Greener Pastures. The sweetest grass in New York. Union Square's Magic Sprout Bus.

Where in the world is sprout juice delivered by magic school buses?  Union Square, New York.  Of Course.  I had read about "Greener Pastures" in the NY Vegan Guide.  Something about "the sweetest grass in the city" being sold out of a schoolbus, many mornings in Union Square.  Handcranked from a manual metal juicer.  Perfect.  And the location is perfect.  First, the GreenMarket is also home to "Body & Soul"  a vegan baked goods stand that is really close to the Grass Stand.  Then Whole Foods is right there.  Jivamukti a few steps away on Broadway.  Um.....aside from the absolute lack of "yard" in the city.....this is one of the island's sweetest spots.

Union Sq W
16th St
New York, NY 10003
Neighborhood: East Village

We always get "doubles" and they crank it out on a little metal juicer made in Czechoslovakia.  

They sell sprouts and sprout juice.  Lots of photos of all their furkids.  

Isn't this great?  A bus full of sprouts.  Wheatgrass, Pea Sprouts, Sunflower greens.

They seem to have a pretty steady flow of customers.  

Their cats like grass too.

Sunflower Greens.

Green Pea Juice.

I have personal experience with this.  I have had to hide my grass because all of the cats think I have gotten them grazing beds.  They eat the stuff and then they love to just the whole tray of it for a bed.

Bustle in Union Square.  Ignore the Grass Fed Beef.  Ick.  Just because murder is local, it doesn't really romanticize it at all.  It's not like NY brags about their human homicide rate.  

Lots of artists set up shop & sell their goods.

Whole Foods...........Not as crazy as the one in Columbus Circle, but busy.  Can't tell there is a recession when you walk into that place.  

Ahhhh....Just makes me want to grow grass and buy a school bus.  I would want to paint lots of colors on it though.  Just not sure Sprout Juice would be such a hot selling item in downtown St. Louis.

And the street kids of East St. Louis.  They don't want to be street kids forever and they are begging for foster homes.  www.gatewaypets.com

A few of the kids from February 3, 2012.

 Knuckles.  Knuckles may have a dislocated "elbow" and we may or may not be able to do anything about that.  But to find all of that out, we need to rescue this guy & get him to a vet.  Yeah, in order to do that we need a foster.  No, we don't have a brick & mortar shelter yet, so we truly have nowhere to take Mr. Knuckles.

 The homes in the background have been temporary shelter, yet dangerous from the lack of structural integrity, to many of the street kids.  Most of these homes are on the verge of total collapse and the interiors are completely filled with debris. 

 Mr. Tux, Tommy's kitty?, then "The Siamese", and Tommy on the right.  The Siamese acts a bit like ours, and Pj told me I should exchange ours for the one on the street.  Ours acts out a bit.  She is a total diva and a terrible tease and she torments Fatoush......."Fatty" the cat.  But.....she is part of our family so we deal with her being totally bipolar.  I am suspect of any cat that is that cute......so I am not going to exhange ours for this one  :)  However, all these kids need homes!

 Ms. A, an incredible artist and past president of GPG, loved Lloyd. Ms A. went on to make human babies.  I kind of can't believe Lloyd is still on the street.  He may need a special home though, because Pj doesn't think he would get along with everyone.  He might be a little bossy, but at the same time, he is always with this pack.  

 Rebel is a new little girl.  She looks like Wolfgang, but the timing is wrong says Ms. Pj.  So who knows......but she is pretty shy.  You can tell that she really wants to be comfortable around us, she is just still fearful.

This is just a strange thing.  This little "shed" with an "open" sign in the window is on the corner.  Maybe this place does Barbecues at night?  And maybe people hang out on the outdoor carpeting and bed??  I don't know....but the "room" keeps expanding.  Wonder if that counts as an extra room at tax time??  Speaking of taxes, apparently East St. Louis is sort of like Detroit in that one would think that taxes are low because you really don't get many perks living here.  But no, I guess that taxes are kind of high........It may be they are in dire need of money and there are not enough people that can supply that money that live within the city limits, so the taxes are higher than one could imagine.  I know there are beautiful historic homes in Detroit, but that the taxes can break the deal.

Kris Carr's Adventure Cleanse, Day 1

I am a very bad woman.  I had an entire pot of wheatgrass that was getting old downstairs!  So yesterday was scary.  I juiced the entire POT! And my hubby couldn't even get near since he had gotten sick on some "home-grown" I made last time. We always go to the "Greener Pastures" in Union Square, but evidently my grass isn't as good as his! This is a "Miracle" brand Manual, Stainless Steel Juicer which we got from "The Sproutpeople"

Ouch.  Had  to get up early and diligently took my hot water with squeezed lemon & cayenne.  Upset the tummy so ate an apple.  And Kris said it was okay in the book, so did the Yerba Mate.  However, I "downsized", meaning I used a smaller gourd for it.  I did use 2 bananas for my smoothie, but did use nearly one pound of mixed salad lettuces too (starting to go bad!).  So patiently waiting until noon when maybe I can try my "Raw Vegan Rye Bread", which is Rye-Free (meaning gluten free too!) and not really "bread".  Or maybe hubby will bring me home a salad with avocado......No exercise or meditating yet.  If I tried to meditate at this moment I would be snoring about 3 minutes later.  For me, the most difficult part will be meditating, the 35 minutes of daily exercise, and not eating 3 hours before bedtime.  The food part isn't drastically different than what I normally do anyway.  I love to exercise, but it's just cold and wet outside so to get my butt out the door seems insurmountable.

"Wheatgrass Poop" (From Juicer)

This was just a little of how much it made!

Breakfast yesterday.  Raw Tahini, Banana, Apple, and Soaked & Dehydrated Pepitas.

Yum.....Actually this batch of grass was great.  But I waited  too long to juice it.
I finally ordered the wheatgrass seeds from "The Sproutpeople" which
clearly have higher quality sprouts than buying in bulk at Whole Foods.
The Sproutpeople have great products, but shipping may be a bit high!

Later... So I walked one of the dogs outside (my "nature time"), did the treadmill for 20 minutes, bicycle 10 minutes, some leg presses and laughed my a** off from hearing about my friend's eventful weekend.  Hmmmmm......have to get up so early tomorrow so the 8 hours of sleep may be out.  But the laughter from the phone call might make up for it.

Night Before Cleanse Party with Organic Brown Rice Pasta.
Hey, my husband cooked it, I have to accept with gratitude (and a glass of Frey Organic Wine), right? Actually, this may actually count for the cleanse, but generally I just don't eat flour, brown rice or not.

Super Yummy Salad of Mixed Greens and Herbs.
Dressing of Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar.

"SuperCarb" Dinner
Preparing for the Cleanse!

And the Cleanse begins....Bright and Early with some Purified Water, Cayenne, and freshly
Squeezed Lemon Juice.

Followed by 2 Smoothies using 2 bananas and nearly 1 pound of salad greens. The Vita-Mix was filled to the brim.

Delicious "Raw Vegan Rye Bread"
Gluten Free, Recipe from Ani Phyo's "Raw Food Essentials".

Raw Sandwich.  I had several of these today using the Rye Bread (Raw and Vegan),
with either Tahini or the Raw  Nut Cheeze, Tomatoes, and Onion.  I am getting used to raw onion,
Sorry Honey.


My Parents both started the cleanse today as well.  So hopefully my Dad will post a little each day on how it is going for them.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that they find 35 minutes a day to shake their collective booty.  The best gift that they could give me is to take care of themselves.....Have any of you done cleanses with your family or friends?  I am hoping it will help keep me on track, because usually around eleven at night I am having serious cravings for apples and cashew cream.