My Kombucha

Sounds like a song I have on my iphone. From the 80s. We will learn more about me and the 80s below.

While I have a little downtime from growing and putting up food, I thought I'd share a little of my fermenting experiments.
 
Last month, a really nice lady, Rima, came into the studio and gave a presentation on how to make kombucha, a fermented, probiotic tea. Kombucha is all the rage right now in the health food stores. Prasinos, one of LaGrange's favorite restaurants, serves kombucha in blends like cocktails. It's a little vinegary, a little effervescent, and a little sweet. And pretty expensive. So when Rima gave us all a skoby and some starter tea to make our own, I rushed home with mine.

So, I rushed home, made some tea, blended it in, and put it in the pantry. And then generally forgot about it for about three weeks. Instead of the 5-7 days Rima recommended before proceeding to step two.

So, after three weeks, this is what my kombucha looked like.

This is actually a fairly flattering photo. The dark on the bottom is the original skoby, or mushroom, that Rima gave me. On the top is a brand new scoby. Yes, I grew it myself. Here is a better shot. Yum:

Now, what I really wanted was a lot more kombcha, so I re-decanted most of it into a larger glass jar, added more tea to both jars, and am on my second fermentation now.

 Of course, before putting them back into the pantry for whoever knows how long, I had to taste some. Yes, I did, scout's honor. And, it was delicious! Success!

Now, another fermentation project I have going is more mainstream, and something I've been doing for years...making yogurt. I started manufacturing my own yogurt in the closet in my dorm room in college. Yes, I was a good girl. A few years ago the discovery of ebay led me to purchase a couple yogurt makers suspiciously like the one I had in college. (My farm friend Nancy assured me I can make yogurt in one big jar just as easily, but nostalgia pulled too hard on my heartstrings.) So here is what I do:

First, heat up about 3 1/2 cups of milk to just under boiling. Here I am putting in some local maple syrup. Which brings me to the first reason to make your own yogurt. Organic milk, (and, if you can find local organic milk, it's even more true) can be pricey, so I use it to make products that would be even pricier when purchased. I figure I save money from buying organic yogurt in the store. And, I can sweeten it in a healthier way than store bought. Like maple syrup, which is super yummy.

Now, my yogurt maker came with a sweet little thermometer with the perfect temperature marked to which I should cool the milk. As you can see, I heated the milk just above the mark, That is ok. Some places tell you to boil it, but I suspect all you really need to do is heat it to the mark, unless you are trying to kill something in the milk (like if you suspect some yucky bacteria).

Then, once cooled, put in a dollup of your starter yogurt. Mix it in so it is dispersed.

Then, finally, decant (my new favorite word) into your yogurt maker! This one is like the one I had in college. It might even be the same one, sold back to me on ebay. The sharp eye may notice two different style cups. That is because I have another yogurt maker that is a bright lemon yellow, with different cups. I mix and match often.

So, by now you can clearly see the second reason for making your own yogurt; so you can also have a cute little yogurt maker cluttering...er...decorating your own all-too-tiny counter space. Ah, I love my gadgets.

The Local Eating Project Gets Serious, About Milk

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.  --Joseph Campbell

Our most basic connection to Nature is through food. And less and less is our food resembling it’s true nature.

I don’t know if this disconnect is the source of all our societies problems. But, I know the conscious choices I am trying to make, such as eating locally and ethically, make me feel good.

Those choices are narrowing. Terms like “organic” and “free range” and “natural” are deceptive. “Organic” farms can be as industrialized as factories and “free-range” might mean that chicken has access to a tiny doorway to an outdoor pen, if only he could get around 20,000 other birds to find it.

And, the government certainly has the ability to limit my choices further. As I’ve been trying to expand my local sources for food, I’m finding that government regulations are hard at work limiting my ability to find local food produced in an ethical, natural, and minimally-processed way.

The most obvious example is milk. Say I’d like to find a local source of milk. 30 years ago, (when I was in college), I would have had about 3800 dairy farms to choose from in Illinois. But, according to the latest numbers I found from July 2012, I’m down to 780. I’m guessing that that number has dropped in the last year and a half even further.

Now, that’s not the end of the world. But, what if I want to buy raw, unprocessed milk, from well-kept cows?

The good news is, there are still small farmers producing and offering milk that hasn’t been ultra-pasturized, homogenized, or otherwise altered. Government regulations limit raw milk distribution (as opposed to in Europe, where the industry is strong and you can purchase raw milk from vending machines). But, I can still buy it directly from farmers.

The bad news is...you guessed it. This choice may not be a choice for us much longer.

New rules are being proposed and will be voted on soon. Legislators are citing reports that bacterial illness is a higher threat from raw milk than from other foods. Raw milk supporters cite that there have been far fewer reports of illness caused by raw milk than by pasteurized milk, produce, meat, and other foods. The reports are there, but how they are interpreted really depends on your stand on consumer choice.

The new legislation will not make raw milk in Illinois illegal. Rules will require raw milk dairy farms to have their milk tested monthly for pathogens, provide specific wording on labels and signs, and keep strict logs. Most farms are fine with this; even already doing this.

However, there are two additional rules that pretty much change the game.

•All dairy farms selling raw milk shall be required to obtain a Grade A permit. For larger farms, this may be no big deal. But for a small farm, the minimum $20,000 investment to upgrade floors, pipes, containers, etc. could never be recouped.

And...

• Only unsolicited sales are permitted and cannot exceed 100 gallons per month.

Huh??

Basic math. Even if the farmer is charging a $10 a gallon for this milk, that equals...$1000 income per month? Before feed and expenses? And possibly paying back a $20,000+ loan for facility upgrades?

Another dairy farm out of business.

I’m not commenting on the studies, benefits, or statistics. I make conscious decisions, and I expect you do too. I am, however, curious about what is driving this legislation. Safety studies? Perhaps. But given the fact that tobacco farmers are still in business, I wonder. Big business? After all, demand for raw milk is actually growing as consumers are becoming more health conscious. Could it be that my choice in this matter is being eliminated so that my food dollars can be redirected into the industrial food system the government generally supports?

I know many of you don’t give a rat’s tail about raw milk. But many of you do support small farmers, or economic diversity, or local agriculture, or just plain having a choice about what you eat. I hope you’ll stay with me as I offer more info on this. Please, comment below. I really want to hear your thoughts.

Riverside Farmers Market...in Winter!

Kudos to the folks organizing the Riverside Farmers Market for working to keep it going in the winter.

In this area, there isn't much to choose from in local produce. But, hopefully if we all support ventures like this, those that do produce food locally, even if it's kept from the warmer months (like root vegetables and squashes) might line up to truck it out to Riverside during the frozen months.

Here is a list of vendors I visited with at the market February 5th:

Chocolate Twist
River Valley Mushrooms
Bailey Honey
Lyons Fruit Farm
Lou's Old Fashioned (canned foods, like pickled and jams)
SenTEAmental Tea
Lovin' Tails
Katic Breads
Primo Pizza
Jake's Meats

I first stopped and bought some lunch meat ham from Jake's Meats. My girls like that for lunches. Then I visited:

The mushroom guy. Look at all those fresh mushrooms! All types. Here he is measuring out my 'shrooms.

Then I picked up some foccacia.

And finished by picking up a jar of Lou's Old Fashioned strawberry rhubarb jam.

The fact that this market is in the historic train station makes it all the cuter, and easy to stop at when getting off the train.

The market will be open the first Wednesday of every month, from 2:30 - 6:30pm. Come by and support it! Remember, what you feed will grow...

The Dill Pickle Food Co-op

January in northern Illinois is a tough time to eat locally. The natives have been a little restless (yes, teenagers are not as excited about local, organic, non-processed food as you would think), and I have succumbed to actually purchasing some fresh produce recently that's clearly not local. A Costco opening a celeriac root's throw away has not helped. But, I'm still committed to searching out local sources to fill my pantry; yes, even in February.

In doing so, I found something pretty interesting. Popping up around are the newest "co-ops". I did belong to a co-op years (20??) ago. About a dozen families grouped together so we could buy in bulk from a distributor. This was before Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, and the only real way to get natural and organic food in the quantities we wanted.

But, this is a little different. These new co-ops are more like grocery stores. They try to be as full service as possible; meat, produce, dairy, grains, bread, etc. They do offer a lot of the same food you might buy at a Whole Foods. However, the emphasis on local production is much greater.

Over the weekend, Eva and I traveled to one of these co-ops in Chicago. On a Sunday, the drive was pretty quick, and we could park right outside the door. The door to the...

This is the Dill Pick Food Co-op, at 3039 Fullerton. It's open 9-9 everyday. While members get a discount, even non-members can shop here.

First stop....produce. (Eva is clearly overwhelmed with the selection of anise and bok choy.) Produce is a big interest of mine. And I was not disappointed.

I was not disappointed because I was not expecting a wide variety of locally grown produce in February. But, there were plenty of root vegetables and squashes available, with the location and miles traveled clearly labeled. Yay! An educated choice!  Among other things I bought a big three pound bag of Rainbow carrots from Harmony Valley Farms in Wisconsin (this was about $10). Eva lobbyed for fuji apples, and won. Not local. But, here is a pic of the clear labeling that let me know where things came from.

Moving on to meat and dairy. Here, we get a little more info about the producers. Info about how the animals are raised, in addition to location and distance the product has traveled.

Here is a label enlarged for your viewing pleasure. Good info, right? I bought a gallon of milk.

Just like in a big grocery store, canned things were in the center. I tried to keep my eye out for locally grown. Here are some tomatoes produced by Tomato Mountain Farm in Brooklyn Wisconsin. I was a little scared off by the $5 price tag (this is a 16 oz. jar). I know a lot of tomatoes go into a jar, but I still had to pause. Balancing budget with local can be a struggle.

Finally, here is conscious consumer we spotted in the bulk aisle. (yes that's me.) The producers and locations were not labeled as well in this aisle.  I was a little bummed about that. Maybe someday...

As I said, these co-ops are popping up more and more, and I have a lead on one opening even closer to me! More info coming soon!

Harvesting and Processing; Final Fall activities

One of the last garden chores
was digging potatoes.

Finally, time to put my feet up for a couple of minutes, and post. Our CSA has had it's last delivery, the gardens are put to sleep. Any "putting up" for winter is done. Bags of beans, peppers, sliced apples, cubed pumpkin, and more were put into bags and frozen. I hot-water canned jars of apple butter, pickles and peach chutney. I have in no way processed everything we'd need until asparagus, lettuce and spinach starts popping up, but I did what I could in between a busy work and family schedule and other chores. As much as I'd like to claim local self-sufficiency, it won't be this year.

Our fall CSA shares were full of squashes, turnips, potatoes, and other vegetables that keep well in cool conditions. I loaded a couple of largestorage bins with veggies, punched a few holes for ventilation, and put them in the crawl space under our mud room in a make-shift root-cellar. I've noticed already that leafy greens and apples keep much, much better this way than in the refrigerator.

The first weekend in November was auspicious as that was the last day the horses were at the farm. They get boarded out to a couple of friends for the winter. That meant my husband needed to take action on the goat. He had purchased a billy goat in the spring. The timing was that the goat would be a companion for Mack, our older horse, when he was alone on our property. But Doug's intention was always to fatten up the goat to butcher at the end of the year. Well, the end of the year had arrived, and it was time for that task. One of the local hunters put Doug in touch with a farmer who processed his deer. The farmer came out, butchered the goat right on the property. Doug went back with him and helped him process the goat. Being a yogi, there's constant discussion about the ethics of eating meat. My family does eat meat, and it's important to me that the meat be raised and butchered humanely. I can testify that this goat had a very cushy life, and according to Doug, was completely unaware of his fate as his head was deep in a bucket of grain in his final moment. We've already had a stew and some breakfast sausage from this little guy.

That brings me to the final step in the harvesting and preserving process. The four day Thanksgiving weekend gave me a chunk of time to organize. After a big Thanksgiving dinner featuring a 23 pound, locally raised turkey, Doug and I loaded all the produce, meat and bread from my freezer into coolers and pulled the plug. Several hours later, I wiped the last of the defrosted ice off the shelves and started carefully cataloging and arranging the food back on the shelves. I was thrilled not to find very many "mystery" packages, and only a couple that I think had reached their first birthday. A well-organized freezer is a thing of beauty. I feel good about our efforts this season.

Greetings from the end of summer...

Our project has gone fairly smoothly, if not totally as planned. My work at the studio has, for some

Grandma and Eva picking peaches

inexplicable reason, been far, far more busy this summer than I anticipated. Because of our CSA, frequent farm trips, and just the abundance of local food in the summer, we've been able to keep up with our local eating pretty well. While many "supporting" ingredients we use (balsamic vinegar, oils, white flour, etc) are not local, the main ingredients in our diet are.
However, I know that our goal was to explore this for a full year. And, if we really want to eat locally, that means freezing, canning and drying produce now for winter.

So, how are we doing on that? I give us a "C".  We've canned pickles, dried tomatoes, frozen bags upon bags of apples, green beans, strawberries and blueberries. But I know for sure that if we were relying on those things while snowed in for any length of time, we'd be up a creek without snowshoes.

So, efforts need to pick up around here a bit. For produce, we are relying on three means of "putting up":

Canning  The Pros We don't take up valuable freezer space, food stays edible for a long time, no worries about mid-winter power outages.

The Cons? Ever see the kids who play percussion during the band concerts?
The way they run from the cymbals to the xylophone to the drums? That's how I feel trying to boil jars to sterilize, simmer the brine, prepare the veggies, and time the jars in the canner. Until you are practiced, this requires 8 hands. Or 8 friends and a couple of bottles of wine. Or, one big glass to sip once the job is complete, 4 hours later, while admiring your 8 precious pints of pickles. Labor intensive.

Freezing  The Pros Not sure what you want to do with those apples? Do they want to be butter? Sauce? Pie? No need to decide now! do the prep work and decide later. Positive procrastination/low commitment.

Also, by doing the cleaning, slicing and dicing up front, you have the ultimate in fast food. Whether it's green beans on the side, or veggies for soup, it's all cleaned and prepped.

Ben and Sylvia helped pick apples and freeze. It's nice having a tree
right by a building!

The Cons Frozen food quality can be iffy, and freezer space is limited. My husband and I are already bickering over this. Electricity is required to store, not necessarily super-green.

Drying  The Pros About as labor intensive as freezing. Food is prepped, dried on a rack, and then can

I love using Italian plum tomatoes for drying
and using later for salads and pasta.

be stored in any airtight container you like. Real pretty displayed in ball jars on distressed shelves, if you like that Country Living kind of look.

The Cons  The food can end up looking and tasting nothing like the original form. This can be a good thing, I suppose, but it can also make it less versatile. However, it can lead to rousing Local Eating games during long winter days, like the "What fruit/vegetable is in this jar?" a fun family guessing game. I can't decide if this should go under the pros or the cons.

Frank and the Honeybees

As I'm moving a bit deeper into this project, I'm amazed and gratified to find more kindred spirits.

Frank, Klas and honey.

Recently, a friend put me in touch with Frank Saballus. Frank lives in Brookfield and is the owner of Klas Restaurant on Cermak Road in Cicero. (An aside, Klas has the most amazingly authentic Czech interior I've ever seen. If you want to feel like you are vacationing in eastern Europe for a meal, this is your destination. Check out a photo here.)

Anyhoo, while I'm sure Frank can, and will, give us interesting leads on local, slow food in Chicago, the topic of our first conversation was...honey.

"I was invited to be part of a Slow Food event about 5-6 years ago, put together by the Chicago Honey Bee Co-op. After the event I was talking to some of the members. They took me on a tour of an apiary, and I loved it. I started beekeeping myself. I even for a while tended the hives at the Morton Arboretum. But that became overwhelming with the other projects I was involved with, so I no longer do that," Frank told me.

Frank bottles his own;
raw, unpasteurized, small batch.

However, Frank hasn't given up beekeeping. Instead of one large apiary, Frank has been spotting his hives in backyards and other locations in the Chicago suburbs, from West Chicago to Cicero. He is currently managing about seven different locations, tending the hives and processing honey.

"Bees will overwinter, but I lose about half of the bees each winter, so I need to replenish the hives each year. I do things a little differently than a lot of beekeepers. I won't use any antibiotics, fungicides or any other treatments in my hives. I might lose more bees each year, but my honey is is chemical free, local and raw," Frank explained to me.

Now, about local. There is some discussion that for allergy sufferers, eating honey produced in their locality can help alleviate their symptoms. Some people I've spoken to swear that taking a small amount, such as a teaspoon a day, over the winter helps them build a resistance to the offensive pollen when allergy season arrives. I did a little internet research, and found that science does not support this claim. I will not try telling that to those that feel they've had success, however. What works for you, works for you. End of story.

However, it is clear that "local' is key in that theory. Eating honey produced in France, for example, will not affect your sniffling at all. Even honey produced in southern Illinois won't be so helpful. Local means as close to the area in which you are suffering as possible. That's where Frank comes in to many of his local customers.

"I sell honey at Klas, at Tischler's Supermarket in Brookfield, and at a few boutique grocers and deli's in Chicago. Also, some people buy the propolis that the bees produce. The bees use propolis to seal their hives in the winter, and when harvested it's used as a tonic for skin irritations and wounds. It's very anti-bacterial."

Frank also feels that the honey produced in a city environment is superior to honey produced near vast fields of corn and soybeans because those areas have much more pesticide and herbicide exposure, affecting the plants that the bees are pollinating. As long as your neighbors aren't spraying their gardens, the bees and the honey produced in our neighborhood is not affected by these chemicals.

Even if you don't eat honey, you do eat something. Chances are super strong that something you ate today is dependent on the honeybee for it's existence. But the existence of the honeybee is now on shaky ground. Whether it's a virus, pesticide exposure, or loss of flowers and wild spaces as we continue to plow up native land for factory fields of monoculture crops, honeybees all over the world are dying. Small beekeepers such as Frank are fighting to keep the critters that pollinate our apples, asparagus, broccoli, blueberries, onions, cherrries, cucumbers, watermelons, etc. etc. alive and among us. And many small beekeepers have folded under the stress of the battle.

But Frank is committed to his hives and his contribution to our local ecosystem. I hope to have Frank into the Focus Yoga studio soon to bring in jars of his honey and talk a bit more. If you'd like to read up-to-date theories on what is causing the honeybee loss, and why you should even care at all, Time magazine has made a cover feature of the story, and you can read it on line here.