Sauerkraut from a novice

My five week old sauerkraut is tasting pretty good. I posted a couple photos on Facebook and from the questions and interest that followed, decided I should revisit my food blog and post how easy it is to make decent sauerkraut in photos.

I have a lot of cabbage and carrots that need to be put to good use. Here I've washed and started to clean up the cabbage. The bowls contain fennel seed, juniper berry, and salt. I decided later not to use the fennel seed and juniper berry.

The long white root is Daikon radish. 

That's a good sharp knife and the pink thing we found at the Thrift Store. It has a very sharp blade. It's called a mandolin. 

Salt, fennel seed, juniper berry. 

Decided not to use the fennel and juniper in this one. 

Going more toward curtido.

 Tule is chewing on the cabbage core.

 Cabbage and Daikon radish

Carrots now added and also salt. 

I'm using the rose salt.

Now you work it. My left hand is out of the photo because I have a cut on my finger and don't want to get salt in it. I found I could do this just fine with my right hand. Squeeze and crush and toss vigorously for a good 5 or 10 minutes. You start to get liquid, the brine.

I added these chile peppers. They are hot

And cauliflower.

 I worked the whole thing some more than found a wide mouth gallon jar and handful by handful pressed the wet, salty vegetables into the jar. Then pressed down some more with my fist.

I placed a clean rock on top and pushed it down. 

You can see how the liquid rises. 

I'll push it down again from time to time.

This will sit on my kitchen counter or in a cool place out of the sun with a cloth over the top.
I'll press it down as needed to keep the juices on top.
We'll taste it as it goes along but best to let it ferment for a couple weeks at least to develop the probiotics.

Please ask permission if you'd like to use these photos or blog. Thanks.

No knead, hot oven, long ferment bread

This rainy Sunday I baked the no-knead, long rise bread I started yesterday.

The recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html, I followed pretty closely. All whole wheat flour. Baked in a hot oven in a preheated cast iron skillet with a makeshift lid for the first half hour. Crusty, chewy. Here photographed on JB Blunk's wood board made from drift wood and Rufus Blunk's Bishop Pine shelf (in progress), just drying in the house now before patching a few knot holes and voids. And below that in one of these photos the Bishop Pine floor boards Rufus harvested and milled, now worn after twelve years of life and sun. Crusty, knotty, earthy, slowed life. It's good.

Apple Varieties

Gloucestershire

Ingrid Marie

Gloucestershire, Jonagold, Boskoop, Ingrid Marie

Food and Homeschooling converge in great powerpoint presentation

Found this on a Raw Milk Google group I subscribe to -

In front of a large audience in an auditorium, Birke Baehr, an eleven-year-old
homeschooler, executes a brilliant presentation of his PowerPoint on What Is
Wrong With Our Food System? Bold Birke says, “you can either pay the farmer or
pay the hospital."

http://wp.me/phmll-1cH

Silas makes wood boards

Silas and his friend, Tano, spent a number of days making wooden boards to sell at the Inverness fair. The ones in front here are made from Dutch elm. They also used madrone. Rufus helped them salvage the pieces - staying away from cracks, rotten parts, and blemishes. They did a rough cut then planed to the right thickness. They marked with a pencil and cut with a jigsaw. Rasp the edges with the surf form tool and finish the edges. Then fine sanding with an electric sander and hand sanding. Oil with food grade oil.

Tension and bad press in agriculture

Visited Rancher John yesterday. He tells me of the negative publicity around agriculture. How one or two negative stories in the press leave a bad impression broadly. In some ways the classification of organic - which tries to redefine agriculture - also diminishes agriculture. That both the organic and the other agriculture is part of one unified thing. There's a tension emphasized by the negative press yet the whole of agriculture needs to be supported. Back when my grandfather had a ranch, most people had some experience of where their food comes from. Or at least they weren't more than one or two people removed from an experience of agriculture.

Breakfast

Wake in the morning. Lemon and lime juice in water.

My homemade French style ORIGINAL yogurt.

Ground flax seeds.

Ruth's fresh figs.

Plus cup of coffee with cream.