Judith Russenberger

Counting on …day 1.161

30th August 2023

Peas and beans can also be used ground up as flour. (Again you can buy different flours from Hodmedod’s).

Pea and bean flour can be used to replace some of the wheat flour in things such as bread, cakes, pastry and pasta, adding more protein to these foods. Pea and bean flour can be used to replace egg in foods such as frittata, pancakes and Yorkshire puddings. (Experiment with vegan recipes for these).

Pea and bean flour can be used to thicken liquids and to make sauces. Mix with a little water as if it were corn flour and add in/into the hot liquid. (You can make these sauces in a microwave to to save energy).

Counting on …day 1.160

29th August 2023

Seven different times of pea and bean –

Top row: marrow fat peas, split wrinkled peas (these are the peas that didn’t quite make it to the freezing plant in time)

Bottom row: flamingo peas, chick peas, split yellow peas, split fava beans, red carlin peas.

All these are UK grown and come from the retailer Hodmedod. They will provide the basis for a number of meals. For example –

Mushy peas and fried sweet potatoe
Risi bisi*
Ratatouille and wild rice
Hummus and toast
Dhal and rice
Vegetable lasagna
Tagine with millet

NB I weigh a daily portion of beans into a glass jar, add water and leave to soak. Then I place all the jars in a large pan, half fill with water and bring to the boil. Letting it simmer for 30 minutes before turning of the heat. This gives me 7 jars of ready cooked beans.

*https://greentau.org/2022/06/29/counting-on-day-228/

Counting on … day 1.159

28th August 2023

What often worries people when swopping to a plant-based diet is getting enough protein. We have been brought up understanding that we need protein and that meat, fish and dairy are all good sources of protein. The recommended daily protein consumption is 55.5 grams per person for adult men and 45 grams per person for adult women which ideally would be spread throughout the day. 100g of chicken or beef equates to about 30g of protein, 100g salmon about 25g, 1/2 litre of milk about 15g and 50g of cheese about 12g. As in addition a couple of slices of bread can contain 6g of protein, 100g of rice 10g it is not surprising that many people consume more than the recommended amount. https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthy-sustainable-diets/protein/?level=Consumer

As well as bread and rice, protein can be found in beans, pulses and tofu – about 8g per 100g (cooked weight); nuts and seeds about 5g per 25g (a tablespoon of peanut butter is about 4g); in green vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli about 3g per 100g. Combining beans/ pulses/ peanut butter with grains such as rice/bread/pasta provides an optimal mix of amino acids present in protein. This makes simple dishes such as beans on toast, a peanut butter sandwich, hummus and pitta bread, rice and dhal an excellent source of nutrition.

12th Sunday after Trinity, Proper 16

27th August 2023

Reflection (readings are below)

The story from Genesis is one of various people collaborating with God in opposing the evil designs of the Pharaoh and ultimately in saving Moses. Characters such as the Hebrew midwives, trust in the importance of doing what is right, what is righteous- which is of course, to do the will of God. Even the Pharaoh’s daughter who doesn’t know God, does what is right and therefore does what is God’s will.

It could well be that the Hebrew midwives, who felt so strongly that they had to what was right rather than what the Pharaoh commanded, would not have lived long enough to see the positive outcome of their actions in the shape of the Exodus. Maybe that is how it is for climate activists, for social justice activists, for peace activists: they all choose to act according to what is right and to oppose rules and social trends that are destructive or evil in design. And likewise many may not see the long term positive outcomes of their actions.

Psalm 124 reminds us that to do what is right is to have God on one’s side -that can be a timely reminder for those times when we feel that our faith in a better, God-shaped, future is wavering.

Paul in his writings often contrasts the way of the world (ie bad) with the ways of God (good). I often find this puzzling as for me the ‘world’ encompasses nature, the intricate and wonderful workings of ecosystems, the beauty of plants and creatures, the awe and wonder of snow capped mountains and rosy sunrises. When Paul writes about the ‘world’ I think he is looking at the human machinations that create system of oppression, of destruction, of greed and selfishness. II is therefore in contrast with this understanding of the world that Paul sees the many gifts of God – prophecy and perception, ministering and caring, teaching and nurturing, exhorting and encouraging, generous giving and sharing, dispassionate leadership, compassion and cheerfulness.

And it is all these gifts, combined and used collaboratively, that can create the world that God desires. Indeed that is the story that unfolds in the Book of Exodus.

So to today’s gospel. Who is Jesus? What does it means for us to understand Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God? Peter makes his declaration on the basis of what he has seen Jesus doing, on his experience of walking along side Jesus, of seeing how Jesus responds to the ways of the world. We have the writings of the Gospels, which we can study Jesus’s actions, and our prayer life with which to build companionship with Jesus, and the fellowship of others, to enable us to know Jesus as Peter did. In this way like Peter, hopefully we too can find in Jesus the perfect lived example of God’s righteousness.

Returning to Paul’s letter and his understanding of God’s diverse distribution of gifts functions best when brought together as parts of a body, can it be that as a community we may have people like Pater who clearly see who Jesus is, and who can share that insight, and along side have people like the Hebrew midwives who understand what actions God wishes us to take. Combining these insights and through collaboration then we too can produce result greater than we could imagine.

Exodus 1:8-2:10

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labour. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Psalm 124

1 If the Lord had not been on our side, *
let Israel now say;

2 If the Lord had not been on our side, *
when enemies rose up against us;

3 Then would they have swallowed us up alive *
in their fierce anger toward us;

4 Then would the waters have overwhelmed us *
and the torrent gone over us;

5 Then would the raging waters *
have gone right over us.

6 Blessed be the Lord! *
he has not given us over to be a prey for their teeth.

7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; *
the snare is broken, and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the Name of the Lord, *
the maker of heaven and earth.

Romans 12:1-8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God– what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Matthew 16:13-20

When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Counting on … day 1.158

25th August 2023

A flat white coffee contains about 140ml of milk (about quarter of a pint) but the barista is likely to heat more milk than is necessary to create a perfect cup and the excess will be discarded. So one way of reducing your dairy consumption might be to swop to a non dairy milk for your coffee – eg an oat flat white (or latte or cappuccino). You may be surprised how palatable you find this – many people find the slight sweetness of oat milk enhances the coffee.

You can swop dairy milk for oat milk in baking, when making custard and white sauces, and in porridge.

As with milk so it is equally easy to replace dairy butter with a plant-based butter – these have a similar texture and taste to dairy butter. You can swop dairy for plant-based butter on bread, in baking and pastry making, for white sauces and risottos, in baked potatoes etc.

If we all went vegan what would happen to all the cows? https://greentau.org/2022/09/23/the-green-tau-issue-53/

Counting on … day 1.157

24th August 2023

If agricultural expansion is to be reversed, it will need the combined efforts and cooperation of governments, farmers, consumers, commodity traders, financiers, retailers, and environmental scientists. One of the most important areas to change will be that of meat production.

‘Of all the world’s land surface, approximately 71% is ‘habitable land’; half of this land is used for agriculture. Currently, pastures used for grazing and land used to grow crops for animal feed account for 77% of agricultural land, thus comprising nearly 30% of the total land surface of the planet…If we combine pastures used for grazing with land used to grow crops for animal feed, livestock accounts for 77% of global farming land. While livestock takes up most of the world’s agricultural land it only produces 18% of the world’s calories and 37% of total protein.’ https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture

Across Europe governments are, to a greater or lesser extent, aiming to reduce meat production on farms and meat consumption amongst populations. The Irish government for example, is looking to reduce its dairy herd by 65000 animals per year over the next three years. The Dutch government is planning to reduce its cattle numbers for 30% by 2030. The Climate Change Committee in the UK has recommended livestock cuts of 20-50% for beef and lamb, whilst at the same time recommending a 20% reduction on meat and dairy in the UK diet.

Reducing cattle numbers will free up more land for plant crops and so feed more people and/ or rewilding which will boost biodiversity.

Over the next few days I will be looking at easy ways of adapting to a more focused plant based diet.

For further info in farming, land use and biodiversity see

Green Tau: issue 21

The Green Tau: issue 20

Counting on…. Day 1.157

23rd August 2023

If we need to slow down agricultural expansion, do we know what caused its expansion? There is I’m sure no one answer but a multiplicity of interconnecting reasons.

Population growth. Globally we now need to feed over 8 billion people, up from 6 billion in 1999, and 3 billion in 1960. Yet researchers tell us that we could feed 10 billion people without exceeding the planet’s environmental boundaries (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0465-1)
Income growth – as people become richer they choose to eat more expensive foods which are often more resource expensive too – eg imported tropical fruits, sugar based foods, and especially meat
Developments in agriculture that allow more intensive production such as pig breeds that can reach a slaughter weight in 4 months; high protein feed made from soy beans that rapidly fatten chickens; high yielding grains that combine with fertilisers and pesticides to increase harvests.
Financial rewards that encourage rain forests to be cleared to make way for sugar plantations, soy crops and cattle ranching.
Irrigation and airfreight that allow crops such as asparagus, avocados and blueberries to be grown in the southern hemisphere and imported as out of season alternatives for the northern hemisphere.
Social changes that have made chicken a staple rather than a special treat, that have reduced the popularity of foods – in the UK – such as cabbage and runner beans, replacing them with courgettes and peppers.
Social changes that mean less food is home produced, that less food is preserved at home (eg jam/ chutney/ sauerkraut), that less food is home grown.
Increasing quantities of food going to waste – caused by social changes and increasingly long supply chains.

Counting on … day 1.155

22nd August 2023

Recently the government ordered that cartoon murals in the centres where asylum seekers are taken, be painted over. In a come back to that callous and unnecessary action, a petition has been set up asking for the murals to be reinstated, as well as a scheme to send welcoming postcards to the 9000 plus children seeking asylum.

https://findothers.com/tools/postcards-for-refugee-children

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/22/asylum-seeker-children-cartoons-postcards-murals-painted-over?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on …. Day 1.154

21st August 2023

Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether a beautiful rural landscape is the ‘natural’ one as being in its primordial state, or whether it is a ‘natural’ one this is the fusion of human activity in harmony with nature. The two may look very different eg moorlands covered with forests versus moorlands covered with grass and sheep; or low-lying land that is marshy or low-lying land that has been drained and cultivated for arable crops.

The following comments come from the Natural History Museum.

“’What we repeatedly see in our models is that agriculture is one of the main drivers of strong biodiversity declines,’ says Katia. ‘Even when we consider different human pressures, such as human population density and road development, we always find that the most shocking biodiversity declines are across agricultural sites.

‘That is the key point, the fact is that we need to find a way to slow down agricultural expansion.’

The continued spread and intensification of farming and development in the UK over the last 200 years has meant that most landscapes have not escaped some form of human influence.

The fact that this started such a long time ago means that in some cases we think of these altered landscapes as being their natural state, when in reality they were already heavily depleted of their wildlife’”. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/september/uk-has-led-the-world-in-destroying-the-natural-environment.html

14th Sunday after Trinity, Proper 15

20th August 2023

Reflection (readings below)

Who will, or who is, God saving? That certainly seems to be the subject of today’s readings. Is just the Jew or the foreigner as well? Is it just those the Christians who believe in God as revealed by Jesus Christ, or is it the Jews too – who were the first to believe in God? Did Jesus come just to save those Jews described as the lost sheep of Israel, or those Gentiles who believe in his power to heal, too? And what of the Pharisees? Does their blindness, their failure to recognise Jesus for who he is, exclude them from being saved? Are they not also some of the lost sheep of Israel?

The passage from Isaiah suggests that salvation comes to those who ‘maintain justice and do what is right’, although the afterthought is that such salvation is for those foreigners who love God and live according to his covenant, his ways. God is God for all people, and there is a beautiful image of God gathering in all these people – a God with wide and open arms?

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, seems to be saying that in the past (pre Jesus) the Jews had been saved because of their relationship with God through the mosaic covenant but that now they are in an in between situation having not believed in Jesus, and yet have not been rejected by God. Indeed Paul is confident that this situation will be reversed such that both those who believe in Jesus now and those who do not as yet believe, will all be saved. All will be shown mercy – loving acceptance- by God.

Then in Matthew’s Gospel we hear of a discourse between Jesus and a Canaanite woman: who has Jesus come to save? Just those of the House of Israel, ie the Jews, or Gentiles too? Paying closer attention, is it any or all Jews Jesus has come to save, or just those who are lost? To be lost is not to know where one is or to know where one should be going. To be lost is to know one’s vulnerability and to know one’s need for someone to guide you. The Canaanite woman knows she is as is as lost as the lost of the house of Israel and she knows she needs help. And Jesus responds to that.

That is how we are all saved: by realising and accepting our own helplessness and knowing that our way to healing, to salvation, is through following the guidance, the example, of Jesus. Jesus shows us how to live in harmony with God’s will and therefore in harmony with the rest of creation, in a life of justice and righteousness.

But what of animals and birds, fish and plants? Are they not equally part of God’s creation and worthy of being saved? Or is their salvation automatic rather than something to be sought? Or is their salvation tied to that of we humans? Certainly it would seem that our human inability to live in harmony with each other and with the rest of creation, is the cause of much suffering – the depletion of the soils so that they cannot sustain plant life, the poisoning of the waters so that they cannot support life, the overloading of the atmosphere with greenhouse gases causing the planet to overheat, the expansion of human habitation (including industrial and agricultural land use) so that millions of species have become extinct. Yes, it would seem that the salvation of the whole of creation is linked to the salvation of humankind. We need all to realise and understanding our failure to do what is just and right, our fallenness – or lostness – that needs the wisdom of God to brings us back into the right way of living, back into harmony with God.

As today’s psalm says: “Let [God’s] ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations…[so that] the earth has brought forth her increase; may God, our own God, give us his blessing. May God give us his blessing, and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.”

Isaiah 56:1,6-8

Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,

for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,

all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant–

these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;

for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.

Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel,

I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.

Psalm 67

1 May God be merciful to us and bless us, *
show us the light of his countenance and come to us.

2 Let your ways be known upon earth, *
your saving health among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide all the nations upon earth.

5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.

6 The earth has brought forth her increase; *
may God, our own God, give us his blessing.

7 May God give us his blessing, *
and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Matthew 15: 21-28

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.