Reeh Look here!

Parashat Reeh  begins with Hashem essentially explaining, "Look, you have a choice. And choices bring about cosequences..."
This is something the girls and I talk about all the time. This week Cohava suffered a 'no ice cream' consequence followed by her parents suffering severely in the consequence of a miserable kid. I wonder if   Hashem feels like this when we experience negative consequences...

We are in the US now, enjoying summer. Walking outside, I announced, "Look!" All around us are wild blackberries.
Gabi, thinking of pe'ah, shichecha, and leket, asked if they were only for poor people. I explained that we were allowed to eat it, but there is another agricultural law they should know.
"In Israel, in addition to saving food for the poor, some food must be saved for the Kohanim. It is put to the side, with a bracha, and called Terumot and Maasrot."
"Like taking challah?" they asked.
"Exactly! But if we pick blackberries now, we don't have to do it."
"Why not?!?"
"We are in America. We were in Australia. And before that we were in Israel. Only in Israel is food saved for the Kohanim. The fruits of Israel are most special than any other fruits in the world."
"Wow," said Cohava. Gabi began reciting the seven species in Hebrew. Then everyone started picking blackberries.

 The problem with picking blackberries is that you cannot eat them right away because of potential bug infestations. 

At home, with our bags of berries, I got ziplock bags. In each bag I put some of the berries and then double bagged it. (Important for fighting the potential berry explosion).

Then the girls set to work mashing berries. This could obviously be done in a blender, but it was a lot more fun for them this way.

 I loaded the berries into a pitcher and added 1/3 c of sugar.  The sugar could easily be omitted. 

 Then we stirred the compound.

To get rid of the bug problem, we froze the compound. Then I cut some peaches and we poured water over the berry glop to make berry juice. Berry peach juice was good. 

Later we tried it by mixing the frozen compound with apple juice. It was even more delicious. If we were in Israel we would share it with the Kohanim.

Shabbat Shalom!