Discovering sanity in an insane world...

[QoraDomain]

Hi all!
My name is Dwight and I live with my best friend, Mike, on 4.5 hectares on the eastern seaboard of South Africa. We have walked away from friends, family and culture to create a self-sustainable paradise food garden. The place we live is called Qora (pronounced with a loud click in place of the 'Q') since the area is home to the amaXhosa tribes whose language is full of amazing 'click' sounds. We hope in time to swell our numbers to become a small community of friends, thus the name 'QoraDomain' - a Domain in the spirit of the Anastasia dream on the hills around the Qora river.

We have recently (since 10/10/2010) transitioned onto 100% raw. For the last 5 years we have been eating a large portion of live foods after discovering the Boutenko family's inspirational books. Particularly influential for us was 'Green for Life'. Green smoothies have become a staple breakfast.

We are looking forward to sharing experiences and hope to inspire and be inspired by our interactions in this forum.

[Stina]

Hello Dwight, I'm fascinated with your story. What an adventure. A warm welcome to our sweet supportive raw community here. I trust that the raw life will be a huge blessing to you like it has been to me. I'm curious what kind of gardening you are doing and if that includes fruit trees or if it could.

[JCB44]

welcome to the site lots of friends here.

[Aleesha Sattva]

very cool... welcome welcome welcome!

[healthywealthy]

wow what a great change you have made :)congratulations.

you are creating your own world,absalutely fantastic,thanks for sharing.
I would love to see some pictures if that was possible x

[blizzardfrisbee]

Welcome to the raw world

[spicyfull]

I wish you everything you need to Stay RAW.........Welcome to MY World.

[QoraDomain]

Thank you all for the warm welcomes!

To answer Stina:
We are in the process of establishing a young forest garden which includes all manner of tropical and temperate varieties (we are in the wet/dry subtropical part of SA) of trees, shrubs, groundcovers and climbers. We are getting our first crop of bananas and papayas this year (after 4 1/2 years) and have fed well on plums, nectarines, various berries, melonpears among others and have a constant supply of green leafy veg. Now that we are eating exclusively raw we realise that it will shortcut our effort to become self sufficient. I have a few albums on my Facebook profile so lets exchange private messages if you want those details. We connect to the 'net via a very slow and unreliable connection out here in the styx so prefer not to upload too often...

HealthyWealthy: Walking away from wage slavery and food dependancy is the best thing we ever did - our lives are really transforming and that will no doubt accelerate dramatically now that we have made the transition to truly healthful eating. Thanks for the supportive enthusiasm!

We are currently experiencing a major detox period and we are welcoming it warmly! I already feel so much lighter and more supple after only a month and a half. Mike is also commenting on noticing physical improvements in bodily 'compactness'. Although neither of us was overweight - in fact most would have said we were healthy and slim before - both of us have lost a considerable amount of weight (about 5 kg each!) but from our understanding this is normal and part of the detox and we believe this will stabilise once this phase is over. Susan Schenk's 'The Live Food Factor" is providing invaluable support and inspiration! So far we have suffered no cravings for cooked food, so its been relativly easy going. Mind you we were already eating a large proportion of our daily food raw already. We also dont have to put up with food commercials since we dont have TV nor any restaurants within 100kms of us! LOL Our lifestyle is also conducive to rest whenever we need it and we are living in rythm with the natural cycles.

Wonderful to be among friends. Again, thanks for your warm hospitality!

Dwight and Mike

[klomasius]

Sigh.. sounds wonderful. Especially the tropical fruit bit!

Welcome to the forum! :)

[nadien alexandra]

this all sounds so beautiful, wow.

I'm so happy to hear that someone has created what I have been dreaming about! you've done it! a self-sustainable live food community off the grid!

my friend damien and myself are on a search for such a paradise.

I am glad to know it exists!

Keep on the Path.

sincerely,

nadien

[QoraDomain]

Hi Nadien and Klomasius! Thanks for the welcomes and supportive comments :)

We are still quite a way from being totally off the grid but the distance just got shorter since we decided to go raw. It makes a lot of sense to set up a forest garden and this is possible in almost any climate. Using permaculture techniques has allowed us to continue growing and eating through a 4 year drought. We have been eating green smoothies for years already as we find them such an amazing source of essential nutrients.

Thankfully the rains seem to have returned this year. We rely totally on the rain for water having no spring or well. We do have a lot of water storage that my grandfather created about 100 years ago which has served us well. Eating raw takes the need for cooking appliances and fire out of the equation which constitutes an enormous relief - we were going to build a anaerobic-digesting pit to create methane for cooking which was going to be a major task! Washing up liquid soap was another nice thing to say goodbye to needing a supply of. Plenty of benefits from a raw diet, of that we are totally convinced. Even on a diet only 60 - 70% raw we have hardly been ill in at least five years.

In our second year of doing this, a friend pointed us in the direction of a set of books called 'The Ringing Cedars of Russia' that were a great affirmation of our choice in method and direction. They were written by a Russian businessman called Vladimir Megre after encountering a woman and her family living in the Siberian Taiga and thriving on a diet mostly directly from nature and small gardens. The 9 books he subsequently wrote relating this woman's culture and lifestyle are quite extraordinary and suggest that this ancient Vedic culture still maintains a way of life that our very early forbearers led. Many people have taken the info in these books and are starting a worldwide return to the land and a more sensible and healthful way of life.

So your dream seems to be shared by many and is fast becoming an unheralded reality in many places.

Blessings
Dwight and Mike

[QoraDomain]

So, it has been 4 months to the day since we made the switch to a raw, living food diet and we seem to have finally come through the worst of the healing crises and are beginning to really feel wonderful.

It has been difficult at times and I shudder to think how quickly we would have reverted to cooked food if we were not forearmed with plenty of good advice from the wonderful folks who shared their knowledge in books and on the internet in forums like this one!

A few of our friends and family have been inspired to the point of considering the transition themselves or at least reducing their intake of cooked food.

We both remain at a much lower weight than we started at yet we are looking and feeling great! This has been the most amazing adventure and a real eye-opener. We are really beginning to appreciate just how 'sick' our bodies were on a 'normal' diet. It makes one realise just how misguided the majority of humanity is around what good health is and what constitutes appropriate eating habits! We also realise how much of a challenge it is to other people's idea of what is 'normal' when we explain how we eat!

In all seriousness, we cannot stress strongly enough (especially for those who have just begun this way of eating) the importance of being well-informed with regard to the the bodily healing and cleaning phase that ensues for most people shortly after the transition. Things can get quite rocky and the temptation to back off in order to regain a sense of wellbeing can be overwhelming at times! Our advice is to stick with it and hold tight to the certain knowledge that this will pass in due course and give way to a wonderful sense of lightness, cleanliness and youthful vigour including a slimmer, youthfully energetic body and a need for less sleep, an increase in the clarity during sleep and more vivid dreaming while feeling deeply rested on waking. Extraordinary!

Blessings to all
Dwight and Mike

[Jeannie]

Welcome Dwight and Mike!

I have just finished reading book 9 in the Ringing Cedar series, have read them all, they are quite life-changing! I can't help but feel a little envious of you guys! :-)
Good luck on your raw food journey and with living free! :excited:

[Shels]

Your journey sounds beautiful.
I'm so happy for what you're doing, best of luck :heart: