Happy Easter, Earthlings, Chocolate Berry Smoothie, Granola, vegetarian lions and another Nye poem, things to think about

Happy Easter!

My mom sent me this pic. : )

I was thinking about how animals are so related to Easter.. the bunny, chicks, eggs..
and about Earthlings – the movie we have been trying to show @ work & which twice was postponed. It will be shown there soon.

It is also online:
http://veg-tv.info/Earthlings

EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.

I was listening to Moby earlier this morning while painting.. Play.. very loud.. it’s really good get-out-of-yourself music. : )

With an in-depth study into pet stores, puppy mills and animals shelters, as well as factory farms, the leather and fur trades, sports and entertainment industries, and finally the medical and scientific profession, EARTHLINGS uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. Powerful, informative and thought-provoking, EARTHLINGS is by far the most comprehensive documentary ever produced on the correlation between nature, animals, and human economic interests. There are many worthy animal rights films available, but this one transcends the setting. EARTHLINGS cries to be seen. Highly recommended!

I was going to just come here & post a granola recipe & my chocolate berry smoothie that I had for breakfast. Mmm.. chocolate

ok,ok.. before I go & get heavy again

Chocolate Berry Smoothie

1 heaping T almond butter
2 c water
2 bananas
lots of berries (I used org blueberries & strawberries)
handful goji berries
1t maca powder
lots of raw chcolate (I used a few squares of Chocosols chocolate – any flavor is good

Buckwheat Granola

2 c buckwheat – sprouted 24 hours
2 c almonds – soaked 12 hours
1 c walnuts - soaked
1 c pumpkin seeds - soaked
1 c sunflower seeds – soaked
1 c dried cranberries
1 c raisins
2 c org strawberries
1 orange – peeled

these things were all chopped up in a food processor & mixed with a liquidy syrup-paste made from blending together:

1 apple
2 c date paste
½ c maple syrup
1 T vanilla
1 T cinnamon
1 T salt

these are all really approximate amounts. When it is all mixed well together spread out on Teflex and dehydrate for approx 24 hours, flipping onto a mesh screen ½ way through drying.

I want to post one more thing – while on the animal topic – something Mom shared with me, a revelation she had around Christmas at a reading in church. It was from Isaiah 11: 1-9 . The reading was showing what the peace of Christ will bring.

Starting from 6: ‘The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ..’

Interesting.. it is saying that eventually even the lions will be vegetarian!
Cool!

Another Nye poem:

Making a Fist
by Naomi Shihab Nye

For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,

I felt the life sliding out of me,

a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.

I was seven, I lay in the car

watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.

My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.

"How do you know if you are going to die?"

I begged my mother.

We had been traveling for days.

With strange confidence she answered,

"When you can no longer make a fist."

Years later I smile to think of that journey,

the borders we must cross separately,

stamped with our unanswerable woes.

I who did not die, who am still living,

still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,

clenching and opening one small hand.