Nut Milk Magic

Since I stopped drinking milk years ago, I have always bought soy milk and almond milk from the grocery store to use as a milk replacement. Not anymore! I recently learned how to make my own nut milks at home. Well, I guess I have read about making them myself for a while, but I finally decided to try it out not too long ago. And now I am obsessed with it! It is really easy and inexpensive and you don't need anything super special - just a blender and a "nut milk bag." What is a nut milk bag, you may wonder? It is nothing other than a paint strainer bag that you can get from the hardware store for about $1. Beautiful.

Also, you can use any RAW nuts or seeds that you want. My favorites are almonds, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds. But you could also use cashews, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, hemp seeds, etc. You can buy nuts/seeds pretty inexpensively from the bulk bins at grocery stores and natural foods stores. Trader Joe's also has really great prices on raw nuts/seeds.

I have read a bunch of recipes and used trial and error to figure out what works for me, so here it goes.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup nuts/seeds

3-4 cups water (depending on how rich you want it to be)

3-5 dates or a few teaspoons of agave syrup or a pinch of stevia (optional)

Add your nuts and water to the blender. Then add your sweetener if desired. Blend until nuts stop rattling. Strain liquid through a nut milk bag. Store in a recycled glass jar in the fridge. Use within 5 days or so.

See? It takes 5 minutes and it is wonderfully amazing. It is so delicious that you can drink it plain, top cereal with it, make chocolate milk, use it as the base for smoothies, put it in tea/coffee, make a maple mate latte. ANYTHING!

Wendell Berry is kind of my hero

"Why should rest and food and ecological health not be the basic principles of our art and science of healing? Is it because the basic principles already are technology and drugs? Are we confronting some fundamental incompatibility between mechanical efficiency and organic health? I don't know. I only know that sleeping in a hospital is like sleeping in a factory and that the medical industry makes only the most tenuous connection between health and food and no connection between health and the soil. Industrial medicine is as little interested in ecological health as is industrial agriculture."

- Wendell Berry, from an essay called "Health is Membership"

Wisdom

"Everyday radiant well-being, in mind, body, and soul, is a function of everyday self-care. It's a prescription for life. It's a part of what you do, what you take into your body, and what you feed your mind. Radiant well-being is finding your joy in life. Exploring your passions. Getting up from your chair and moving your body. Wiggling. Eating good food. Playing hard and resting well. Putting your mind to work. Laughing. Whatever you choose to do, do it well, and do it joyously. There is no greater benefactor to well-being than the satisfaction of a well-lived life."
- Rosemary Gladstar

Salmon Spawning

We watched the salmon for hours when we were in Valdez. It's pretty incredible.

Yeah. Bears like salmon.

Glaciers are cool. (Get the pun??)

Worthington Glacier - 30 miles outside of Valdez, Alaska.

Walking on a glacier in flip flops is a bad idea. Even if they are Chacos and have Vibram soles. Just so you know for future reference.

Alaska Grown

Photos of our produce from the Wasilla Farmer's Market:

Onions and radishes.

CARROTS!

Peas and cabbage.

Beets, beans, and broccoli.

Turnips and kohlrabi.

Basil.

Yum. Celery!

Our food is naturally and biodynamically grown.

Nature Deficit Disorder

"Environmentalism needs to be focused not only on preserving nature but also on getting people into it. If we’re divorced from nature, then there’s simply no constituency for it. I also profoundly believe that a dose of nature is the best way to gain some perspective. You can think you’re God’s gift to the world, but you’ll still end up getting blisters on a hike if you’re not careful, or falling out of your raft in the rapids. Nature is very good at bringing us back to Earth. Let’s acknowledge that getting kids awed by nature is as important as getting them reading."
- Nicholas Kristof

Seriously.