Reusing ~ do not throw food scraps into the trash bin! (part 3)

 For plant lovers

Eggshells are also very useful. When you use eggs to prepare meals, do not throw the shells. Wash them thoroughly and let them dry. Then, crush them. Either you may crush them to a dust-like consistence or you may crush them into small pieces and sprinkle around your plants to keep worms away. In any case, it acts as a fertilizer and helps to aerate soil (the same as coarse sand does). Eggshells provide calcium, which helps plants to absorb nutrients and prevents rottening in tomatoes.

WE ARE THE EXENNIALS

 We were born in the 50-60-70’s.

We grew up in the 60-70-80's.

We studied in the 70-80-90’s.

We discovered the world in the 70-80-90's.

We went to the ‘disco’ in the 70-80-90's.

We venture into the 80-90’s.

We stabilize in the 2000s.

We got wiser in the 2010s.

 

And we are moving firmly through 2020.

It turns out some of us have lived through more than EIGHT different decades! (We are not today’s elderly though)

 

TWO different centuries… 

TWO different millennia...

 

We have gone from telephones with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world, we have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp.

From ‘living’ the football matches on the radio, to black and white TV, and then to HD TV.

We went to the Video Club and now we watch Netflix.

We got to know the first computers, punched cards, diskettes and now we have megabytes and gigabytes on our cell phones or IPads.

We wore long pants, oxfords, Bermuda shorts, baggies, skinny jeans…

We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, H1N1 flu and now COVID-19.

We rode skates, tricycles, invented cars, bicycles, mopeds, and gasoline or diesel cars and now some of us ride hybrids or 100% electric.

Yes, we have been through a lot but what a great life we have had!

 

They could describe us as exennials; people who were born in that world of the 50-60-70’s, who had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.

We are kind of Ihaveseen-it-all.

Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.

Our generation has literally adapted to CHANGE.

 

A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF A VERY SPECIAL GENERATION, WHICH WILL BE UNIQUE.

 

SOURCE: the Web ~ translated and made a few changes to suit my generation

Reusing ~ do not throw food scraps into the trash bin! (part 2)

 For plant lovers – You can use some of your food scraps to fertilize your plants.

Take banana peels, for example. They are rich in potassium, iron, various vitamins, nitrogen, phosphorous, manganese and copper. Plants love it! And earth worms, too!

You can make banana tea by boiling three or four banana peels in water (make sure you are using water that does not contain chlorine, tap water usually does. You have to let it in the sun for a day and it is ready to use) for fifteen minutes. Let it cool, filter using a strainer and a piece of cloth and use it in 50/50 mixture with water (remember not to use tap water directly) to water your succulents. I store the banana tea in bottles to use when I need it. You can also water your veggies and flowers. Banana peels favor the formation of flowers and fruits. I water my succulents once a week using it. The string of hearts flowers all year round.

You can also put the peels in the oven and roast them until burnt. Then, you have to crush them until they are dust-like. I use the food processor. I mix the banana powder with soil I use to pot plants and in the cans where I have earthworms. They say it is aphrodisiac for them.

Reusing ~ do not throw food scraps into the trash bin! (part 1)

 Did you know you could reuse most of your food scraps to produce things you usually buy ready-made? It sounds too good, does not it? I will show you some tricks I have learned in the last few years.

Do you have plants? Either flowers, succulents or veggies, you can get some of their favorite soil free, using food scraps. Does any food serve this purpose? The answer is NO. Only vegetable scraps. Animal and byproducts from animal origin are not used and you must discard them separately.

As a rule, everything from vegetable origin can go into the compost pile. You can arrange it in your backyard by making a hole and putting all scraps there or you may use bricks or wooden boxes to contain the scraps. Even if you live in a flat, you may use a wooden or plastic box (they are selling plastic containers, which are far more elaborated). In case you use a plastic recipient, it must have some holes at the bottom to let the liquid get out. If not, the compost will smell terribly and will go bad. You can collect the liquid and use it as a fertilizer. After about three-four months, the food scraps have turned into compost, a soil-like matter. How does this happen? By the action of microorganisms. These little beings decompose the food scraps and turn them into the nutritious soil you buy in garden centers. You will save money and resources, recycle the waste you produce, enrich your soil and have beautiful and healthy plants.

TOWARDS WASTE ZERO ~ HOW TO START AT HOME

 We all know that we are producing more waste than ever before and it is becoming a HUGE problem. If you are one of those people who think big companies should start doing something, read on.

Three years ago, we started recycling food scraps instead of throwing them into the garbage bin. We pile all the veggies and fruit scraps and make compost. It is great for plants, a rich spongy soil full of nutrients. We dry eggshells and crush them to add to soil; make banana tea (to water succulents); roast banana peels in the oven, once roasted, I crush them, earthworms love it! We have greatly reduced waste. With citric peels, we prepare a cleaner we use to clean windows and furniture. We stopped using fabric conditioner and replaced it with vinegar (white vinegar). That is our little contribution to a better life. 

And you? Have you already started composting?

This is how food scraps looks like after 3-4 months

See the earthworms? They decompose the scraps and enrich the future compost

This is how compost looks like once strained

And those were the hard workers that made it possible (together with pill bugs and other insects)

 Mexico is one of American countries more devoted to pre-Columbian traditions. The celebrations last for days and the dead are honored in many ways. The way in which people die is very important, so much so that there is a specific day to remember them depending on how they died. However, it is not only people who are honored; pets also have their special day.

10/27 > dead pets

10/28 > people who died in an accident or had a violent death

10/29 > people who drowned

10/30 > souls in purgatory

10/31 > nasciturus (unborn children)

11/01 > children and saints

11/02 > adults

They believe the portal that opens in the last days of October, closes at 00.00 of November, 3. During these days, people light candles, put flowers in vases and leave some food for the dead. In some places, they spend hours and hours in the cemetery, accompanying the dead. Some people spend the whole night there. And some even put an extra dish with food on the table for the dead people in the family. Bolivia has similar traditions.

Women and Osteopenia / Osteoporosis

 Fermented food and vitamin K₂ (menaquinone)

Vitamin K₂ (menaquinone) together with vitamin D₃ are necessary for bone health. When we are diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis, doctors generally prescribe a calcium supplement. In the last years, some of them have added a vitamin D₃ supplement. Does this sound familiar to you? But nobody suggests to consume food that help our body produce vitamin K₂. Health insurance companies and do not cover this vitamin’s supplements.

There is scientific evidence that shows that intestinal flora (that is, bacteria that compose it) are important sources of various vitamins (B group and K). The microorganisms in our guts use certain foods to synthesize these vitamins.

Many scientists assure that fermentation increases the presence of various vitamins of the B group and vitamin K₂. The latter is hard to find in non-fermented foods. It is a key vitamin for both, bone and coronary health, and it has a role in the prevention of certain types of cancer.

There are two vitamins that cannot be absent in women’s diet, Vitamin D₃ which stimulates the absorption of calcium in the food we eat and vitamin K₂ which ensures that calcium deposits in the right places (bones and teeth) and not in your arteries (it makes them stiff and clogged).

Ferments, pickles, preserves, pickled products???

 What are we talking about when we say pickles, ferments, preserves, macerations and marinades? Are they the same thing? Does any of them include others? Let's see.

That is the question that comes up when we start with this topic. For me, everything was preserved or pickled. As I read further in groups, I learned that sometimes it was fermenting, so I thought it was all fermenting. One day I posted something and mentioned the term "fermenting", a woman told me in a bad way that it was not a ferment, but a maceration [1]. At that point, I either went crazy or stopped worrying about names and went on with my experiments (which is what they are when you start on this path). What I knew for sure was that what I was doing was preserving food, just as it had been done at home since I was a child, had been done for hundreds of thousands of years and that it is not even "a human invention; they are natural phenomena that human beings observed and then learned to cultivate" (Sandor Katz, in "The Art of Fermentation").

Later I learned that many of the things I was doing were "probiotics". I'm still mixing up and sometimes confusing the terms, so I'm going to write down - that is what clears my head.

Pickles: this is a very general term since it includes food preserved by different means of acidification:

               - mixture of brine and vinegar

                - fermentation using salt: pickles fermented in brine (what we call pickles) or salted and fermented without adding water (sauerkraut)

                - use of vinegar without fermentation (pickles) acetofermented (bacteria of the order acetobacteraceae are involved)

                - the food is preserved in a mixture of vinegar, heated oil (I do not like the term "fried" mentioned in the reference site), spices and sometimes wine. (The food is not fermented) [2]

• Preserves: general term used to refer to the conservation or preservation of food by slowing down its deterioration, loss of quality and nutritional values.
• Ferments: are products that have undergone one or more types of fermentation that modify or increase their nutritional value.

There are several types of fermentation depending on the presence or not of oxygen and the bacteria that produce it. The most common (at least for me):
            - Acetic fermentation (transforms alcohol into vinegar).

            - Alcoholic fermentation (transforms sugars into alcohol) [3]. 

            - Lactic fermentation (salt transforms microbes present in vegetables) = lactofermentation (bacteria of the order lactobacillales act).

• Macerations: occur when we submerge a solid (a fruit, for example) in a liquid to extract its compounds. The best known example is that of apples that are submerged in water with sugar to make wine (which later becomes vinegar). In other words, the fruits are macerated in water and fermented by the action of the sugar. The maceration, in this case, is a ferment (entering into a discussion of technicalities).

This is, so far, the result of what I investigated, which is not to say that there is not something that is incorrect. If you can contribute information or if you know of something that is not so, I ask you to share it. The idea is not to use those weird and high-flown terms that only those who know the theory understand, the idea is that we can all understand a little better what we are talking about.

[1] The wise lady was not clear about what fermentation actually was. Touchè!

[2] This is how I name what I preserve in oil.

[3] My fruit "maceration" is an alcoholic fermentation. Yeah!!!

COVID-19 ~ How it changed our habits

 Yesterday I was thinking about how the pandemic changed us. What things it brought and are here to stay and what things we stopped doing. And I realized that there are things that we didn't do before and that now have become a habit. Ginger in the mate water, herbal teas that took the place of coffee after meals, water kefir (and other ferments) that supplanted wine at meals, salads, which were only eaten in summer and now are not missing at lunch and often also at dinner. The variety of herbs and aromatic herbs and leafy vegetables in the garden has grown. Hardly any cold cuts or sausages are eaten. And soft drinks are out of sight.

I think it made us think about what we were eating and be more careful about what we "put in our bellies".

How did the pandemic change you?