Pickled Okra

This was our last week here for Farmers Market. But, I did pick up some more okra so I could have another try at pickled okra. The first go round went pretty well. Although I was a little disappointed at first as the flavor was pretty weak. But now, two months later, they are pretty good – good enough I want to do it again. I could not find an NT recipe for lacto-fermented okra, so I had to improvise. I used the basic pickle (cucumber) recipe from Nourishing Traditions for the”brine” and searched around for pickled okra recipes to get an idea on the spices.

• About a pound of small okra
• 1 jalapeno – seeded & quartered lengthwise
• 2 cloves garlic peeled & halved
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 1 cup filtered water
• 4 tbsp whey

Wash the okra well and place in a quart-sized mason jar. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the okra, adding more water if necessary to cover the okra.The top of the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

As I mentioned, it takes several weeks for these to really develop their flavor, so you have to be patient. And the flavor is not at all like the commercial variety, where the okra is pickled in vinegar. But once they have aged properly, they are very good – at least if you like okra. Now a bit from Sally Fallon on lacto-fermentation:

Lacto-fermentation is an artisanal craft that does not lend itself to industrialization. Results are not always predictable. For this reason, when the pickling process became industrialized, many changes were made that rendered the final product more uniform and more saleable but not necessarily more nutritious. Chief among these was the use of vinegar for the brine, resulting in a product that is more acidic and not necessarily beneficial when eaten in large quantities; and of subjecting the final product to pasteurization, thereby effectively killing all the lactic-acid-producing bacteria and robbing consumers of their beneficial effect on digestion.  Nourishing Traditions, p. 90.

A Glimmer of Hope?

On the One Hand . . .

. . . there’s more money in this farm bill for nutrition programs and, for the first time, about $2 billion to support “specialty crops” — farm-bill-speak for the kind of food people actually eat. . . There’s also money for the environment: an additional $4 billion in the Senate bill to protect wetlands and grasslands and reward farmers for environmental stewardship, and billions in the House bill for environmental cleanup. There’s an important provision in both bills that will make it easier for schools to buy food from local farmers. And there’s money to promote farmers’ markets and otherwise support the local food movement.

On the Other Hand . . .

But as important as these programs are, they are just programs — mere fleas on the elephant in the room. The name of that elephant is the commodity title, the all-important subsidy section of the bill. It dictates the rules of the entire food system. As long as the commodity title remains untouched, the way we eat will remain unchanged.

A Glimmer of Hope

What finally emerges from Congress depends on exactly who is paying closest attention next week on the Senate floor and then later in the conference committee. We know the American Farm Bureau will be on the case, defending the commodity title on behalf of those who benefit from it most: the biggest commodity farmers, the corporations who sell them chemicals and equipment and, most of all, the buyers of cheap agricultural commodities — companies like Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.

In the past that alliance could have passed a farm bill like this one without breaking a sweat. But the politics of food have changed, and probably for good. If the eaters and all the other “people on the outside” make themselves heard, we just might end up with something that looks less like a farm bill and more like the food bill a poorly fed America so badly needs.

These are excerpts from a fantastic article by Michael Pollan (author of the Power Steer article under “Important Stuff” in the side bar). It’s a great wrap-up of what’s been going on with the Farm Bill these past few weeks. He provides some good insight into just how things have been working on Capitol Hill, and how things are beginning to change. Just maybe there is some hope. Eaters unite!

Trusting

It seems much of my focus thus far, here, has been on food. But, living a whole life involves much more than just what you eat. We have physical bodies that need to move (exercise – bleh). Even more than that, though, we need to pay attention to other aspects of ourselves, spiritually, emotionally, relationally/socially. This post regards my personal spiritual life, in response to my vent in the last post.

Now, I’m not out to tell anyone else what their spiritual life should entail. That is certainly not up to me. For me, I believe the God of the Bible. Yup, I’m one of those Christians. I’m a follower of Christ. Anyway, between the frustrations I expressed here, and a post lamenting my downfalls as a parent on my other blog, I was feeling somewhat discouraged. So, before switching off the lamp, I opened up my Bible and began to read. I was directed in my spirit to verses regarding God’s faithfulness. I quoted some of them on my other blog. But I was quite amazed to even find some that applied here:

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.  Psalm 145:15-16

I couldn’t help but smile at that.

Keeping a Balance

Just so we don’t take ourselves too seriously here, here’s a quote from my most favorite musician/poet:

I just figure we’re all gonna be dead someday anyway. You may as well go one way as the other. If you’re overly obsessive about health, then you’re dead already. Rich Mullins

An Arrow Pointing to Heaven by James Bryan Smith, p. 192