Betty Firecrocker, Food Not Bombs and Zines

Being a teenage girls in the 90s, Zines were a big part of my life. I still love Zines. I have several binders filled with Zines in plastic page protectors, cataloged by topic. (I know. It's very nerdy in a librarian kind of way.)

Another nerdy secret I have is my secret identity, Betty Firecrocker. She enjoys cooking, zines and liberating food with a group called Food Not Bombs (amongst other super powers). When I was living in Raleigh, I worked intensively with RFNB on a weekly basis. We collected groceries which were destined for the dumpster, sorted out what was compostable and what was good for consumption, collected boxes for families in need, distributed unusable items (non vegetarian) to soup kitchens, set up a free market called Raw on the Wall for those who need groceries, and prepared a hot vegetarian meal to serve. We often cooked at my house and I took part in many events with them. We served food and drinks and gave away flowers at large protests and served meals to activist.

I put together a little Zine with some of the stuff we did.
I have hopes that this will be ongoing and we can compile a cookbook with recipe ideas for food we give away at Raw on the Wall and a collection of recipes we prepare for meals at Moore's Square and protests and events. I hope one of our veteran members will write up the history of RFNB as my time involved has only been since 2012. I haven't been volunteering as much lately due to funds for gas and just too much to do, and making this helps me still feel involved. I miss spending time with my Food Not Bombs Family, as you can see in the pictures, we had a lot of fun, and these photos don't even begin to cover all the fun times we had!

If you print the photos full page size, in order, printing on the back of the page, it will assemble like a Zine.
Enjoy, duplicate, pass on.

I'm adding a few more pictures, because they are fun.
Cooking to serve food at Moore's Square in my old kitchen. 1hr to prep a full meal for about 100 people.

The Apple Cart, handing out flowers, literature, fruit and water to protestors at an early Moral Monday event.

March Against Monsanto. We made monster corn puppets, and Kevin had a special outfit for the event. A lot of us from RFNB marched together and we carried the banner. We had a healthy picnic in the grass afterwards and we have great video of Kevin frolicking through the field in his costume while Amanda plays the ukulele. I'll have to try and find a link to that.

Wild and Free: Foraging a spring cocktail

Today I decided to forage spring violets for violet syrup to make a cocktail.

We gathered about a cup of violets from our yard. When foraging, it's good to know how much you need so you don't take more than you need. I left the violets that weren't opened yet and for every three I pick, I leave one behind so that there will always be some left.

I washed the violets with water and vinegar and water two more times just to make sure they were clean. (We have chickens in our yard and countless deer and other critters.)

Next I boiled a cup and a half of water, poured it over the flowers and let them seep for 2 hrs.

After the violets have seeped, strain the liquid. It should be a beautiful color of blue.

Next, add the juice of half a lemon. As you pour it in the liquid will swirl and dance into a beautiful purple color. It's science magic!
Add 3/4 cups of sugar and reheat the liquid on the stove. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Let the liquid thicken into a syrup (about 10-15 mins).

Once the syrup has cooled, you can use it for many different things. I chose to make a cocktail!

Vodka Lemonade with Violets
Juice of 1.5 lemons
2 oz vodka
Water and ice to fill glass
Violet syrup to taste