How to not be an Influencer...

Something fun for everyone! I’ve been a busy bee making this over the past few weeks, in between end of school term meltdowns, mentoring and grieving. Oh, it’s been a wild ride this month but not without funny bits. And how timely is it that I’ve been working on it and then all those articles just came out this week about influencers. People right now are feeling confused and lost, so this lovely little guide I’ve created has come at the right time, to put you back on track! I do hope you enjoy it. It’s FREE. Would you like to know more? Click on the button below to get your free copy…

With love, Pia xx

DUST by Organic Merchant...

Chocolate Nut Muffins by Organic Merchant, Photographed by Pia J B.

It’s no secret that I’ve been an enthusiast of naturopath Chalimah Jeanne’s organic teas for many years. I first came across her collection when we moved to Sydney in 2011, while wandering through Paddington Markets. Chalimah has such a beautiful energy and incredible wealth of knowledge, and I found myself coming back for more. For those who’ve been around for a while, you might recall I featured her teas in a story I wrote for Country Style back in 2013, and have continued to use her teas over the years for styling projects and as gifts for clients.

Last year I had the pleasure of collaborating with Chalimah to photograph both her new packaging (you’ll see these sensuous images soon) as well as the recipe cards for her new Dust Collection. Dust is a range of healthy & delicious raw cacao infusions, designed to improve mental focus and physical performance. There are six infusions in the range: Super, Sex, Soothe, Spark, Shine, and Spirit. Each one is designed specifically to enrich the characteristics we need to strengthen within us.

Chalimah wanted to create some beautiful recipe cards that show the many ways you can incorporate the infusions, as they are not only wonderful as warm elixirs but also scrumptious in pancakes, muffins, smoothies and popsicles. So one morning, she made an incredible array of some of her favourite foods and I came with my camera to photograph them all on her long wooden dining table.

Would you like to see some of the photographs? I took many, it was such a beautiful setting. And there was a gorgeous natural coppery light that came through, infusing everything with a warmth and glow. Here are a few of my favourites…

Chalimah has been sharing a few of her delicious recipes on instagram and on her website, and I’ve included a few here for you. They are all so yummy…

Nourish Bowl…

Ingredients:

• 1 cup buckwheat hulls

• 2 cups plant mylk

• 4 heaped tsp DUST infusion of your choice

• 2 tbsp chia seed/flaxseed

• 1/2 cup fruit – currants/raisins (optional)

How to assemble:

1. Combine ingredients into a bowl and soak overnight to allow hulls/seeds to soften.

2. Once soaked, transfer to saucepan and cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until thick and creamy. Add more mylk or water if needed.

3. Serve into bowls topped with your choice of suggestions from the list below.

Suggestions to add…

• Grated apple with cinnamon

• Fresh figs with honey and walnuts

• Poached pears with vanilla

• Pomegranate jewels and pistachios

Cacao Pancakes…

Ingredients:

• 1 cup buckwheat flour

• 4 heaped tsp DUST infusion of your choice

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 2 tbsp coconut sugar (optional)

• 1 to 1.5 cups plant mylk

How to assemble:

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir well.

2. Whisk in mylk to create a batter.

3. Set stove top to medium and add butter/coconut oil.

4. Gently pour 1/3 cup of batter into pan using ladle/large spoon to create pancakes roughly the size of an orange.

5. Flip pancakes over once bubbles have risen on the surface.

6. Set / stack cooked pancakes on wire rack or plate and continue until batter is finished.

Chocolate Nut Muffins…

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups buckwheat flour

• 1 cup ground seed/nut meal

• 1/4 cup coconut sugar

• 1/4 cup DUST infusion of your choice

• 1 tsp bi-carb

Wet ingredients:

• 3/4 cup plant mylk

• 2 eggs or chia egg replacement*

• 2 ripe bananas mashed

• 1/2 cup hazelnuts/frozen berries

• 1/2 cup coconut oil/butter melted

*Chia egg replacement = 1 tbsp chia seeds + 3 tbsp of water. Combine and set aside for approx. 10 minutes.

How to assemble:

Preheat oven to 180 ̊C.

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir well.

2. In a smaller bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and stir well.

3. Add wet mixture to the dry ingredients and combine (It’s OK if the mixture is a little lumpy).

4. Spoon mixture into muffin tray or baking cups.

5. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

6. Cool in tray for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack.

Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. 

There are more wonderful recipes at Organic Merchant so please head on over, along with more details about the full Dust range and where to purchase them. And Organic Merchant’s instagram is here.

Enjoy!!

With Love,

Pia xx

A Butterfly In My Hair...

Provided to YouTube by CDBaby All This, Yes · Pia Jane Bijkerk Spirit & Flight ℗ 2016 Pia Jane Bijkerk Released on: 2016-04-29 Auto-generated by YouTube.

Vibeke curates a beautiful blog called A Butterfliy In My Hair, and the other day she shared with me on patreon the you tube video she made to share my piano piece called All This, Yes with her readers. I love it, and so appreciate all the sharing so please have a listen, and head to her beautiful blog for more inspiration. These gentle, quiet worlds in the ether, they truly are gifts that I hope we can all acknowledge and be grateful for, like butterflies they need our full attention in the moment, they are our magic. xx

Amy's Wonder-Walking world in the palm of my hands...

In October I wrote about Amy T. Won’s kickstarter campaign to produce her beautiful wonder-walking card deck. It was very successful and Amy was able to get the cards made and all the orders have been sent out - I received mine this week and wow, I knew they’d be amazing but not this amazing!!

Amy’s attention to detail is incredible, so I knew the quality of the cards and her watercolours would be nothing short of stunning but I wasn’t prepared for the level she would take it - the box in itself is a work of art, with exquisite gold foiling in all the right places. Amy’s concept with the cards is to connect us to nature (and in doing so, our intuition) in new ways. The idea is to pick a card from the deck before you head out for a walk, and the card, along with Amy’s notes, will trigger new ways of exploring and seeing your surroundings.

Nature needs to be at the centre of all our attentions these days and I am all for enabling pathways for people to make connections any way they can. This deck for me, is an incredibly creative way to ignite that all important connection…

In my patreon collective, I do an ancestral card reading for each new moon, and now I will be adding Amy’s card reading as well to enrich the connection. The idea of these readings is to connect each member to their intuition, to make more intuitive choices in their work and home life throughout the month. I am thinking about adding individual readings for each member too, so I’ll be talking about that over there soon. Serendipitously, this was the very first card I pulled in the deck while I was in my studio…

HOME.

I’ll be sharing the meaning of this on Patreon later this week.

Thank you Amy for sharing your beautiful world with us in these wondrous ways. X