Small birds - getting a breast of things.

I love birds and used to spend happy hours watching birds in the old apple tree at my previous house feeding on suet balls.  I am not going to talk about birds today. I want to focus on breasts: more specifically I want to talk about breast-feeding.

Breast-feeding, particularly in public places has been a really controversial issue in the last decade. Many Mums who have dared to feed in public have been told to stop. In an open-minded society like ours, surely we should be supporting women who want to give their babies the best (and cheapest) start in life by breast-feeding.  Formula milk is expensive, can cause allergic reactions and requires preparation with hot water and therefore access to a kettle. Breast milk is always on tap for new Mums and to quote Boris Johnson "is ready to go".

There is however a more pressing issue than upsetting a few narrow-minded individuals in the UK. Formula milk is being aggressively marketed in developing countries to the detriment of both mothers and babies. Nestle are particularly keen to increase sales in countries such as The Phillipines, offering financial incentives to medical practitioners who in turn push new mothers into using these products.

Formula milk may well be beneficial when a mother is under-nourished and unable to feed her baby well but the there are other factors to consider if these products become popular because they are recommended purely to boost the coffers of unscrupulous medics.

Formula milk is expensive and most of the women who are being encouraged to use it are extremely poor. The other major problem is that formula milk has to be made with hot water. In many third world countries, water is contaminated with bacteria and parasites. To be safe, contaminated water must be boiled and this is not possible. Heating water uses fuel and that is also an unnecessary expense for poor women. Breast milk is free and in most cases, far better for babies.

My own experience of breast-feeding was very positive and I recommend that every Mum should at least give it a go. The idea of having to get out of bed in the wee small hours to prepare a bottle is way out of my own comfort zone. I realise that there are problems for daddies who want to share in feeding baby but you can always express milk  for a bottle if that helps. The antibodies that pass from Mum to baby during breast-feeding make it worthwhile even if you only manage to feed for the first six weeks.

Getting a breast of things

A slender and small-breasted bird

Would shrug her shoulders when,

those women far more well-endowed

drew attention from the men.

My thirty-two cup double A

Made no impression whatsoever.

So I’d be set up with the ugly bloke

and talk about the weather.

As motherhood approached

I’d sit and think with trepidation,

would the art of feeding baby

be just bottle liquidation?

On the day of his arrival

my gorgeous new born son

suckled with his second breath

and bonding was begun.

My breasts, once insignificant

now flowed with rich ambrosia

a potent mix that kept him growing well

and sleeping cosier.

The promised first six weeks soon passed

with both of us content

and though my days were busy,

my supply was never spent.

The bloom upon his skin

reflected radiance in my heart

I revelled, simply knowing

I was giving the best start.

There’s no downside to breast-feeding

as my body could attest.

I just put him on the nipple

and the sucking did the rest.

Back in shape in no time -

wearing favourite jeans.

But don’t go thinking I was only young

or in my teens.

If you think that you can’t do it,

you won’t know unless you try.

Designer milk, the special gift

that money cannot buy!

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share. 

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Trees - they are our only hope.

I love trees.  I could tell you all about the five trees in my garden and thoroughly enjoy the process of blogging this week.  I could tell you all about the campaign I helped to launch in 2010 that raised funding for over 1,000 at an ecology park on the River Wyre. I don't need to write about that though, because I suppose many of you will have already seen them as you walk up the drumlin.  I hope that many of them will still be there when your great-great-grandchildren walk up the same hill, 60 years from now.

That is the wonderful thing about trees.  If we leave them to their own devices they out live us.  They are something that we can confidently pass on to future generations. That is; if we don't tear them down to build on the land where they thrive; if we don't pollute them until they no are no longer able to breath in carbon-dioxide and produce live-giving oxygen; if we don't decimate their populus to plant palm-oil trees, for the snack-food and cosmetics industry.

A Rainforest Action Network field investigation team has documented new evidence of large-scale, illegal rainforest destruction within habitat critical to the survival of the Sumatran elephant, tiger and orang-utan. RAN’s research has uncovered supply chain connections that link the rogue palm oil company responsible for the deforestation to major global brands through their shared supplier, Wilmar. The companies implicated include PepsiCo, McDonalds, Nestle, Unilever and Procter and Gamble.

I have been aware of the deforestation of Indonesia since reading an article in National Geographic in 2008. I was so affected by the destruction of orang-utan habitat that I wrote about it and spoke out against it. I also began a lifetime commitment by changing the products that I bought, completely cutting out any that had palm-oil content. It is harder than you would think - there are so many everyday products that contain palm-oil. Years ago I switched to vegetable suet, believing it to be better for my heart than beef suet.  I had no idea that the product is made from palm-oil and that orang-utans were being mercilessly killed to make sure that is a profitable crop.

I don't want to preach.  If you, like me, feel strongly about the rainforest, about the survival of the other species with whom we share this wonderful earth, there are many things that we can do. There are petitions to sign, we can lobby MP's, more importantly we can look at the content of the products that we buy and stop fuelling the destructive cruelty of the multi-national profiteers who are destroying our planet. So before you chose a pack of Dorito's or a can of Pepsi for your mid-movie snack, consider that the manufacturers of those products get rich at the expense of innocent, fragile wildlife.

Anyway - plant a tree, even a small fruit tree helps the ozone layer, provides nectar for birds and bees and the fruit will taste better than the ones in the shops. Did you know that if you have the freehold to your property, you can be buried in your own grounds?  Did you know that, after your death, your body can be put into a pod with a tree sapling and then you can provide the nourishment to help it thrive?  It makes cremation seem such a waste.

I wrote the poem at a Wordpool workshop last autumn and have waited for the right moment to share.  

 

Ode to a Tree

 

I bathe in your shadow,

striped by filtered light,

the gentle breeze bending as it curves around us.

A strange couple,

me,  just seven and a half,

 you more than a century.

What knowledge

passes from one to the other?

A child and tree.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading,  Adele   

 

 

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Chocolate - a millenium in the making.

The Mayans of Central America are believed to be the first to discover cocoa as early as 900 AD. They learned that the beans inside the cocoa pods could be harvested and made into a liquid that would become a treasured Mayan treat. Mayan chocolate differed from modern chocolate. It was a liquid made from crushed cocoa beans, chilli peppers and water. Central America had no sugar.  The liquid was poured from one cup to another until it made a foam. The word ‘chocolate’ is said to come from the Mayan word ‘xocolatl’ (show-cot-il) meaning  ‘bitter water.’ 

The Mayans called it the “food of the gods.” Cocoa was so revered that images of cocoa pods were painted on the walls of stone temples and Mayan artefacts have been found showing images of kings and Mayan gods drinking chocolate. Cocoa was often consumed during religious ceremonies and marriage celebrations. All Mayans could enjoy chocolate regardless of their social status.  

 

 

Cocoa quickly became a force in the Aztec economy. The demand for the cocoa bean brought about a huge network of trade routes throughout the region. When the Aztecs conquered the Mayans they enforced taxes. These taxes were called “tributes” and they were paid in cocoa, so the Aztecs, who couldn’t grow their own cocoa, could have a supply. Cocoa beans were kept in locked boxes in businesses and some enterprising Aztecs actually made counterfeit cocoa beans.

By 1400 AD, the Mayan power was decreasing. The Aztecs ruled over the highlands of central Mexico, far from the rainforests of the Mayans. Since the Aztecs could not grow their own cocoa, they had to trade to get the beans. The Aztecs also had their own word for chocolate: chocolatl (cho co LA til). Cocoa beans were very valuable. The Aztecs used them as money and were very protective of their beans. They paid for food, clothes, taxes, gifts, and offerings to their gods using cocoa beans. Having a pocket full of beans was like having a wallet full of cash. As far as the Aztecs were concerned, money really did grow on trees. 

According to legend, Quetzacoatl (ket za koh AH tul), the Aztec God of Vegetation, came to earth with a cocoa tree and taught the mortals how to cultivate cocoa and make a drink out of its beans. This made the other gods furious so they threw him out of paradise for sharing the sacred drink with humans. When he left, he vowed he would return: his promise would have tremendous consequences for the Aztecs.  

 

King Montezuma, the Aztec king, drank 50 cups of cocoa a day and an extra one when he was going to meet a lady friend. Aztec women were forbidden to drink it because of its stimulating effects. Unlike the Mayans, drinking cocoa was a luxury that few Aztecs could afford. Aztecs believed that wisdom and power came from eating the fruit of the cocoa tree. The drink was so precious that it was served in golden goblets that were thrown away after just one use.

In 1502, Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas. When he returned to Spain, he brought some cocoa beans back to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, but they were not especially interested in the strange new bean.  Hernan Cortes arrived in the Aztec homeland in 1519, the same year Quetzacoatl promised to return. Cortes happened to land at the exact spot from which the Aztec god departed. In his feather coated armour and gold jewellery, he reminded Aztecs of their returning god. No wonder Montezuma offered him a cup of cocoa and an entire cocoa plantation! It made Cortes’ conquest of the Aztec empire all the easier. 

It was not until Cortes returned to Spain in 1528 that the King and Queen took notice. Unlike Columbus, Cortes brought not only the beans but the recipe and the equipment necessary to make the chocolate beverage. For several decades, cocoa was mostly a Spanish secret, but its popularity quickly spread to the other countries of Europe. Some say the first chocolate makers were monks hidden away in monasteries who mistakenly shared their “secret” with their French counterparts.

Once cocoa started catching on, Spanish cooks experimented with the recipe and added sugar to sweeten it. In 1615 cocoa found its way into the court of the King Louis the Thirteenth of France at a royal wedding. His son, Louis the Fourteenth, was not a great cocoa fancier but played a major role in popularizing the drink. In 1659, he granted David Chaillou a ‘royal authorization’ to open the first chocolatier in Paris. Chocolate soon made its appearance in Great Britain. In 1657, the first English chocolate houses opened, much like today’s coffee houses. The drink was still considered a luxury and the shops were only open to men as a place to gamble and discuss politics.

Up until the mid-1700s, chocolate was made much the same way the ancient Mayans made it. Then during the industrial revolution, a series of technological innovations changed many things including the way chocolate was made. First, a Frenchman named Doret invented a hydraulic machine to grind cocoa beans into paste. Soon after, another Frenchman named Dubuisson created a steam driven chocolate mill. It was now possible to grind huge amounts of cocoa and mass-produce chocolate inexpensively and quickly so it was available to people all over Europe. Chocolate was no longer reserved for the elite.

In 1829, Coenraad Van Houten, a Dutch chemist, invented the cocoa press. It squeezed the cocoa butter out of the bean leaving the powder we now call cocoa. He also added alkaline salts to powdered chocolate helping it to mix better with water, giving a darker colour and milder flavour. This process is called “dutching” after the nationality of the inventor.  

Van Houten’s invention made it possible to separate the dry part of the cocoa bean (cocoa powder) and the wet part of the bean (cocoa butter). This separation allows chocolatiers to add different amounts of cocoa butter and cocoa powder together to make different flavours such as white chocolate, milk chocolate and cocoa powder. In 1830, Swiss Chocolatier Charles-Amedee Kohler mixed chocolate with nuts for the first time. A revolutionary advance occurred in 1847, when the Fry Company of Bristol created the world’s first eating chocolate. One year later, the very first chocolate bar appeared. After a 1000-year history as a beverage, this was the first time chocolate could be eaten.

In1875, Swiss born Daniel Peter (son-in-law of Henri Nestlé) added condensed milk to chocolate creating the first ‘milk chocolate.’ The food of the gods had come a long way from the spicy, bitter brew the Mayans knew. I recently discovered a new addition to the Thorntons Continental selection that has ticked all my personal boxes. Strong dark and rich. I really looked forward to buying a bag containing just this one, only to be told that I have to wait until June.  After over a thousand years to perfect it - I suppose it will be worth one more month. 

 

 

Shot in the dark

 

Once a Mayan gold mystery

extracted from cocoa beans

became an Aztec currency

stimulating dreams.

Treasure of the conquistadors,

beloved by the Spanish royalty,

a millenium was tempered

smoothly through your history.

Now deeply dark and sweetened

by chocolatier’s skilful hand,

a luxury taken for granted

in this, our plentiful land.

I salivate anticipation

of exquisite confectionery,

a tiny Thornton’s ‘espresso’ shot:

my taste of ecstasy.

 

Be sure to savour your luxuries.  Thank you for reading.  Adele

 

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