Oats for breakfast - cheap, healthy, and sustainable.

I posted an entry on Jones mush (coarsely ground whole wheat porridge with the white flour sifted out), as I had grown up eating it and wanted to carry it on. BUT it wasn't that easy to keep an amount ground up for use, and oats were far easier to prepare - instead of boiling them in a pot, you can just pour in some hot water from the kettle into each bowl with a small scoop of oats put into it.

Turns out though, when my husband found out he had higher than ideal levels of cholesterol, that oats are a very healthy breakfast food and help to reduce cholesterol levels. Refilling a bucket of oats at my local wholesale supplier, Binn Inn, is also great for zero waste. And really really cheap. And yum. (Add a pinch of salt and honey, or brown sugar, and they will be just "as good" as what is in those individual packets of oats.)

To my interest, Good magazine recently published an article all about oats! (Issue 19 - Jul/Aug 2011). Last but not least, it turns out to be a "green" (sustainably produced) grain, in NZ, which of course is very important to me.

So, oats are 1) easy to prepare, 2) a superfood (see following article), 3) cheap and plentiful to buy, 4) sustainably produced.

Sorry mush. We keep life simple and just pour hot water on our oats every morning in the Dale family.

Very interesting article on oats follows:

Wild about oats by Deirdre Coleman, Good magazine, Issue 19 (Jul/Aug 2011).

Oats are an integral part of our history and in particular the South Island’s Scottish heritage. They’ve achieved iconic status as a main ingredient in Anzac biscuits, and now they’re being rediscovered as a superfood. DEIRDRE COLEMAN takes a closer look at this ancient grain

Oats have been around for millennia, but they’ve rarely enjoyed the credit they deserve. The Romans saw them as only suitable for animal fodder, but the Greeks happily ate them for dessert. In his 1755 tome, A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson derisively defined oats as “A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people.” The Scottish comeback: “That’s why England has such fine horses and Scotland such fine men.”

Today we still eat only about five percent of the total global oat harvest, with the USA, Canada and Russia the world’s main producers. In the late 1980s, oats were part of a dietary-fibre health craze that saw their consumption temporarily rocket; muesli went mainstream and muesli bars arrived on the scene, remaining a lunchbox favourite to this day. Now oats are enjoying a well-earned revival, thanks to their great taste, value for money – and recently discovered health benefits.

“Established in 1867 by Henry Harraway, Harraways still operates from its original site in Green lsland, Dunedin”

From humble porridge to superfoodThey're not as colourful as blueberries or salmon, but oats are right up there in the line-up of superfoods.

All cereals contain carbohydrates, protein, water, fat, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. But oats have a higher protein content (15-20 percent) than many other cereals and a better balance of essential fatty acids. They also have one of the best amino acid profiles of any grain.

Like other grains and vegetables, oats contain phytochemicals, many of which have antioxidant properties. They're also packed with B vitamins and high levels of calcium, potassium, zinc and magnesium. Oats contain significant amounts of both soluble and insoluble dietary fibre, which are necessary for healthy gastrointestinal function. Beta-glucan, a component of that soluble fibre, is believed to help lower cholesterol, speed up the response to infection and stabilise blood sugar levels. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, beta-glucan may play a role in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.

Rolled oats have a glycaemic index (GI) rating of just 55, meaning the carbohydrates break down slowly and gradually enter the bloodstream without causing sugar spikes that result in fat storage. Low-GI foods also help you feel full for longer, aiding weight loss. "It's the fibre in oats that fills you up," says Mart Mays, new product development manager at Hubbards, "and that makes for a great breakfast, giving you energy throughout the morning. Nutritionally, oats are a wonderful grain."

The great grainOats are derived from wild grasses and grow well in cool, moist climates. Theybecamea stapleinScotland, with oatmeal forming a key ingredient in haggis, Scottish Caboc cheese and Highland black pudding. Scottish immigrants first brought oatmeal porridge to our shores in the 1800s. They discovered that the heavy, moisture-retaining soils of Otago and Southland-where many of them settled - were well suited to oat cultivation, and most of our oats are still grown there today. By 1905, New Zealand was producing around 275,000 tonnes of oats, most for use as horse feed. As tractors replaced horses, oat production plummeted. But New Zealand kids continued to enjoy them - porridge oats, including the popular Creamoata, were considered the national breakfast.

Today, just one Kiwi company continues to mill oats. More than 140 years after it began, Harraways is still privately owned and operating from its original site in Green Island, Dunedin. Founded by Henry Harraway during the1860s gold rush, it's our country's only remaining oat mill. In 1893, an oat-roller milling plant replaced the stone grinder and breakfast cereal production began, says Rosalind Goulding from Harraways.

One thousand tons of oatmeal was processed in that first year alone.

"We still mill our oats in a very traditional way," she says, "using vertical milling, which is highly energy­efficient." Harraways uses the inedible husks that surround the oats to fuel its boilers. Any excess is sold to local businesses or composted.

One grain, many namesThe harvested oats travel up a five­level-high gantry and gravity moves them through the milling process. First the oats are hulled to remove the hard outer husk and the groats, as they're known, are then roasted to give a nice nutty flavour. Next, steaming sparks a natural chemical changein the groats, preventing the fatty acids from turning rancid. This considerably extends shelf life. Finally they're cut and sometimes also rolled to produce a range of products.

Rolled oats, Scotch oats, steel-cut oats, oatmeal, oat bran - oats come in many different forms, depending on the method of processing. But while other cereals are split into different parts during milling, oats are not. And, as whole grains, they retain all of their nutritional value. Compressing a grain increases the availability of the soluble fibres, so rolled oats cook faster than cut oats. Quick oats, as the name suggests, take the least time to cook, as they are rolled thinner than wholegrain oats. With Scotch oats, the oat grain is cut into two or three pieces and finely rolled. This produces a smooth, creamy porridge that cooks quickly. Steel-cut oats ate also cut into pieces but aren't rolled.Theytake alittlelongertocook so need soaking first. To make oatmeal, the grain is finely ground.

Bread of lifeBread as we know it is most commonly made using w heat, but historically, other grains and legumes such as rye, barley, oats, rice,maize,acorns, nuts, millet and even peas and beans were also added into the mix.

Artisan bakery Purebread is New Zealand's first BioGro certified organic bakery. The company produces a range of organic and gluten-free products, including pizza bases and breads containing rolled oats. The company's founder Robert Glensor is a big oats fan ­ every week Purebread also makes a batch of certi fied organic granola using rolled oats.

Oats are not particularly common in bread nowadays, but Robert just really likes the extra flavour and texture they add. "There are lots of goodies in oats; they contain fibre, antioxidants, phosphorous,thiamine and iron, and are said to help lower cholesterol:' he says.

"Grains generally aren't that digestible until they've gone through the fermentation process and the natural enzymes get working. The practice of fermenting the bread aids digestion and makes the nutrients more readily available. We use about one and a half cups of jumbo oats in each loaf. They 're really coarse, but because we ferment our bread, the oats just seem to disappear."

Feeding our troopsDuring World War I, wives and mothers of Kiwi and Australian soldiers worried that their boys weren't eating well, so they baked delicious biscuits made from oats, golden syrup and coconut. Packed in airtight tins, the biscuits took two months by sea to arrive, and it was only after the war that they became known as ANZAC biscuits. It's thought the recipe was adapted from the traditional unleavened oat cakes called bannocks that were b rought to New Zealand during the Sco ttish immigrationin the1800s. Turn to page 80 to find out how to make your own batch of these classic bikkies.

The green grainNew Zealand oats are grown in a very sustainable manner, mainly on mixed farms, where oat cultivation is rotated from field to field every three to four years. The oats are planted in September and no additional irrigation is required. The strong spring nor’westers strengthen their root systems, and in January, when the soil moisture content lowers naturally, the plants begin to set seed. Harvesting takes place in March and April. Farmers then strip-graze the land to prevent the soil from becoming compacted. When stock have eaten the stubble, the field is ploughed and replanted. After a four-year cycle, the field is left fallow and sheep or cattle are grazed on it for another few years to naturally fertilize the soil.

Over the last 25 years, there’s been much more emphasis on soil health in conventional oast growing. Harraways is involved in ongoing research into, and discussion on, local oat varieties, and buys its oats from around 60 growers throughout Southland and Otago. The region’s cool, wet climate, similar to that of Scotland and Scandinavia, is ideal.

Are oats gluten free?Not even the experts agree. The definition of a gluten-free product varies from country to country, but the term generally describes foods with what’s considered a harmless level, as opposed to a complete absence, of gluten.

Oats are closely related to wheat, rye and barley, which each contain a slightly different type of gluten protein. Avenin is the essential protein in oats, while the gliadin protein in wheat is what provokes a response in oats, while the gliadin protein in wheat is what provokes a response in coeliacs and those with wheat sensitivity.

While oats are gliadin-free, small amounts of wild barley, wheat or rye may grow in an oat field, potentially contaminating the crop. New studies also suggest that some coeliacs may also be intolerant to avenin, and Coeliac NZ Inc says that approximately 20 percent of those diagnosed with coeliac disease react to pure uncontaminated oats – in other words, to oat avenin. The organisation advises avoiding oats if you have severe gluten intolerance. But for those looking to simply reduce their gluten consumption, oats are the perfect breakfast.

Accidental Rainbows

I was doing housework - spraying vinegar mixed with water on everything - and when I sprayed this chair with a beam of sun shining strongly on it, the water appeared to reveal a rainbow every time I sprayed. It was so beautiful! Then I remembered the activity from a meteorology (weather) book, which was exactly what I had just done - but I hadn't tried it. Try it with the kids!

Where do rainbows come from?
"Each raindrop splits the sunlight into the colours of the spectrum." (Meteorology, by Graham Peacock.)

Unicorn costume for a girl - second go

Vaulting a tall horn on the front of a girl's head is no easy task. Although the red hair that I used that night for the next day school dress up did look a little clownlike - I think that the solution we found for the horn was excellent.

In the end, for my second go, I used the resource of balloon holder cup and a chopstick, as the horn had to be very light. (My first horn used a single cigar tin but it ended up heavy, and unwieldy.) Shane helped me with his engineering skills - and constructed the horn's support (2 lengths of waistband elastic sewed together to be double wide.) This costume was fashioned after Star, from the book The Baby Unicorn (by Jean and Claude Marzollo, illustrated by RJ Blake). This was also the reason for using orangey-red cloth for the hair.






Here are the steps - I am definitely not bothering to re-draw them in Illustrator, here are a few scanned sketches for anyone interested to understand the idea:

STEP 1
THE HORN: Balloon cup holder plus stick (balloon stick chopstick any stick). Then you cello tape card or thin cardboard around it to make a light sheath.
STEP 2
Tape the cardboard round and round with clear tape.
STEP 3
Then you handsew a layer of pretty cloth around it, which gives it structure - but more importantly the ability to sew it to a base.
STEP 4
Make an elastic headband to mount the horn on. It helps to make the location where the horn will go double wide creating a rectangle - we used elastic waistband which worked very well. STEP 5
THE HOODIE: Before you sew the horn on its mounting to the hoodie, sew some hair onto the hoodie. I sewed some non-frayable material, cut in wide strips almost to the end. Once I had sewed along the hood's seam with a sewing machine (definitely use one if you can or this part would be laborious), I then cut the strips into many far narrower ones.
STEP 6
After the horn is mounted on the band -- sew it to the base by hand, make it strong -- put it on the child, as well as the hoodie. This way you'll be able to see where the horn should come through the hoodie. Then cut a hole and stick the horn through. STEP 7
After you take the horn and hoodie off, you can sew the widened band to the underside hoodie, giving it a wide surface area to support that horn. (You can cut off the extra straps that extend past the widened part, you won't need them anymore).
STEP 8
Handsew on ears of your choice (I looked at a real horse image to see how their ears are placed first.) Then you are done!

Burning the Shelter by Louis Owens

This is an excerpt which was I saw posted on Care2.com, passed on from UTNE Reader alternative press. -N

BURNING THE SHELTER
A simple fire reveals the beginnings of our environmental crisis

Excerpted from “Burning the Shelter,” by Louis Owens, from The Colors of Nature, edited by Alison Hawthorne Deming and Lauret Savoy (Milkweed Editions, 2011). Copyright © 2011 by Louis Owens. http://www.milkweed.org/






In the center of the Glacier Peak Wilderness in northern Washington a magnificent, fully glaciated white volcano rises over a stunningly beautiful region of the North Cascades. On maps, the mountain is called Glacier Peak. To the Salishan people who have always lived in this part of the Cascades, the mountain is Dakobed, the place of emergence. For the better part of a century, a small, three-sided log shelter stood in a place called White Pass, just below one shoulder of the great mountain, tucked securely into a meadow.

In the early fall of 1976, while I was working as a seasonal ranger for the United States Forest Service, I drew the task of burning the White Pass shelter. It was part of a Forest Service plan to remove all human-made objects from wilderness areas, a plan I heartily approved. So I backpacked 11 miles to the pass to set up camp, and for five days I dismantled the shelter and burned the old logs until nothing remained. I spaded up the earth, beaten hard for nearly a century by boot and hoof, and transplanted plugs of vegetation from hidden spots on the nearby ridge.

At the end of those five days I felt good, very smug in fact, about returning the White Pass meadow to its “original” state. As I packed up my camp, the snowstorm had subsided to a few flurries and a chill that felt bone deep with the promise of winter.

I started the steep hike down, and half a mile from the pass I saw two old women. Almost swallowed up in their thick wool caps, they seemed ancient, each weighted with at least 70 years as well as a small backpack. They paused every few steps to lean on their staffs and look out over the North Fork drainage below, a deep, heavily forested river valley that rose on the far side to the glaciers and saw-toothed black granite on the Monte Cristo range. And they smiled hugely upon seeing me.

We stood and chatted for a moment, and as I did with all backpackers, I reluctantly asked them where they were going. The snow quickened a little, obscuring the view, as they told me they were going to the White Pass.

“Our father built a little house up here,” one of them said, “when he worked for the Forest Service like you. Way back before we was born.”

“We’ve been coming up here since we was little,” the other added. “Except last year when Sarah was not well enough.”

“A long time ago, this was all our land,” the one called Sarah said. “All Ind’n land everywhere you could see. Our people had houses up in the mountains, for gathering berries every year.”

As they took turns speaking, the smiles never leaving their faces, I wanted to excuse myself, to edge around these elders and flee to the trailhead and my car. I wanted to say, “I’m Indian, too. Choctaw from Mississippi; Cherokee from Oklahoma”—as if mixed blood could pardon me for what I had done. Instead, I said, “The shelter is gone.” Cravenly, I added, “It was crushed by snow, so I was sent up to burn it. It’s gone now.”

I expected outrage, anger, sadness, but instead the sisters continued to smile at me, their smiles changing only slightly. They had a plastic tarp and would stay dry, they said, because a person always has to be prepared in the mountains. They would put up their tarp inside the hemlock grove above the meadow, and the scaly hemlock branches would turn back the snow. They forgave me without saying it—my ignorance part of the long pattern of loss they knew so well.

Hiking out those 11 miles, as the snow of the high country became a drumming rain in the forests below, I had long hours to ponder my encounter with the sisters. Gradually, almost painfully, I began to understand that what I called “wilderness” was an absurdity. Before the European invasion, there was no wilderness in North America; there was only the fertile continent, where people lived in a hard-learned balance with the natural world. In embracing a philosophy that saw the White Pass shelter—and all traces of humanity—as a shameful stain upon the “pure” wilderness, I had succumbed to a 500-year-old pattern of deadly thinking that separates us from the natural world.

This is not to say that what we call wilderness today does not need careful safeguarding. I believe that White Pass really is better off now that the shelter does not serve as a magnet to backpackers and horsepackers who compact the soil, disturb and kill the wildlife, cut down centuries-old trees for firewood, and leave their litter strewn about. And I believe that the man who built the shelter would agree.

But despite this unfortunate reality, the global environmental crisis that sends species into extinction daily and threatens to destroy all life surely has its roots in the Western pattern of thought that sees humanity and “wilderness” as mutually exclusive.

In old-growth forests in the North Cascades, I have come upon faint traces of log shelters built by Suiattle and Upper Skagit people for berry harvesting a century ago—just as the sisters said. Those human-made structures were as natural a part of the Cascade ecosystem as the burrows of marmots in the steep scree slopes. Our native ancestors all over this continent lived within a complex web of relations with the natural world, and in doing so they assumed a responsibility for their world that contemporary Americans cannot even imagine.

Unless Americans, and all human beings, can learn to imagine themselves as intimately and inextricably related to every aspect of the world they inhabit, with the extraordinary responsibilities such relationship entails—unless they can learn what the indigenous peoples of the Americas knew and often still know—a few square miles of something called wilderness will become the sign of failure everywhere.

August Garden

Following a tip from Xanthe White's organic gardening book, I cut off the main head of broccoli from the plant, and waited to see if side heads would grow. I didn't totally believe it, but look!


After a great deal I got from a farmer on TradeMe (he has several horses and has been composting horse manure with sawdust, and posted a trailer load on TradeMe for $20), this former soggy clay filled area is starting to look like a garden. (I also sprinkled alot of gypsum all over as well, on advice, as apparently it breaks up clay.) Going to plant potatoes.


Looking pretty good now, but that's because it's drier. The slugs were getting the best of these plants as I wasn't as vigilant as I could have been at night raids, to remove them. The garden was formerly far too wet - in that climate the plants did not do well.


Cool, magical surprise this morning. A HUGE MUSHROOM appeared like magic in the midst of the garden.

Yealands Wine Review

I had read about Peter Yealands wine, as he was promoted in Good magazine a few times as one of the few (first) sustainable growers. I have kept my eye out for awhile, not seeing his wine have resorted to gambling on choosing the best wine by claims on their labels. How cool to see his wine in the liquor store the other day - and reasonably priced ($16 I think). Red too, I am into red.

Here is the review, was exceptionally good. Really really good. So there you go - I have a favourite wine to buy.

If you can't find it, as I don't see it everywhere, just buy close to home!

Lullaby by Billy Joel

When I am working (concentrating, drawing) on the computer, I really listen to songs. This lullaby by Billy Joel is amazing. Listen to it...I want to learn all the words to sing to my little girl. The water's dark and deep
Inside this ancient heart, you'll always be a part of me


Lullaby by Billy Joel
Goodnight, my angel
Time to close your eyes
And save these questions for another day
I think I know what you've been asking me
I think you know what I've been trying to say
I promised I would never leave you
And you should always know
Wherever you may go
No matter where you are
I never will be far away

Goodnight, my angel
Now it's time to sleep
And still so many things I want to say
Remember all the songs you sang for me
When we went sailing on an emerald bay
And like a boat out on the ocean
I'm rocking you to sleep
The water's dark and deep
Inside this ancient heart
You'll always be a part of me

..........

Goodnight, my angel
Now it's time to dream
And dream how wonderful your life will be
Someday your child may cry
And if you sing this lullabye
Then in your heart
There will always be a part of me

Someday we'll all be gone
But lullabyes go on and on...
They never die
That's how you
And I
Will be