Stalking Wild Greens With Sergei Boutenko

Sergei Boutenko, co-author of recently released Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook, is the founder of Harmony Hikes, an organization that coordinates hiking trips to forge for wild edibles. In his new video series entitled Stalking Wild Greens, Sergei helps to identify the most common wild edibles, explains their health benefits, and shows where they grow. He concludes each video by preparing a raw food recipe with the ingredients he has collected. The videos are short, lighthearted, and very informative.

I was fortunate enough to grow up with alternative parents who exposed me to nature at an early age. When I was nine, my family adopted a raw vegan diet to heal us from physical illness. This helped me to understand the value of good health and nature’s ability to providing it.

At the age of 13 I hiked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail with my family. We initially underestimated how much food five hungry hikers could eat in a week and started running into food shortages. Because it was not very pleasant to hike on any empty stomach we had to find a way to improvise if we were to finish our cross-country adventure.

Our salvation was the realization that nature is full of food if you know where to look. Foraging for wild edibles became out daily ritual. At times we supplemented as much as 60 percent of our diet with plants we found on the trail. We successfully completed our walk in September of 1998, in full health and happiness!

Since then, I’ve hiked in nearly every state, and in 20 countries. I’ve guided and helped guide many expeditions of children, teens, and adults.

After graduating from Southern Oregon University in the summer of 2006 I decided to invest my energy into Harmony Hikes so that I could share my passion for foraging and the outdoors with others.

“Episode 1: Miner’s Lettuce”

“Episode 2: Dandelion”

“Episode 3: Fool’s Onion”

“Episode 4: Wild Strawberry”

“Episode 5: Wild Violet”

Sergei Boutenko began his live-food practice fifteen years ago, when he became seriously ill. Since then, he has seen dramatic improvements in his health and now travels worldwide sharing his gourmet raw cuisine and his inspiring story of change, faith, and determination. Sergei is the co-author of Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook, Raw Family and Eating Without Heating, and has lectured and presented around the world on the benefits and pleasures of the raw foods diet. Together with his father Igor, mother Victoria, and sister Valya, Sergei is a leader in the raw food movement and his works are recognized for their profound impact on the development of raw foods communities throughout the world.

CLICK HERE for more information about Harmony Hikes.
CLICK HERE to order a copy of Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook.
CLICK HERE for more information about the Boutenko Family aka the Raw Family.

North Atlantic Books Author Presentations at the Harmony Festival

This year at the Harmony Festival there will be special presentations by numerous North Atlantic Books authors including David Wilcock, Alex Grey, Victoria Boutenko, and Matthew & Terces Engelhart. The Harmony Festival is scheduled for June 6-8, 2008 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, California.

CLICK HERE for more information about the Harmony Festival.

David Wilcock is the co-author of The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?: Interdimensional Communication and Global Transformation. He is a professional intuitive consultant who, since 1993, has intensely researched UFOlogy, ancient civilizations, consciousness science, and new paradigms of matter and energy. Wilcock has been a guest on numerous radio programs and has lectured throughout the United States and Japan. He is also an accomplished musician and composer of jazz-fusion, New Age/meditative, and world music pieces.

Alex Grey is the author of the soon to be released Art Psalms. His artwork has appeared in Newsweek and Time magazine, on the Discovery Channel, and on album art for the Beastie Boys, Nirvana, and others. Grey was professor of anatomy and figure sculpture at NYU for ten years, and a graduate painting professor at both the Rhode Island School of Design and the Philadelphia College of Art. In 2004, Grey and his wife Allyson founded the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a cultural center and refuge for contemplation in New York City. He lives in New York City.

Victoria Boutenko is the author of 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food. She teaches classes on raw food all over the world, and is an adjunct professor at Southern Oregon University. Boutenko travels worldwide sharing her gourmet raw cuisine and her inspiring story of change, faith, and determination. She has published a monthly newsletter since 2003 on her Web site www.rawfamily.com. Boutenko is a leader in the raw food movement and her works are recognized as having a profound impact on the development of raw food communities across the globe. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.

Matthew and Terces Engelhart are the authors of Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening and The Abounding River Personal Logbook: An Unfamiliar View of Being Abundance. Terces is also the author of I Am Grateful. The Engelharts are the owners of Café Gratitude, a popular organic vegan restaurant chain in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. They lead workshops on Abundance as a quality of the Divine, Kindred Spirit — Spiritual relationship, Sacred Commerce — merging the sacred with the commercial, and One Week Without Sugar — an introduction to a spiritual diet. The Engelharts live in San Francisco.

Sergei and Valya Boutenko’s Delicious Tomato-Basil Citrus Salad

Whether you are a raw foods connoisseur or simply a curious foodie, the following recipe from Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook is sure to prove a crowd pleaser. Certified raw food chefs Sergei and Valya Boutenko encourage readers to alter and add to their recipes, creating your own masterpiece.

TOMATO-BASIL CITRUS SALAD

1 medium grapefruit, peeled, seeded, and chopped
3–4 medium-ripe tomatoes (preferably from a farmers’ market), sliced thin
½ bunch fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Be sure to peel the inner skin off the grapefruit. Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Chop additional amount of basil and spread over top of clean plate. With an ice-cream scoop, scoop out one serving of salad and place atop basil on plate. Garnish with seasonal fruits and veggies. Repeat process for each additional plate. Yields 4–5 scoops of salad.

From Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook by Sergei and Valya Boutenko, published by North Atlantic Books, copyright © 2008 by Sergei and Valya Boutenko. Reprinted by permission of publisher.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Sergei and Valya Boutenko.