Iota Illustration

I've had a very strong liking for Oliver Lake's Etsy shop for some time now. And I quite like his blog too. You see, it turns out that we seem to have the same taste in music, movies, art and other random acts of brilliant silliness. Oliver and I are Twitter friends, so of course I had to enter the Twitter contest he held for one of his great art prints. And you know what? I won! I got to choose any print from his shop and let me tell you, it was a tough choice to make! I love so many of his pictures so I asked Johnny to help me choose. For us, it came down to these prints...

The Rockabilly Dog


The Animal Jamboree


The Conversation


The Pig and the Rooster

Aren't they fantastic!? I think his prints are very adorable and his characters, so endearing.

In the end, the kids added their choices too and we went with the Animal Jamboree. I can't wait to get it in the mail! It will be a great piece for the kids room.

Thanks so much Oliver!

Do you love Oliver's artwork too? Show him your support by becoming a fan of the Iota Illustration Facebook page!

♥ Andrea ♥

Praying Mantis

We captured a praying mantis. Just to take a few images of her because she was so beautiful! She was a little shy at first. But she warmed up to the idea of having her picture taken. And I think she even warmed up to me.





At the end of our photo shoot, I almost lost my head when she struck a perfect pose for me!

One of my favorite things about living in the forest is the wealth of different species of animals and insects that we get the opportunity to see and learn about. I have always been enamored with praying mantises but it has been years since I've seen one in real life. I have a memory of finding one when I was a child in the suburbs. Our house backed onto a wooded area and I found one on our backyard fence. I was too afraid to touch it or go too close because I had heard the story that female praying mantises ate the heads of their mates during copulation. This frightened me a little bit.

I found this nice little article about the praying mantis. It includes some notes about the praying mantis in different cultures' mythology and folklore and also discusses their characteristics and mating habits. It turns out, while sexual cannibalism occurs always in the mating habits of one mantis species (Mantis religiosa), it is very rare with all other mantises and usually happens as a means for survival.

I think our lovely mantis here is in fact a Mantis religiosa! I'm so happy to have had the luck to spend some time with this darling of an insect. John and I suspect that she is pregnant. I wonder if her mate still has his head about him?

♥ Andrea ♥

Cocoa Nutty Monkey Pie *raw vegan*

This is my latest raw dessert recipe and let me tell you, I've seriously outdone myself this time! If you decide that you're only going to attempt one raw recipe, or you want to serve one to people who may be a little suspect about eating raw, this is the one to try.

I have really focused on raw dessert recipes over the past couple of years because I have a major sweet tooth and I am convinced that I can satisfy it without eating garbage. I've always eaten very well and now I can really indulge in the things I want like chocolate, chocolate and um, chocolate while continuing to keep a healthy diet.

Imagine a dessert with high amounts of fiber, protein, potassium, antioxidants, enzymes and essential fatty acids with no sugar besides naturally occurring sugars, no dairy, no gluten and no cooking! I know right? I can hardly believe it myself.

So, here's what I did...

Actually the first step was a trip to the bulk food store. Does anyone else get as stupidly excited as I do about having a fully stocked pantry shelf of fresh healthy nuts, grains, legumes and other staples? I'm a total nerd about it. The bulk food store just may be my favorite store!

*Find raw cocoa at ChocoSol Traders.*

I made a double batch of my raw chocolate pudding recipe that I shared with you last week. You'll notice that I made an update to that recipe because while I had made it a couple of times very successfully before I posted it, I tried it again and it came out runny. In the update, I give you ideas for fixing that if it happens to you.

Here's the recipe again:

Raw Chocolate Pudding
Filling 
1/2 cup sprouted* almonds (*soaked overnight and rinsed thoroughly)
1 1/2 cups water
5 pitted medjool dates or a handful or more of raisins
5 heaping Tbsp of cocoa powder or raw cocoa powder (it has to be very finely ground- grind it well in a coffee grinder if it's not)
raw honey to taste (about 1-2 Tbsp)
5 tsp finely ground flax seed powder (or the amount needed to reach the consistency desired)

Blend this all up until it's the consistency of pudding.

Then Add:

1 heaping Tbsp of cocoa

3 frozen bananas

1/2 cup of raisins. 

Blend again.

I took out my food processor and made a raw pie crust much like one recommended in Jeremy A. Safron's book, The Raw Truth: The Art of Preparing Living Foods

Crust
1 cup sprouted* almonds (*soaked overnight and rinsed thoroughly)
2 handfuls of raisins (you can use dates instead)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp agave or maple syrup (raw honey if you're not vegan)
olive oil (just to moisten to dough consistency)

Take these ingredients and blend them together in a food processor. Press the mixture into a pie plate. Then pour the filling on top of the crust and place it in the freezer.

When I served it for dessert, my husband said, "this is f#@king amazing!" No word of a lie folks, it truly is f#@king amazing.

Are you thinking about making this recipe? Let me know if you do. I'd love to hear all about it.

I get really into raw food recipes in the summer months. I hope you're enjoying them. I'm sure there will be more to come.

♥ Andrea ♥

Bee Blogs to Love and a Bee Rescue

*image courtesy of The Winnebago Diaries*

There are two blogs that I love to read that are written by delightfully happy couples who also share a love of bees. I began reading The Winnebago Diaries after I read their featured seller interview on Etsy and fell head over heels for their love story. I've been a reader of their blog ever since. I highly recommend you take a look at their lovely Winnebago and read their post, Winnebago Project to see all of the work they did to create the love shack of their dreams on wheels.


*image courtesy of Honeylove*

Honeylove, is the Tumblr blog of our dear friends Rob and Chelsea. Are these two adorable or what? Not only are they incredibly good looking, they are both multi-talented and super sweet. Rob and Chelsea post interesting bee related facts, videos and cute pictures on Honeylove almost daily.



Over the weekend, I was reading the latest post on the Winnebago Diaries entitled, Wrong Hive, about bees who don't make it back to the hive within a day and how they can become severely dehydrated when this happens. They explained how giving bees some raw honey when this occurs can revive them. We have bees around our house that need to be ushered out almost on a daily basis. I had no idea that honey bees needed to make it back to their hives each day. Immediately upon reading the Winnebago Diaries post, I walked up stairs and found a poor honey bee in just the state they described. I love raw honey and always have some on hand so, I got out a little spoon and gave the wee bee a drink. I carried him outside on the spoon and set him down with a little dollop of the honey just in case he wanted some more. Moments later, my two year old daughter, Winona, excitedly exclaimed that he had flown back to his hive. We were all thrilled to help him and watch his recovery.

♥ Andrea ♥

Forest Fort

We made a forest fort from an old pile of bricks. When we were done, we added a couple of chairs and a table and had some tea and berries.

Then we made a some garlands from fabric scraps and paper.

And we brought out a big basket of blocks that uncle made for us to play with.

The lady of the house thought the place could use some brightening up so we added some wild carrot blooms to an apothecary bottle.

And now we have a perfect little get away tucked safely in the woods!

Oh the pure joy of making and playing in a fort! I just love being able to revisit this experience as a parent. I harbor fond memories of the time I spent as a child, alone and with friends, in a special little handmade home.

May you have some fun in a hidden place today.

And a very happy Canada day to all of my fellow Canadians!

♥ Andrea ♥