer, bald eagles and hawks. We intimately and honestly shared our desires, fears and aspirations for incorporating compassionate consumption into the reality of our everyday lives. Our retreat leader/vegan mentor and PETA spokesperson Nicole was one of the most vibrant, giving and interesting women I have ever met. She shines as brightly as a luminous blue star.
Did I mention that we cooked like crazy? We met new natural ingredients like Bragg Liquid Aminos and rekindled our relationship with more familiar ingredients like tomatoes and Portobellos. We cooked and shared imaginative and soul satifsying vegan meals together.
Photo By: S. Boulton
There is so much to share that I want to do it a nugget at a time so we can really savor it.
So, I am going to settle back in after a weekend away and organize my new recipes, cookbook suggestions and vegan pantry must-haves so I can share them with you.
Have a delicious day
Tags: 30 day challenge, leaven center, Nicole Renee Matthews, PETA, trying vegan, trying vegetarian, vegan, vegan challenge, vegan experience, vegan retreat
July 13th, 2010 at 2:10 am
Beautiful pics. Welcome back…awe inspiring.
July 13th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Thank you. It really was. The weekend changed me in a way I had not expected. I knew cooking with a bunch of cool women and talking about veganism would rock, but I did not know how much I would grow and expand while looking forward to growing and learning even more. Seeking out new ways to honor my beliefs about my world and the animals in it became an honor and less of a scary homework assignment. I really loved it and woke up on Monday missing my new friends. It really was like camp.