I am so excited to share a major goal I have for 2013. Now that I know the world is not going to end today, I am ready to share it!

The Goal:

Host a community long table dinner at the UBC farm with all proceeds going to the charity that I am currently doing my graphic design internship for, imagine1day.

The Name:

Farmacy 1.0

The vision: Let food be thy medicine and the great connector of all people.

The Keywords:

. rustic . local . fair trade . cocktails . organic . nature . humans . authentic . pure . philanthropy . yummy . grass . conversation . good vibes . simple . love .

The Inspiration:

photo credit: kinfolk magazine

Here are some simple tidbits of advice and words of wisdom that I have hoarded in 2012 in hopes that they will carry me into the new year with GUSTO!

—

> set goals every day.

>DON’T BE LAZY!

> clarity comes from engagement and not thought.

> pay attention to your self and how you do certain things in your life, what makes you more expansive and what makes you contract?

> he who chases two rabbits catches none, FOCUS!

> the time is NOW….you will never find a venture that you are 100% sure of…..just do it!

> CLARITY: must have focus and specific goals to achieve success…get clear about what you want!!!!

> be decisive! we are indecisive because we are afraid of making a mistake, make the hard decisions in your life and readily…this will get your mind used to it.

> get into the habit of making decisions as soon as they come up…

> the best way to predict your future is to create it!

> BE CLEARest about the results that you want, not the activities in between!

> COMMIT, COMMIT, COMMIT!!!!!
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” –W.H. Murray

I am quite passionate when it comes to animal welfare and I think movies like Food Inc have made a significant impact on my everyday food choices. From the experiences lecturers in LFS such as The Honest Butcher & Walter Bergen I am inspired that there are influential people in our food system taking a stand to challenge the status quo of industrial meat production. Although I am often outspoken as to why we should limit our meat consumption for various reasons, the sustainability side of me is very inspired by these two individuals. The public is not going to quit eating meat anytime soon, and as countries assume more affluence and adopt a Western lifestyle, meat consumption will continue to rise. BUT- we can counteract many of the adverse effects that meat consumption imparts  on our planet if we support sustainable operations.

I heard Walter speak to the practices on his farm, he chooses to honor the life of his animals with integrity, appreciates the land and stewards the soil. The Six Masters Farm is inspiring; they are able to divert edible kitchen scraps and brewers mash from the landfill to animals. This is amazing, being able to raise animals without an ounce of processed industrial food is commendable and something most humans won’t come close to in our lifetimes.

This process, of looking at our food waste through more of a cyclical system we may not find the food security issue to be as stressful on our growing world population. If kitchen scraps were fed to the animals at a larger scale, we would have better quality meat and this would allow us to return our agricultural land back to human food rather than animal feed.

I am inspired to see if projects like this have the capacity to be scaled up, in my utopian view, all restaurants in Vancouver are enrolled in this vision of sustainability. As Walter said himself “If you have courage, I encourage you to look at this, there is a really remarkable change that is at the beginning of its trajectory…we will raise food in far different ways than we ever had before.”.

I think my priorities have shifted; I am no longer trying to convince all those around me to avoid meat all together, but to be more aware of where it originates. This is a big shift for me, being 90% vegetarian. I see the value that this farm adds to healing a broken system.

From my last experience at the UBC Farm, not only did i learn that it has; over 250 multicrop vegetable varieties, hoop-houses, organic practices, CSAs, grows truffles, restaurant sales, chickens, and numerous other physical characteristics but that it has the emergent property of a healing space.

I realized this at a couple stops during the farm tour. The first was at the Mayan garden. I was really touched by the words of Eduardo Jovel. He spoke to my heart with the way he described the accomplishments of that space on the farm. I have a very deep compassion and appreciation for the indigenous populations of the world and their intimate relationship with the plants and animals of their land. It is inspiring to see that the UBC farm has given the Mayan people a space to call their own and in creating an opportunity for them to reconnect with the land. After being presented concepts on cyber versus physical space in Barry Wellmans reading I was excited to hear Eduardo add on a third and to me the most important space; the sacred/spiritual space.

The second realization I had about the healing space of the farm was at vancouver native health society garden project.  I was truly inspired to hear of the amazing programs that run in support of the First Nations’ community. Their efforts to create opportunities for those among the most marginalized of our city were impressive.   Beyond the healing plants that are being grown in this garden, I see a deeper, much needed, healing of indigenous tradition which has been under fire for the last few hundred years. The collaboration in this space between the elders, engineers when building the smokehouse was symbolic of this.

This learning / insight matters because there is an indescribable synergy occurring on the farm. We cannot break down the farm into its separate parts as they come together to form complex systemic levels of interaction where food is only one outcome.
This visit to the fam has giving me more of a holistic understanding of the impact the farm truly has on our community. This spans far beyond the University level of interaction as it is inclusive of a greater community; the farm is the intersecting space.  It allows access to people generally excluded from the community of UBC; allowing food as the grand connector of people of all kinds.

In light of this learning I have seen a clear example of a complex system and this gives me a whole new level of respect for the farm. It is the ultimate intersecting space of all communities and peoples and this offers a profound spiritual and sacred space for all who are a part of it, whether they realize it or not. 😉

When I was in grade 12 my spanish teacher made us write a letter to ourselves which she sent to us 5 years later. Lo and behold many of the projections that I had for myself had not transpired. My passion for nutrition and health has remained the same but the timelines for my goals were way off.

My best-friend and I have an expression that says “plans are for planners!”. Going with the flow (living in the moment) has been both a vice and a virtue of mine. This attitude has taken me on trips around the world and allowed me to take time off of school to work on self-development after one of my best friends passed away. At the same time, it forced my degree to the sideline for longer than most.

I think it is important to create goals in life, but it is equally as important to be flexible with your expectations. This is my personal philosophy and it has left me open to some amazing life experiences outside of academia that I will never regret.

Despite the above statements, I am ready to sit down and (tentatively) project the next 5 years of my life.

2012: I hope to work all summer in order to save up for my internship in South America in the fall.  I am excited to go to S.A. in order to improve my spanish and to see for myself if I will be able to handle working abroad.  I love to travel but I am still unsure as to whether I want my career to take me abroad, or if I will simply travel for leisure.  This internship will allow me to apply the skills I have learned in my global nutrition degree whilst also answering larger questions on my ideal work situation.  Can I hack living and working abroad for most of the year? Not too sure yet…

2013: My goal for this year is purely academic. I WILL finish my degree this year!!! It has been a long time since my high school graduation and I think it is finally time! I will spend the majority of this year planning my exit plan while looking into opportunities to do a masters degree. Some course I will have to take are LFS 250/350, GRS 390/490 and Math. One thing I have realized having extended my degree over such a long time period is that I genuinely enjoy school.  Ever since I was a little girl I’ve always loved learning. It is so important for me to be academically stimulated and I feel most inspired while I am on campus.

2014: After finishing up my degree I will celebrate in Brazil for the 2014 Soccer World Cup. My best friend and I attended the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and it was an amazing experience.  We met all kinds of stimulating people from every corner of the world and it was a truly surreal experience that I will never forget. We made a promise to each other in Africa that we would try to attend every World Cup from then on…I should be back by September and this would be a perfect time to start my masters degree wherever that may be…

2015: Spend the whole year working on my masters degree!

2016: Finish up my masters and flow into the perfect career! I have a firm belief that I WILL end up in/create a career that I love, and this will be the year that I achieve just that.

2017: My goal for 2017 is to be in a career that is congruent with my passion for food, nutrition and health. I want to remind people of the amazing healing powers of the body once it is given the proper whole foods, plant based diet.

Onwards and Upwards!!!

Lately, I have been going back and forth on whether to set up cable on my TV at home. It would be nice to wind down at the end of a long day to a mind-numbing reality TV show once and a while, but I have decided to resist the urge.

The older I get the more precious time becomes, for this reason, I have made the decision to fill me days with enlightening and inspiring content rather than the mindless fuzz that TV usually offers me. It has taken some getting used to, not having a TV on as background noise, but I have developed some new habits. To fill my time I am constantly watching documentaries. Documentaries have broadened my knowledge of many topics and have informed me on many topics on which I was previously ignorant.

All of the below documentaries have incurred lasting change on my personal habits and/or altered my view of the world. It is quite amazing to have your worldview shifted in under 90 minutes and it is for this reason that I had to share.

Some of my fave documentaries as of late are:

• To Make a Farm
• Food Inc.
• Forks over Knives
• Thrive
• Food Matters
• Hunger for Change
• Urbanized
• World Peace and other 4th Grade Achievements
• Anything at TED.com

Enjoy, happy viewing!!!

When I first heard about Global Resource Systems I definitely thought that it was too good to be true.  The jump from high school to university was an extremely disheartening experience for me.

My desired path was Dietetics and the prerequisite journey to that end point was really bringing me down. Not only were my grades in first year more than 20% lower than my final year in high school but my spirit was a little crushed too 🙁 .

I had an amazing high school experience, my teachers were more like family and they were genuinely invested in my future. They inspired me to follow my dreams of becoming a nutritionist and supported nearly every endeavor I took on, and as repayment to their unconditional encouragement, I worked hard to be an exceptional student. It was a symbiotic relationship and set a baseline for what I thought I could expect from an education. Was I ever in for a rude awakening called ‘first year sciences at UBC’ –YIKES!!!

I was so shocked by the teaching style of university that I took a one year sabbatical post first year to travel and debrief on whether I could continue with my degree. Luckily, I mustered up the courage to walk back on campus and continue on. I slowly learned how to learn again and hold myself accountable (welcome to the real world Britney), and life was starting to look exciting again.  In comes GRS…

When I found out about the program I was completely re-inspired.  Not only will it allow me freedom and a global perspective of nutrition and international issues but it will also give me academic credit to do what I love most –TRAVEL??? sign me up!!!

GRS reassured me that university does not have to be such a cold, daunting, impersonal experience but it can be rich in community, networking and good ol’ fun. GRS is such an inspiring environment for me, I feel creatively stimulated being apart of this program whether it be by reading others’ blogs, reading about the endless opportunities forwarded to my inbox or simply networking with a bunch of the most interesting people on campus. I have always been passionate about global issues, sustainability and overall general health and I am so blessed that these interests can span beyond personal hobbies to tangible credits toward my degree.

Take this post as a token of my appreciation!

Cheers to advisors that are actually on your side!!!

Unfortunately I had to miss out on all of the holiday cheer this past Christmas, as I had to head to India for a month for my cousin’s wedding. Being in India at this time surprisingly freed up a lot of cash that I tend to frivolously toss around during this time of year…so I decided to purchase a top of the line Breville juicer!

I have recently been inspired by a blogger/author extraordinaire named Kris Carr. She created a documentary following her intimate journey from cancer diagnosis to surviving green juice goddess. I am particularly inspired by Kris because of her openness to share her view of all aspects of her disease especially those unquantifiable experiences such as threats to her personhood. She has become a best selling author by allowing the public into her life, allowing them to witness her struggles with the disease but most excitingly her triumphs. It is all too often that a cancer diagnosis can carry such negative energy, however, Kris has managed to turn her diagnosis into an opportunity and an empire called Crazy, Sexy, Cancer.

She is famous for her unconventional approaches to healing her illness which include but aren’t limited to: mediation, yoga, holistic medicine, acupuncture, chanting, and my above all fave — JUICING!

Juicing is an optimal way to improve your nutritional status. When you juice fruits and veggies you are removing dietary fibre allowing increased bioavailability and absorption of vitamins and minerals. It is nearly impossible for most of us to achieve our daily recommendations of fruits and veggies in our diet and juicing helps to achieve just that. The impact it can have on your health are extraordinary, they range from raising your energy levels to curtailing the growth of tumours by increasing oxygen flow within the body thus creating a healing alkaline environment.

I could go on and on about my passion for juicing but I will keep it short and sweet!!!!

Let juicing be thy medicine!!!

Here is my fave recipe at the moment:

• cucumber
• carrot
• kale
• broccoli
• romaine
• apple
• cinnamon

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