Oat Milk Recipe & the Ever Evolving Adaptable Earth Activist
I quit dairy milk because I couldn’t trust that the source was ethical, that the animals were treated right, that the milk wasn’t ultra contaminated with hormones etc.
I also didn’t like the way it made me feel.
Then I quit plastics and had another reason to avoid it.
I became super into making my own nut milks. Soaked almonds and blended them every morning with some cinnamon and dates for smoothies, lattes, porridge, etc.
Then I learned that to grow only ONE almond it takes a whopping 1.1 gallons of water!
California, a state infamous for perpetual drought, produces 82% of the world’s almonds. So, I decided to use less plant milk in my life. When I wanted milk, I would make OAT MILK when in the US and only make almond milk when in Australia, where I could buy local Australian almonds.
Until I learned that Australian almonds are grown in drought-stricken Murray Valley! Damn!
We are so screwed as consumers with such an overload of options. We are all tempted by the cheapest, yet what are the environmental, social, and economic costs of us making that decision? What are your thoughts? Am I then hurting the farmers because I am not supporting their crop for environmental reasons? What is the social cost if we all boycott almonds on these farmers? What is the economic influence of vegans avoiding milk, is this hurting the dairy farmers who are raising healthy cows within regenerative agriculture systems? How can we know our impact if we are not asking about theirs? We have to ask more questions! (Hear my thoughts on how soy products fuel the industrial meat industry far more than your vegan protein.)
It’s tough. The more we learn, the more frustrating and limiting it can feel. Or we can frame it like, the more we know the more empowered and free we become to make choices that truly align with our values.
I think we are in a time where we have to be both strict with ourselves and compassionate. We have to really push ourselves to our limits within our resources and boundaries. We have to make the nut milk, and make it YUMMY, so that it’s a legitimate alternative to the store-bought. UNTIL we find out more, learn more, grow and evolve and adapt.
It’s like that Maya Angelou quote “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
The best we can, has to be a bloody good effort. If we have the resources, we have to make some drastic changes. We cannot afford to make excuses any longer. Our consumption is exploding, our waste is beyond control, plastic production is ramping up, our forests are burning, our oceans are cooking, our arctic ice is melting faster than predicted. It’s time to blend oats and squeeze some plant milk from a bag.
We cannot afford to perpetuate the extreme pollution of industrial animal agriculture, we must all cut WAY back on the animal products we consume if we must consume any at all. We must ASK questions of where this food came from! How it was grown! We need to know, because, frankly, most food is fucked. Most food, which might be more accurately worded as “food products” is so processed, thus so bad for us and bad for the planet and wrapped in plastic that is even worse for everything and everyone.
(I take a deep breath)
If you like nuts & you have a legitimate local source, for goodness sake stick with your delicious creamy nut milks! Otherwise, enjoy this oat milk or for gluten-free quinoa flake milk. (Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it does it??)
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup oats
4 cups water
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 medjool date
RECIPE
BLEND
STRAIN
STORE IN FRIDGE. Should last 3-5 days.
It can feel totally overwhelming to constantly be adjusting our eating habits.
I drank almond milk for years before realising how water intensive almonds are & deciding to adjust my consumption. I have to ask where the dates come from, where the sea salt comes from. I end up feeling like I live in that episode of Portlandia where they ask the chicken’s name & visit it’s birth place before eating it. It feels crazy. But isn’t it also crazy that we are so disconnected from our food that we don’t know this information? That it is in some cases intentionally hidden from us? That we don’t even know where the nuts are grown and by who and in what conditions. That regular almonds don’t have to be labeled with all the pesticides they get doused with but organic almonds have to pay for their title. That we just buy these items in plastic or in bulk, from another store lined with goods coming from who knows where.
We are starting to switch on to the packaging. Now we must continue further back the supply chain, asking more questions about how far it traveled, how it was grown, etc. If we care about our health enough to try to eat healthy, eat organic, exercise, etc. we should be asking far more questions. If we care about the planet enough to cut back on plastics, cut out animal products, cut back on flying, we should be asking far more questions about everything we think about buying. Food, clothing, personal care, all products.
We are ALL activists. No matter how small, if you are making small changes, you are acting with your health and the health of the planet in mind. This makes you an activist! And we must be ever evolving. We must be committed to being open to change. We must be adaptable! So that we are not attached to one way. So that we are open to new information as it comes, and open to changing for the better.
As we learn almonds are likely stressing the local environment more than supporting, perhaps it’s oat milk season! Strict and hardcore for our personal approach, until we learn different and then we adapt.
Oats seem fairly benign as far as a crop goes, and they don’t even contain gluten, yet all the gluten-allergic folks will have to avoid because of the likelihood of contamination by another naughty grain, so safe they stick with nuts or bail on milks all together. And why so many gluten allergies? Perhaps because the industrial processing of grains? A bit too chemical heavy and causing our bodies to reject the stuff? Probs.
DO YOUR BEST. STAY OPEN. MILK THE PLANTS!