This morning I spent some time reading some fitness/healthy living blogs of friends who I have “known” for the last 3-5 years of blogging. I have not done this regularly for months and months. It made me nostalgic in a strange way for the time when I read blogs and interacted with bloggers almost every day.

It also made me want to come here and post because blogging has almost always been a very fulfilling hobby.

As we approach our 48th state and near our two year anniversary on the road we are facing some big decisions and life changes. I’ve been so preoccupied with traveling and schooling (we homeschool year round) that I haven’t made much time for myself. My workouts have been sporadic, internet not always reliable, and I find myself reluctant to go online much of the time.

Then this morning I realized how much I missed this space.

So I’m dropping in to say hello. I haven’t forgotten the state kettlebell workout series. I plan to follow through with those even if it takes me another year to finish editing because it’s not good for my self-esteem to start something only to quit halfway through. Something I’ve been known to do more than once.

Anyway all in well in my life. I’m enjoying my family more than I ever thought possible and while life on the road is challenging at times I can’t imagine having spent the last two years any other way.

I’m still doing yoga although it’s more like 5 times a week instead of every day like I had hoped. I’m also still working out with my kettlebells a few times a week with the intention of maintenance instead of pushing myself to be stronger, faster, or any other “more”. There is certainly a time and a place for that mentality but now is not the time for me. For a period of time working out was my life, or at least a huge part of it. Now it’s just something I do to live a more full life.

I workout to live not live to workout.

I’ve not been as good about taking pictures of workout locations lately but here are few of the food and fitness highlights from the last few weeks.

We stocked up at another another farmer’s market.

We picked over 8 pounds of organic raspberries and blueberries at the original Cascadian farms. The berries were $2.25 a pound! At that price, I will never be able to buy berries from a store again!

There have been hikes in the Cascade National Park, Olympic National Park and the Hoh Rainforest which is part of Olympic NP.

There was some yoga with Brent overlooking the Puget Sound.

Just to keep it real there has been yoga in the RV because there were too many mosquitoes outside.

What have you been up to lately?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

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Roadside fruit stands, farmers markets, a raw milk drive-thru, espresso stands on corners even in the most rural towns, mountains, ocean.

Washington is a food and nature lovers paradise.

At least in the summer.

 Getting food this week has been a fun adventure!

There has been an abundance of Rainer cherries and berries galore.

We even found green tomatoes so I can make one of our favorite summer recipes, fried green tomatoes.

After leaving the farmers market we saw a sign for raw milk.

We haven’t bought raw milk since we lived in CA because, while I’m all for raw milk, I’m a little cautious.

We decided to check it out and drove up to a window where the girl told us about the raw milk and the farm’s testing procedures.

So we bought some.

It was expensive but I love to support local farmers when we can.

Especially a farmer who I would consider a freedom fighter.

To top off a wonderful week of food experiences, we bought our eggs from a nearby help-yourself egg stand.

 We  bought the last of the eggs and had the responsibility of following the directions to turn the “sold out” sign around.

However, I can’t say much about my gym this week.

Our campsites have been pretty blah and I didn’t take out the time to search out any beautiful places to workout. I just got it done wherever we were parked.

Any interesting food discoveries in your area? Do you have a farmers market near you? How do you feel about raw milk?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.

The post Washington ROCKS with Rainier cherries, Raw milk, and Rural Coffee Stands. appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I’ve said this many times but I was spoiled in my hometown of Ventura ,California with multiple year round CSAs to choose from, raw milk from the local health food store, an Azure Standard drop off site, two Trader Joes within 4 miles of my house, and friends who could connect me to groups for the best price on grassfed beef.

Eating healthy on the road was a different story. We quickly left the year round growing climate of southern CA. Our RV kitchen is micro-sized compared to house kitchen. It was sometimes a challenge to find a grocery store much less one that stocked the products we really wanted. We had a few events that strained our budget.

But we kept on and decided we would just do our best to eat a real food diet and not beat ourselves up over the occasional fast food stop.

Seven months later, I can confidently say we have finally adjusted to finding real food on the road. It’s a combination of feeling more comfortable living in a small space, making an effort, and, I’m sure, the warmer weather.

We’ve not only adjusted but finding farmers markets has become an adventure we enjoy. Multiple times we’ve visited small towns like Port Royal, South Carolina, that we would have otherwise skipped had I not taken the time to seek out a farmers market on Local Harvest. More importantly, we’ve met great people we wouldn’t have met otherwise.

People like Michael from Mibek Farms. Their beef was fantastic!

Michael told us about his pastured raised beef farm and insisted we try our first raw oysters. Yum. I think.

Every time we come across grassfed local beef, I stock up with as much as I can fit in our little RV freezer. My boys love tacos and hamburgers but ground beef is one the things I have a really hard time buying unless it’s grassfed and blessed by the pope.

Our freezer after stocking up on beef from Tudor Hall Farm who was at a little farmers market we just happened upon in Sherpherdstown, West Virgina. (This beef will last us about 5 weeks.)

At Shepherdstown farmers market, we also met lovely Krissy from Blueberry Hill Vegetables, a certified organic farm. I found this cool article about their life as small local farmers.

We’ve bought seafood from roadside stands.

And at the urging of a particular 9 year old…

…we have gotten adveturous with some really local catch.

We’ve also been able to find Trader Joes in North Carolina and Virginia to stock up on some of our favorites.

And some places we are just out of luck…

“Natural and Organic Products”? Hmmmmm.

I’ve maintained brewing my water kefir and kombucha. Pretty soon I’m hoping to add in sprouting and someday I’m going to get brave enough to make sourdough. Or not.

That doesn’t mean we haven’t chosen to enjoy some local favorites like beignets in New Orleans or…

other less than healthy foods like fried green tomatoes. Oh my goodness who would have thought these were so good!

I had to try, shrimp and grits, a low country favorite.

While I was at it, why not some (You see that flawed logic there ) fried okra, green bean casserole, and macaroni and cheese. BTW, I can eat a lot but Brent and I did share this.

While I’m sharing some of my less than healthy choices I may as well let you know I’m still struggling with my sugar addiction. It deserves a post of its own. I’ll just say that choosing to eat sugar again was not good choice at all.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Journey with us at New School Nomads as we take a year long RV road trip through the United States!

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