Home Brew

One of the unexpected side affects of a raw vegan lifestyle was a drink I had never tried. It was included because of the probiotic contents. I liked it and made it a part of our regular meal plans. The only problem was the cost. When I first started drinking it, the cost was about $2.89 for a 16 oz. bottle. Now, it is $3.99. I buy about 5 bottles/wk. Food cost has gone up and the drink cost has made my grocery bill huge. I have wanted to try making my own, but the task seemed daunting. What did I know about brewing? Oh, wait a minute. Maybe some of you are thinking I’m talking about whiskey, wine or the like. Nope. It is kombucha. Kombucha may have an alcohol content. It depends on the brand. I drink GTs Synergy brand. It is raw and the alcohol content is negligible. I have had some that gave me a slight buzz. I don’t remember the brand because I stick to Synergy. Until, now. I read a lot about making my own. I joined groups on Facebook to learn from experienced brewers and could get questions asked rather quickly. I bought a book entitled The Big Book of Kombucha by Crum and LaGory. Finally, I was ready to begin.

Oh, I need a SCOBY or pellicle. This is and starter tea is needed to begin. Hesitantly, I ordered a kit from Amazon. The kit included black tea, sugar, a pellicle aka SCOBY, ph strips, a pipette, a cover and the all important rubber bend. There was enough product to make two batches. NOW, I’m ready.

Of course I couldn’t do it exactly according to instructions. Where is the fun in that. Rather than brewing my tea with boiling water, I chose to make Sun tea. I sat a quart of water with 6 tea bags out on the patio. After that I followed the instructions. Seven days later my brew looked like this. It was growing a new, healthy pellicle.

Fifteen days later it was time for the second fermentation. This is where you add flavor and create carbonation if you desire. I added ground ginger and cayenne to the bottles Three days later I drank my first batch of Home Brew aka my Kombucha.. My grocery bill will be reduced about $20 because I can make my own and flavor it any way I want or not.

The least

Gideon judges 6:14-15 7:9-11

I was sitting thinking about a sermon presented a few weeks ago. It was from the book of Judges about a guy named Gideon. Gideon was chosen by God to fight the enemy of His people. When Gideon was informed by the prophet, his response was, “My family is the least of families, and I am the least in my family.” There is much more to the story, but the thought of “the least” is what has captured my thoughts.

Have you ever thought of yourself as “the least?” Have you ever compared yourself to others? Did you decide you weren’t good enough based on that comparison? Well, listen to this. God loves choosing “the least” to do great things. David was the youngest son, a sherpard boy. Esther was a Hebrew girl in captivity who became Queen of Persia. Matthew was a tax collector hated by all, yet Jesus chose him. Mary Magneline was a prostitute but Jesus chose her. Peter was an uneducated fisherman. Jesus chose him, and he became a leader of the apostles. I am not great by man’s standards but He chose me. I could go on but I won’t. This is my point. God has a plan for you that will make you great for His purposes. It might not be on a grand scale. You might not even be recognized by those around you. But if you follow His plan, you will be great on His grand scale. Go in the strength you have and trust Him to give you what you need to do the job. You are not “the least” in His eyes.

Trust God to make you Great.

Not Again!

No matter how hard you try, we will not be erased. We will not be eradicated. We are like ants. We are resilient. We are industrious. Regardless of the industry, good or bad. We ARE industrious. The skills our ancestors possessed on the plantation they brought with them from Africa. Our ancestors had societal structures:government, commerce, agriculture, and construction. What was learned from slavery was how to avoid the whip. How to live with rape. How to swallow pride for the sake of survival. I won’t talk about methodology. We might need to use them again.

Mr. DeSantis and those of like mind, all the whitewash in the world will not hide the atrocities done to our ancestors. We will always BLEED through. The TRUTH will always come through. Your children will discover that you lied to them.

We, as a people, survived slavery. We survived Jim Crow. We will survive the “Jim Crow” you are trying to create. You say slavery taught us skills we needed. You are correct. You taught us how to survive people and attitudes like you. We can navigate the ploys you implement. Our ancestors passed those lessons down. We may have forgotten that we needed them, but we did not forget them.

So, I implore my people teach those lessons to our kids and grandkids. Teach them our history, good and bad. Teach them self-sufficiency. Fraternal organizations and churches increase your community activities that include teaching our people. Use the tools you’ve learned in business and law to strengthen us. We are strong because of our ancestors. We are stronger because of what we’ve personally experienced. We will become stronger still.

Let’s learn from those who HAD to teach our kids our history at home and through those aforementioned organizations. They did not depend on others to teach US about US.

Let’s Get Busy

I Surrender – For NOW

Those who have followed me and know me know that I am resistant to pharmaceuticals. It is my very last resort. The health issue that I have is the source of any other potential issues: high blood pressure. I didn’t know I had the condition until a blood vessel burst in my eye. I had to have surgery on my eye. The day of the surgery, my BP was so high that they rescheduled. That was the day this battle began.

Since then I have been regulating my BP with vegetables, specifically beets. It was going well, but I did get periodic spikes. The spikes in BP measurements are my Dr’s concern. She said they were just as damaging to my blood vessels. So for now I will take a very low dose of lisinipril. One of the side affects is allowing a build-up in potassium that damages your kidneys. To me that is trading one problem for another. My goal is to eventually get off this medication. In the meantime, I will eat clean and exercise and take this poison. Those who pray to the Heavenly Father, please pray for me.

was j

The Veggie Burger Search Continues

A few posts ago, actually, quite a while ago I made my own veggie burger blend. A few days ago I discovered Javant’s Healthy Vegan Eating on YouTube. I made it. It is pictured below. His mix is made with no oil and no soy, so I had to give it a try. It was very good. I guess the walnuts along with the mushrooms gave it the fatty moisture mouth feel, aka texture.

I had forgotten that I made a veggie burger mix posted in My Vegan Burger. There are differences that could make a big difference to some people. First of all,Javant’s recipe is to be cooked. It uses cauliflower, walnuts, mushrooms, carrots, red onions and seasonings. Javant’s ground is designed to be used for multiple purposes.Therefore, no specific seasoning was used. It was very general. Mine is raw; designed for raw vegan lifestyle. My mixture included mushrooms, carrots, green onions,ground flax seed, soaked sunflower, jalepeno, and liquid smoke. There were other seasonings used, but they were specific to burger flavors, or at least they might have conflicted with Italian or Mexican flavors. I thought I had resolved my search for a homemade vegan burger blend. I’m down to two. I’m going to take a little from his and and add to mine. I will then cook a batch and dehydrate another batch. I learned a lot from Javant. I will continue to checkout his videos.

Javant’s Veggie Grou

Never Again

I’ve been trying to get back to cooking vegan meals instead of buying them. Three days ago I decided to cook dry chickpeas on the stove top instead of the pressure cooker. I let them soak for almost 2 full days. I thought surely the beans would cook in about 4 hrs. Well it’s been about 7 or 8 hours and they are NOT tender. I’m going back to the pressure cooker. I would have been done by now if I had used it first. My tuna-less tuna said will have to wait another day.😒

The Base

noun – the lowest part or edge of something, especially the part on which it rests or is supported.”she sat down at the base of a tree”

verb -have as the foundation for (something); use as a point from which (something) can develop.”the film is based on a novel by Pat Conroy”

Whether noun or verb the word base describes something that something else is built on. It always seems to imply a foundation of sorts. If the base is damaged that which is built upon it is unstable. If a work is based on another work which is weak then that which is developed has less of a chance for success or credibilty. It is of great concern and attention that the base in building or developing something is strong and stable. No corners are cut. No second rate materials are used. Just watch advertisements for products. Much attention is given to assuring us that the best materials were used and the quality is unsurpassed.

Now some have said that we are a base people; my people, black people; people of African descent. Does this mean we are the lowest part or edge of something, especially the part on which it rests or is supported. Are other people in this country resting on us? Are we supporting them. Are things being developed with us as the foundation? I can empahtically answer yes. I can with a resounding voice say YES! There are other people groups in this country that were considered a part of this base but have been allowed to advance or build upon themselves to no longer be the base. So I am not ignoring their contributions. I am speaking about my people because they are my people. It is my experience. (Indigenous people may be included with the black experience for the sake of being held to the base. There has been some progress made in my lifetime but this country is digressing. Much of what was fought for in the 50’s and 60’s is being reversed. Attitudes toward us as base are returning to those decades and our fight continues. The difference is as a people we understand our importance. Atttending to the health of the BASE is necessary . If the base is neglected that which is built upon it is unstable. If Black people are in bad, mental and emotional health every institution developed in this country is unstable. The White people who hate us and are trying to subjugate us as they make America great again don’t realize that as they hurt us, they hurt themselves. The attempt to destroy us, they destroy the America that they want to make great.

Now I know someone is saying Black people are not the foundation or base that this country is built upon. It is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Until the tenets of those documents are applied to the Black community as they are for the white community, the strength of those documents will be weak. Hence, that which is developed upon them, that which they support is unstable. America shore up your base by living up to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Treat us as what we are..citizens of this country with the same birthright as yours.

And if you call yourself a Chrisitan, read the Book. Read the teachings of Yeshua. Read his geneology and research the ethnicity of each member. You may be quite surprised. At the very least it is clear he was born of a Hebrew woman which rules out a European appearance. He worked as a carpenter with no electrical tools in the heat of Nazareth. He was likely muscular and tan, not frail and fair complexioned. But most important is how he treated people and how he instructed us to treat each other. Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two hang the law and prophets. These two embody all that God has declared and require of His people. So where do you stand? Do you destroy your Black neighbor or do you Love them? Do you help make the Base healthy or do you injure it?

Remember the health and strength of the Base has a direct effect on that which is supported by it or that which is developed on it. The health and the strength of the Base affects you.

Beet Root Powder

I finally ground the dehydrated beet pulp. Why buy beet root powder when you can make your own? All you need is the dried pulp and a grinder. I used my Nutribullet grinding attachment but a coffee or spice grinder will probably work just fine. I gave it a try this mornig. I put 1 tablespoon of the powder in my waffle mix. The batter was pink. I expected pink waffles. Didn’t happen. They were regular waffles . The beet flavor was barelty noticeable. The waffles tasted good. Results were nutrition boosted waffles.

I Just Don’t Understand

One year ago today a group of people attacked the US Capitol in the name of patriotism. Capitol police were assaulted and Congressional members were endangered. During that time messages came from those members that their lives were in jeopardy. We saw real time images of the attack. Had the assaulters been Islamic it would have been called a terrorist attack. If they had been black, well let’s just say there would have been more immediate arrests and deaths. It was an insurrection and was called such until some high level GOPers characterized it as a tour. I’ve been to the Capitol and the tour never included destruction of the windows, offices or attacking officers. 700 have been prosecuted and more are scheduled. Yet, 71% of the Republicans are reported to still resist the Presidency and don’t believe what they saw with their own eyes. I just don’t understand.

We have always had political disagreement. We have had riots and peaceful protests. But never this. At least not in my lifetime. I thought the atrocities of the Civil Rights movements or the mass shootings would be the worst I would see. An attempted coup on US soil I never thought would happen much less see.

Realize the HOPE

We are into the second day of 2022. Tell me, what has changed since December 31, 2021. I know some of you will say nothing and in some ways you are correct but there is an element that January 2022 has that December 2021 lost. There was an expectation leading up to midnight January 1, 2022. There were comments made among people everywhere that expressed “better is coming”. It sounded like, “I will be glad when this year is over.” “I can’t wait until January 1.” “I can’t wait until midnight.” There was an expectation. There was hope. Yes, HOPE.

We all HOPE things will be better. However, it just won’t happen. We have to make things better. We have to do what is best for humanity not an institution, not a political party, not a corporation, not a government entity. We have to do what is right and best for mankind. If we once again realize that the things I do to make your life better will actually make my life better, maybe, just maybe we will make things better. For you Christians reading this I would like to remind you that Yeshua (Jesus) instructed us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He used the story of the Good Samaritan to show that everyone is our neighbor and being a good neighbor requires a willingness to do more than take care of ourselves or people ethnically like us or people of the same faith. If you missed it or don’t know the story it is the despised Samaritan who was the compassionate one, the good neighbor. The political and religious leader stepped over the person in need. Which are you?

The Christian behavior in this country,especially in the last few years, is so far from Yeshua’s teachings and examples that a new name should be applied to it. There is no Christ-likeness. Where is the love for those with whom you disagree? Where is the love for those who may not believe as you do?Where is the love for those whose lifestyle does not conform to what you believe is God’s law? Let’s be honest. Our present Christian behavior doesn’t either. We need to get back to the Judaic basics of our beliefs. If nothing else we Christians need to get back to the 10 Commandments. That was what Yeshua taught. and lived. That’s what Paul taught the non-Jewish believers without requiring them to convert to Orthodx Judaism and lived before them. We need to obey them instead of requiring other people that never said they were believers in the first place to obey them. I am sure the other faith belief systems have a comparable tenet. So treat people right even if you disagree with them. or they are not like you. We were not commissioned to be judges but examples.

Only then can we realize the HOPE. Only then will 2022 be better than 2021. I remember when I was a child the admonishment to “do unto others what you would have them do unto you” was a powerful guiding force for decision-making. I’d ask myself before I said something or did something, would you want that done to you? If the answer was No then I likely didn’t do it. Now I did have moments of anger where I ignored myself but typically, I listened. We should start asking ourselves would we want to be treated the way we are treating others. Change our society by caring for each other. Realize the HOPE.