We’ve been blessed with a cooling break the past week or so
but during our long, hot and dry span I was getting really uncomfortable in my
un-air-conditioned house. I’d been
drinking a lot of that popular sweetened, peach-flavored “iced” tea and thought
it was too sweet so I thought I’d make some sun tea in the left over 2 liter
bottles. Going online to figure out how
many tea bags per 2 liters I should use I discovered several links to sites
warning of the dangers of sun tea. I was
already thinking that sun tea takes a while and I never really found it all
that tasty so this really put me off.
After investigating a little I decided against making sun tea but, in
that heat, I really didn’t want to make tea and then wait for it to cool off.
Here is a link to the Snopes article on sun tea:
It seemed like more attention needed for the process than I
wanted to give so I looked for more solutions.
What I found was a process for making refrigerator tea which I’ve been
making since. I use the discarded plastic 2 liter bottles from that
well-known, popular tea that I like so much (I don’t name brands anymore unless they
want to advertise and help support me, sorry.)
Here is my methodology for refrigerator tea. It occurs to me that this may be equally
hazardous to sun tea so proceed at your own risk. I’ve been using this method for over a month
now and no problems so far.
- Fill a clean 2 liter container with filtered water. (I keep
2 water filter pitchers filled in my refrigerator most of the time) Fill to
about 1 inch from the bottom of where the cap screws on.
- Select one or more of your favorite bagged teas. (I’m still
experimenting with a variety of black, green and herbal teas) The bags should
have strings.
- Holding the tags at the end of the string, insert one teabag
at a time into the water, keeping the string and tag draped outside. Insert 7 to 8 teabags this way. I find that holding on the bundle of tags as
you insert each bag keeps the strings even and keeps the teabags from sliding
into the bottle.
- Using a table knife or narrow handle of a cooking spoon,
holding the tags of the teabags to keep them from falling into the bottle, push
the teabags beneath the water several times until they appear mostly saturated.
- Pull the tags and strings straight but not too taut but
leaving the teabags immersed in the water and gently, slowly screw on the cap.
- Put the bottle into your refrigerator for at least 4 hours
but preferably longer and even overnight.
You can thinly slice lemon and/or lime, squeeze the juice
into the water and insert the slices. I
also shave the rind (no white) and add it.
You can add fresh or frozen peach slices, strawberries and other fruit
that you like. So far, I’ve not found
that the fruit, other than the citrus adds much flavor so maybe I need more. I don’t add sweetening until later, if at
all.
Generally it’s been a weaker tea than the commercial brand I
sometimes still drink but that’s ok for me; I just want some flavor to what I
drink. It’s made cold and stays cold and
it’s refreshing and satisfies a need for something cold to drink on those
uncomfortably hot days.
Miscellaneous Observations
Since I’ve given up on my business I’ve been trying to think
of something I can do online to make a little money to eventually supplement my
retirement that’s not far aware. I’m
still interested in unique independent businesses but, call it sore grapes, I won’t
be promoting any businesses anymore unless I get something out of it. There are a ton of really interesting little
businesses throughout New Jersey. I
still find them exciting. But, I spent
months collecting information, web sites, and putting a database together and
didn’t make a dime. So, I’m done with that.
I’m a librarian, most of my life. But, I’m not a best seller librarian; I’m
more of an information dispensing librarian.
I love to help people find whatever information they need for whatever
they need it (as long as it’s legal, of course). So, if anyone read this and has a brilliant
idea about what I might do with that experience and ability, let me know. So far I don’t think anyone reads this, not
even my friends so….
So, observations: I see some healthy trends.
Return to local, small business – I think this is really
happening; more and more. I plan to continue to promote
the idea. I think it’s intelligent,
sensible, and economically healthy. It
doesn’t mean we don’t need some things from big business. Where else would I buy gas? While I’d like to see more choice in cable
providers, I would continue to feel most comfortable with experienced and
well-financed cable companies. The same
with phone and Internet access providers.
I don’t really need most things imported either.
Packaging. I, myself,
have become more aware of the amount of packaging that clutters our lives. I’ve been trying to find ways to eliminate
more and more of it. Food packaging is
mostly for processed foods so eating more whole foods automatically eliminates
some of that packaging. Supermarkets,
though, have, for some time, packaged produce, probably at the insistence of
people who are afraid of “those other people” who might have touched the fruits
and vegetables they want to buy. This
morbid paranoia about germs is part of a number of problems we currently have
and need to move away from. Germs are
everywhere and always have been and the population is growing, not shrinking so
I think we, as a species, are ok if we’re sensible in how we move through
life. Besides, who thinks that packaging eliminates germs? So, reducing the need for
packaging is, I believe, a good effort to make.
Plastic – Do you remember that some of us, self-proclaimed,
hippies used the word plastic as a derogatory adjective? That’s because we saw it’s proliferation in
our lives. We saw synthetic (plastic)
double knits as an indicator of the opposition.
Well, plastics also have their place but have become an enormous
environmental problem. There are many
organizations fighting to reduce and eliminate plastic in the environment. I was recently called to attention by the Two Hands Project when I mentioned collecting refuse at a local park in plastic bags
which went into my garbage. They told me
they don’t use plastic garbage bags. I
stopped buying garbage bags some time ago and recycle my plastic grocery bags
for my garbage. No, I don’t use reusable
bags for my groceries because I always forget to take them into the store with
me and now I can find mine and I refuse to pay for the ones the stores
well. Mine are canvas and were free,
picked up at various library conferences.
But, I’ve been given the challenge of eliminating those plastic bags as
well and wracked my brain for weeks trying to think of a solution. I recently found instructions online
for making origami pouches. I’ve modify the instructions to make much larger liners for
wastebaskets. I’m trying to find a way
of making a video to demonstrate.
Reducing or eliminating packaging usually means plastic.
Slow Living – I’m seeing an increasing number of people
returning to a saner, quieter, slower way of life. A friend of mine and I are at or near
retirement age. We’re single women. We’re trying to figure out what to do
next. One of the things we’ve been
discussing is living overseas where things are less expensive. We’ve also been thinking about, researching,
looking at intentional communities where people of like mind have joined
together to live a different lifestyle from the mainstream. We’re also interested in combining the 2 and
looking for intentional communities abroad. I'll keep you posted about this.
Pigheaded thinking – I'm seeing also, unfortunately in my
thinking, a lot of people clinging to dreams of the economy just before the
crash and wanting to get back there. I
think it’s a mistake. That lifestyle,
that economy and that focus of thinking was what created the economic mess we’re
in today. Going back there is the wrong
direction. We need to rethink
everything. That particular American
dream – accumulating stuff, buying whatever the latest gadget is, constantly
seeing celebrities as models for living, is a model for the disaster that was
caused by greed and a race toward a meaningless future. I’ve already seen ads for programs about
flipping houses, ads for useless products, ads for new models of many things
that differ from the last mostly in unnecessary features that are cute or
entertaining. I’m moving in an almost
opposite direction. What stuff can I
eliminate from my life? What devices do
I have or can I find to replace power tools of any kind?
Middlemen – A friend tells me he appreciates the middlemen
that make his life possible but most of the examples he cited make it possible for him
to have stuff he doesn’t really need which I’m sure is not of concern to him; he wants
those things. If I buy produce from
farmer’s markets, I eliminate a LOT of middlemen. Middlemen increase the prices of many
things. Middlemen don’t produce
anything. The entire financial industry
is mostly unnecessary. Wall Street is
nothing but a highly elevated Atlantic City, Tahoe, Vegas and Monaco combined.
So, now I’m looking for ways to bypass middlemen
whenever possible. I don’t have any good
examples yet but eating out is certainly something on my mind. I run out, frequently, to get fast food (I’m
no purist in any respect) or a sandwich.
Even if I go to a sit down restaurant, I find, in many cases, that I’m a
much better cook so why am I paying someone to cook for me worse than I can cook for myself. Granted, when I was
working and commuting full time (I’m semi-retired), cooking after work was
often more than I could gather energy for.
But, eating more naturally and simply, rather than thinking I have to
cook a full meal, just for me, every night, makes it possible to have good
healthy food and not pay someone else to prepare it. I’ll try to find more examples of this.
I know that some of you pay people to clean
your house, walk your dog, do your laundry.
Some of you need these services and, as a librarian who’s supported myself most of my life in public (service)
employment, I certainly feel that providing a service is a valid business
model. But, I do think there are layers
and layers of middlemen who are inflating the prices of too many things in our
lives.
A word of advice – Moderation in all things. I’m not a purist in any respect, as I
mentioned earlier. I do what I can, when
I can. I try to learn and do more to
live a sensible, meaningful, low-impact life on a continual basis. I don’t think beating each other up over
every little thing is a good way to make changes happen. I think disseminating information and getting
people to think about their choices are useful efforts. I’m a librarian, what else would I think? That's what I'm trying to do here.
is of interest as, in plain English, it's along the line of spiritual inquiry that I've been studying, on and off, for years.
and will, eventually, pay for it, as it already is, in lack of support. After all best sellers are everywhere, in multiple formats and some of us aren't interested in that; we're looking for something much more.
