Since last March, I have been making my own fresh juice every day. It helps that I have a Champion Juicer, albeit over 30 years old, which my husband inherited from a friend. We had used it on occasion without getting into the habit. Back when there were two or three kids at home, it took a lot of prep work to make enough juice for everyone to have some. Being a jubilant empty-nester, I can now make fresh raw juice as a part of my morning routine in very little time, plus I get a full 12 to 16 ounces instead of a shot-glass full. (Another nice perk is my husband gets up after me, so he cleans the juicer after he’s made his juice.)

Knowing I was going into the gardening season as a raw juicer gave me a mental boost as well. I looked forward to incorporating fruits & veggies straight from the garden; talk about LIVE FOOD! If we have any gardening success at all, it means more food than we can eat, a nice problem to have. I knew I would consume more of what’s good for me out of the garden as a juicer.

One of the “Local Food” topics I will be writing about is incorporating what’s local (what’s in the garden) into raw vegetable & fruit juices. If you are already juicing, please comment with your own recipes & suggestions.

Apple -Berry Juice
Fruit juicing is easy & fun. I start with apples; I’ve found that I like the sweeter apples rather than the tart ones when juicing. (Apples are not yet in season here, so that is not local- but everything else comes from my garden.) If you still have some small strawberries in the garden that you don’t know what to do with, they are great to juice. Raspberries & black caps are too seedy for some folks to eat, but the seeds are gone when you juice. A little bit of rhubarb gives a tart zing. Add a sprig of apple mint. I have 2 huge patches beyond the garden – it is quite a trek just to get my one sprig – but I like it fresh. The following recipe should yield 10-12 oz. juice, depending on the size of your apples. This is truly a refreshing drink.

2 apples
½ -1cup berries, depending on what’s ripe.
4 inches of rhubarb
4 fresh applemint leaves (try spearmint if you don’t have applemint)

A very good reference book on juicing is “Raw Juices Can Save Your Life” by Sandra Cabot, MD. It contains an A-Z reference guide showing the plant, available nutrients & phyto-chemicals in the juice, and the healing properties of the juice. So when you’re guzzling down your very ALIVE beverage, you can read about all the good healing vitamins, minerals, and enzymes you’re getting and what they’re doing for you.