Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Growing Food Versus Buying It

"R' Achai ben Yoshiya says: One who purchases grain from the market [to make his own flour], to what can he be compared? To a baby whose mother died and they pass him from door to door among wetnurses and he is not satisfied. One who buys bread from the market, to what can he be compared? It's as if [his grave] is dug and [he is] buried. One who eats from his own [which he grew] is like a baby who is raised at his mother's breasts.

"He used to say: At the time that a person eats from his own, his mind is settled/tranquil for him. Even one who eats from his father's and from his mother's and from his children's, his mind is not settled/tranquil, and you don't [even] need to mention if he eats from that of others."

From Avos de'Rabbi Nasan, brought to my attention "Food For Thought," the Hazon sourcebook.

2 comments:

  1. Hi,

    Your blog got me to thinking about yeast starters...so I googled and was amazed..check it out, the following came from a 1980 Mother Earth News Article "On one of the daily foraging hikes, a member of the group (who was a biochemist, budding botanist, and well-versed historian, to boot) picked a handful of autumn-ripe Oregon grape berries and explained that the white powder covering the fruit was actually an atmospheric fungus . . . more commonly known as yeast!"

    As it turns out that powdery residue is on lots of berries and wild (what we call Possum Grapes in the south)grapes! So I have set my frozen wild grapes out to thaw and will proceed in hopefully making my own sourdough starter!

    I know nothing about what is kosher and what is not, so forgive my ignorance and please inform me, could a Jewish person who wanted to be in accordance with the kosher laws make such a starter? Or is there not enough control in the process?

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  2. Shalom and greetings - I have a request if you could please entertain it. I would prefer if you could please shoot me an email at my google account. It is most urgent. It is regarding a comment posted over 7 years ago that haunts me to this day wherein you referenced me by name. Is there an email address I could email you at to discuss this?

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