Two summers ago, while working on a farm in Colorado, I had my astrological charts done. The owner of the farm was the epitome of back-to-the-earth hippie. (She kept her placenta in the freezer—she was one day going to plant a tree with it. Or cook it. I can’t remember)

Her and her family lived out in the middle of nowhere on a huge tract of land. They had an outdoor kitchen, solar/rain water showers and their 5-year-old had dreadlocks. Their pack of dogs roamed free and kept away the bears. I learned how to erect a teepee and worked for hours collecting vegetables to sell to the nearby town.

It was quite the experience.

Needless to say, I spent some time getting to know my spirit animal and my true “sign”. What I discovered was that I am a Capricorn/Capricorn, which is somewhat uncommon. You usually have a moon sign that is different from your sun sign.

Not this girl. I am Capricorn through and through.

My closest co-worker is also a capi/capi, and we always fall back on that as our reasoning for acting the way we do. Sometimes it is nice to explain yourself via your astrological sign.

All of this has a point, I promise.

As a double Capricorn, I am so grounded to the earth it is silly. I don’t even have a touch of water or fire to balance me out. This is why I think I love to play in the dirt so much.

It was yet another day of sun in Seattle, and once again I felt the drive to keep busy and accomplish things. I ran/walked 6 miles with the pup, went grocery shopping and got the soil,compost and seeds I needed to get things cracking with my garden. Living in a city means that I rely on my raised bed and my container garden to produce the food I need.

I planted an insane amount of lettuces today—spinach, kale, bibb and arugula. Greens for days. As a vegan, I feel like you can never have too many greens. As the temperatures slowly start to creep up, I will plant the rest of my raised bed so within a few months my backyard will be overflowing with delicious goodies.

All of this planting and weeding and getting my hands dirty in the sun also brought out more of my freckles. Thank goodness for all these beautiful details.

To keep up with the green theme, and to balance my earthy self out, I had an aquatic themed lunch/dinner—which means I ate my body weight in seaweed. Mmm seaweed salad and brown rice nori rolls, I could eat you forever.

Seaweed Salad (adapted from yumuniverse.com)

• 4-5 pieces whole or cut wakame
• Warm water, enough to fill medium bowl
• 1 scallion, sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• Cubes of extra firm tofu

Dressing

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• ¼ tsp minced ginger
• ¼ tsp minced garlic
• Pinch salt

Soak wakame in a bowl for 5 minutes, chop up tofu and green onion. Whisk together all ingredients for dressing. Toss everything together in a bowl, add the sesame seeds and stick in the fridge to let it soak up all the delicious flavors. Eat until your heart says to eat more. Then eat more.

Brown Rice Nori Rolls (adapted from Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook—what else?)

• 1 cup short grain brown rice
• 2 cups sweet brown rice
• 6 cups water
• Pinch of salt
• Dried nori sheets
• Extra firm tofu
• 2 tbsp tamari
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• Carrot
• Avocado
• Scallions
  • Add water, rice and salt into a pot and boil. Once boiling, turn down heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let settle for 20 minutes. Transfer half of rice to a bowl and sprinkle with rice vinegar. (you will have lots of left over rice. Yum.)
  • Cut tofu into strips and marinate in rice vinegar and tamari for 20-30 minutes. After marinating, heat them up in the coconut oil until lightly brown.
  • Cut up carrots, avocado and green onion into thin strips.
  • Lay out the nori, shiny side down and spoon rice onto the sheet, leaving 2 inches on the top and bottom of the sheet. Lay vegetables and tofu at the bottom of the sheet, and roll it all up into a delicious roll of goodness. You can either scarf it down burrito style, or wet a serrated knife and cut those bad boys up into sushi style pieces. Either way it is delicious. Feel free to add any veggies you like… The possibilities are endless.
  • Dip in some tamari, or enjoy on your own. So good, so filling, so healthy.