Last week, Andrew Bondarenko, a photographer, told me about a 6-month road trip he’ll embark upon at the end of June in order to raise awareness about plastic pollution. An avid hiker and backpacker, Andrew hopes to travel to the most popular trails, forests, lakes, national parks, national monuments, mountains and beaches in the US—and take pics […]
self reliance
Two Spring Webinars: Sourdough Starter and Ginger Beer
I have scheduled two webinars for the spring—one on May 3rd and one on June 7th. Both take place at 4pm Pacific Time. If you can’t attend these, you can watch the recorded webinars later. If you attend, however, you can ask me questions in real time using the chat window next to the live […]
Off-the-Grid Kombucha
Because you want to take your hippie game to the next level… The word “ferment” comes from the Latin verb “fervere,” to boil One of the benefits of making fermented foods is that you can prepare many of them without consuming energy. So, after the apocalypse, I’ll still be able to eat my mouth-watering fermented salsa, […]
Charlotte’s Soft Pretzels
This may sound harsh but if you want your kids to learn how to bake, don’t buy them snack foods. When we went plastic-free, I stopped buying crackers and cookies. If my kids want crackers or cookies, they make crackers or cookies. Not only have they learned baking skills, they also eat fewer snacks—sometimes the […]
How to Sprout Beans, Grains and Seeds
Sprouts are good for you. — me I tried to find a credible source to cite for the nutritional benefits of consuming sprouts. My search results listed page after page of blog posts touting the benefits of sprouts and sprouting. Although I do believe sprouting provides health benefits, I can’t cite just anyone, especially another blogger. […]
Why and How to Make Sauerkraut and Krautchi
Click here to jump to the recipe I recently overhauled my website and a couple of my fermentation lesson plans went missing. Oops! I like to refer my students to these after class in case they have questions. Fortunately I found this one on fermented sauerkraut and krautchi. If you want to get healthy in 2017, feed […]
14 Benefits of Cooking
Yes, cooking requires time. But I’m not advocating a five-course meal every night. Dinner can be very simple: rice and beans with a side salad; a quick stir-fry; revamped leftovers. I don’t cook anything very elaborate. I simply try to eat a healthy diet—one devoid of processed food. (Read this post for 18 time-saving tips […]
How to Make Eggshell Calcium Powder
My daughter MK made me some homemade toothpaste a couple of years ago that I really liked. It was very similar to this recipe but she added calcium powder to it. She bought calcium supplements and emptied the contents of the gelatin capsules into her toothpaste concoction. I have wanted to make her toothpaste recipe […]
Garlic-Dill Pickles
For pickles, fermentation was the primary means of preservation until the 1940s, when direct acidification and pasteurization of cucumber pickles was introduced. — The Art of Fermentation Store bought pickles may taste good but to render them shelf-stable, food manufacturers pasteurize the cucumbers in vinegar. On the plus side, they last forever. On the down […]