Lots of news at Carp Ridge Healing House (and a delicious soup recipe)
By Karen Secord, Carp Ridge Healing House Project Manager
Cool and colourful fall is my favourite time of the year! The chill in the air feels refreshing against sun-kissed skin, and there are few sights more beautiful than the deep oranges and reds and subtle yellows on nature’s breathtaking canvas. A nourishing soup offers enriching inner warmth against this backdrop.
Recently Carp Ridge Healing House Hosts Carol and Kim served up a yummy Cream of Zucchini Soup, made using a recipe from Carol Marie Dupont’s Enlightened Eating. If you’ve ever wondered what to do with zucchini, here is a wonderful recipe:
Cream of Zucchini Soup
1 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 ½ cups leeks or onions
8 cups coarsely chopped summer squash (zucchini)
2 potatoes washed and chopped
Small handful of parsley coarsely chopped
Water or vegetable broth
Salt & pepper to taste
- Gently sauté leeks or onions in oil or butter until soft and lightly brown.
- Add summer squash, potatoes, parsley and enough water or vegetable broth to reach the level just below the vegetables. Be careful, summer squash is very watery and if you add too much water your soup will be too thin.
- Simmer soup for approximately 20 minutes until squash is tender.
- Blend soup in batches until smooth.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Share with someone who makes you smile and enjoy!
September Open House & Free Talk
The first knock on the Healing House door came nearly 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. A guest from the previous week had only just left. Sandy was still making the bed and readying herself to prepare snacks for our guests. It was clear that people were eager.
Prior to Katherine’s talk on the Flu we gave tour after tour of the house, offering bits of history and plans for the future as we moved from room to room. More than 30 people dropped in to find out more about us. The last guests left at 5:00pm, staying a full two hours longer than we anticipated anyone might. We think it’s a sure sign that the Healing House is continuing to arouse the curiosity of those who take their own wellbeing, and the wellbeing of their loved ones, seriously.
Volunteering at Healing House
We have had several enquiries from people eager to volunteer. If you enjoy interacting with people, are a good listener and have an interest in nutrition and/or meditation and yoga we would love to hear from you. An artistic, fitness or health background might also be helpful. Check out our website (www.healinghousecanada.com) and then send us a brief letter/email telling us why you would like to volunteer at the Carp Ridge Healing House.
Healing House at the Carp Fair
We talked and talked and talked. The Carp Fair is one of the few truly agricultural fairs still remaining in Ontario. The Carp Ridge Ecowellness Centre has been a supporter of this rural icon for years. But this was the first time that the Carp Ridge Healing House — indeed the whole healing house concept — played such a significant role in the 3-day event.
Delightfully, visitor after visitor offered us positive feedback. We know that the notion of a host providing a place of healing, guided by holistic principles, is an idea whose time has come. After Carp Fair weekend we now know that others feel the same way.
Evelyn Reid of Carp was the winner of our Carp Fair draw. She happily accepted a $100 gift certificate for a Healing House stay. Congratulations Evelyn and thanks to the dozens of people who took the time to enter.
Meditation in the Tantra Tradition
Are you interested in learning to meditate? Or, are you looking for a teacher to help you further your meditation practice? Chris Simmonds of Ottawa Meditation (www.ottawameditation.ca) has offered to do his 10 week course at the Carp Ridge Healing House. His Cosmic Mindfulness classes include Chakras, Subtle Energy, Cosmology and Consciousness, Spiritual Practices for Self Realization and Tantra: The Yoga of Consciousness. Email healinghouse@ecowellness.com for more information or call 613-839-5786.
E-Newsletter
Ever wonder what we do with all those email addresses we so faithfully collect? Oh ye of little faith! We have a plan and thanks to the experienced and energetic advice of Sophie Kitris of Kitris Glass, it is about to be executed. Watch for the launch of our new E-Newsletter. We promise to entertain, encourage, enlighten and engage you with a snippet of Healing House happenings each month.
Watch us Grow:
Healing House Canada & Carp Ridge Healing House will soon make their debut on Twitter and Facebook. Details to follow soon. . .
Questions? Check out our website www.healinghousecanada.com or email us at: healinghouse@ecowellness.com