The Olives that Irked Me

On the way to Odeliya's day care there is this one house that has a small grove of olive tree that hang over onto the path. As the olive harvest began back in Sept, the kids started to notice the olives ripening on the trees and I pointed out that soon the owners would harvest their olives and they can pickle them or press them into oil. (The local olive oil factory will actually press your olives for you!) But as the olives continued to ripen, and we started noticing more and more olives on the ground, I started to get annoyed.

It is a fact that this year's olive harvest was particularly slim - olive oil prices here have gone up because of it, and here's a family with enough olives for maybe 2-3 liters of oil and they're letting it rot! They are going to go to the supermarket and buy bottles of olive oil and cans of pickles olives, instead of harvesting their bounty! And now there's fewer bottles on the shelf for people like me that don't have the privilege of having olive trees!

We talk about depletion and lack - there is no lack in the Universe! Hashem's bounty is abundant! But we are lacking in our self-preservation, because we think that the things we use come from the store. We forget where the things we need really originate - and that's in the Earth.

I remember one Sunday back in the US (when Sundays were a day off!) when Yoram was putting up shelves and needed more wood. So Netanel, then barely 3 years old, said, "So we need to go to Home Depot to get more!" I asked him, "Netanel, where does the wood come from?" and he answered, "Home Depot." At which point we educated him on lumber and the process of turning trees into shelves. We watched videos online and looked at books, and now he knows that wood comes from trees.

I think we all need to take a step back and remember where the things we buy come from and the work that goes into putting it there. Before I buy something from the store, I ask myself if this is something that I could conceivably make on my own. And if the answer is yes, then I do.And I'll leave that product on the shelf for someone who can't conceivably make it on their own.

Yeast Update

I had to let it go. :-(
I'm going to try again and start on a Sunday and set a timer to remind myself to feed it and all that, but I started midweek, had to abandon it on Shabbat, thought I could probably revive it at some point on Monday, but then forgot about it and when I remembered it, oh boy, I did not want to go there!

Back to buying from the store for now, oh well.

I Can Make Soymilk!

And so can you! As I write this I am enjoying a cup of fresh, sweet, vanilla chai tea! Mmmmm..... heaven!
I know that you are thinking, "How can she not know about all the information about the problems with too much soy and the estrogen content and all that stuff?" Well, here's the real deal. If you eat mostly whole foods, and any soy products you do eat come from actual soybeans that you purchase or grow on your own, then you don't have to worry about all that stuff. The problem is what they're doing to the soy, not the soy itself.

If you're eating mostly processed foods (i.e. anything with an ingredient list of more than 2) Then you are most likely exposing yourself to processed soy parts. Soy protein isolate, soy powder, soy lecithin, hydrogenated soybean oil, etc... Our bodies don't know what to do with that junk! So we hit maximum soy toxicity levels and have all sorts of unwanted problems like allergic reactions and estrogen imbalance.

Soy, as a whole food, is just like eating kidney beans, for example, or lentils. And the health benefits and nutritional benefits are wonderful.

Er, ahem. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming: "Learning Your 7 Times Tables With Hands On Examples" - I mean, uh, "How to Make Your Own Homemade Soymilk" (I've been awake for waaaaay too many hours this week!)

I watched this video:


Practical "tachliss" recipe:
2 Cups dry soybeans, soaked overnight in 4 cups of water
~ 7-8 cups water
sweetener/flavorings to taste.

equipment:
blender
cheesecloth (or a nylon knee-high like I use! Doesn't everyone have pantyhose as kitchen utensils?!?)
a large pot
an extra bowl

yields (i before e, except after c. Yes, I did just say that.) about a liter and a half of soymilk.

I have one thing to add. Before you put the pot on the fire, rub some vegetable oil on the inside of the rim, it will prevent it from boiling over. 
Also, I highly recommend blending the beans for at least 2 minutes, as he says, otherwise your milk will be very watery.
And another thing: Don't throw out that soy meal! You can use it to make bread, or muffins, or soy burgers! Or just add it to your next smoothie for an extra kick of protein! (and this is one of those i/e exceptions that remind me how much I love my spellcheck!)

If you try it, please do let me know how it came out for you! I am thouroughly enjoying my tea!