Blackberry juice is a favorite drink in Ecuador. A great puzzle is why blackberry juice is not served regularly in the US.

We have it all summer here at our farm.

Last night after our daily cooling mountain thunder storm, we hiked out for our first picking of wild mountain blackberries.  Forest mists shrouded cool mountain meadows.  The stream below sang sleepily. This is a good year. The berries are  luscious and black.  We have acres of them.

This is the time of year that I remind readers of John Douillard’s book, “Three Season Diet” which shows how to lose weight, increase health and vitality by eating different foods at different times of the year. The concept is based partly on Ayurved, the Indian science of life and well being, which views the body as having three essences; vata (essence of motion), pitta (essence of transformation-digestion) and kapha (essence of solidity). These essences are also described as vata-air, pitta, fire and kapha, earth/water. A key in Ayurved is to keep the three in balance.

Ayurved also recognizes differences in seasons, spring, being a moist, fertile time of growth of course is a kapha period. Summer, naturally is a time of heat or pitta when the seeds transform into food. Finally, autumn and winter turn windy and cold. Things become brittle and dried, the time of vata. So the tendency in summer is for the fire in us (pitta) to grow excessively, spring brings kapha problems and winter hosts vata imbalances.

Berries are the classic summer food, sweet, sour and astringent. They help cool the body.  Blackberries are also very alkaline, high in iron and are excellent blood builders.

So you can see that blackberries (growing practically everywhere in the country) are the perfect food for us in summer!

John’s book shows some other great summer foods that help weight control by helping balance blood sugar.

Blueberries are another good blood sugar regulating food according to John’s book which says:

“Blueberries, Native to North America, are harvested from May through August and are both sweet and astringent. Traditionally known to help strengthen the pancreas and stabilize blood sugar levels, blueberries serve to offset the high energy demands and sugar content of the summer fruit harvest. They are not cooling as blackberries or raspberries and are okay in the winter also. Recent studies have found blueberries to be a very powerful antioxidant.”

You can learn more about this book at

Gary

While much of the U.S. burns up this summer we enjoy cool nights (mid 50s) sleeping under blankets without screens (translation-there are no mosquitoes here). Rarely does it reach 80 during the day and if it does a quick dip in the creek cools us right down. We have farmhouses, cottages, cabins and cottages you can stay in and enjoy. Rockers on the front porch (best for watching fireflies at night and eating sunny breakfasts), quiet pools to chill watermelon, waterfalls in which to soak, horses to chase, chickens and ducks to feed and we would enjoy meeting you.

Everyone who comes wants to come back and right now we can treat you to some fresh blackberry pie!

We have a space left for you to join us this August 15-17, to stay at our farm and learn about intuitive investing at Susan Rotman’s business intuition course.

Or join us October 3-5 for the Blue Ridge leaf change. International Investing and Business Made EZ  North Carolina

Or enjoy one of our courses or tours in Ecuador
Ecuador Coastal-Quito Real Estate Tour

Ecuador Super Thinking + Spanish Course

Ecuador Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Ecuador Import Export Course

International Investing and Business Made
EZ Ecuador

See discounts for attending more than
one course.