Sunshine Juice

A few years ago I was blessed with the opportunity to intern on a wonderful organic farm specializing in fruit and raw roots nestled between the gorgeous Pacific ocean and Mount Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The owners of Josanna's Organic Farm, Steve and Janelle are wonderful farmers and fantastic human beings, I quickly fell in love with them and became part of their "farm family". Normally all the interns had specific jobs they completed each morning then were free the rest of the day to explore the Island, my job was to climb and harvest the lemon, orange, avocado and star fruit trees. Every once in a while we combined forces to dig up a root field and the first time we did this I discovered one of my favorite medicines I have come across so far, tumeric.  Tumeric is the main ingredient in most Indian curries, and I had eaten it before many times in powder form but I had no idea it was a root or that it had magical qualities. Tumeric is known to reduce inflammation, aid digestion, amongst many other things and in my case drastically reduce migraine pain. When suffering from a migraine one day, Janelle made this juice for me, which was kind of a big deal because the whole farm runs on solar power and using the juicer requires loads of wattage. It worked so well I make it frequently whenever I have a headache or feel a cold coming on (since it's loaded with anti-oxidants from the tumeric and vitamin C from the orange juice) or when I just need a bit of sunshine in my life.

Speaking of sunshine in my life, I recently have been blessed again with fresh local tumeric and of all places right here in North Carolina! Jason and Haruka Oatis grow tumeric on their farm, Edible Earthscapes, which is one of many reasons I love them to pieces.

Look at this gorgeous beast! 

 I like to juice all the ingredients separately that way I can adjust the potency of the tonic and I think it tastes better when freshly mixed.

You will need

1/2 C fresh squeezed orange juice
juice from half a lemon
About 3 tablespoons fresh tumeric juice (play with this at first) tumeric has a strong flavor and a little bit goes a long way!
and enough fizzy mineral water to fill the glass

mix the juices together, add a little more orange juice if you like it sweet then top with fizzy lifting drink, if  you get that reference you are forever on my cool list.


Then drink up and start feeling awesome!