Kev

[Kev]

This came across my screen this evening.. Had to look him up — Ummet Ozcan, a Turkish techno artist born in the Nederlands, who does Mongolian throat singing.. Love love love..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ubkx9CCT6I

[Kev]

Hey y’all!.. I saw that others have introduced themselves here, and I proceeded to do the same, but as brevity isn’t my strong suit, I got out of control with it.. Ridiculous!.. ? ..So here’s the abridged version..

Grew up in the ‘70s in the midwest and ate the stuff typical in that region in that time – mostly processed, out of boxes or cans, the infamous “TV dinners”, Jello, Kool-Aid, corn syrup on waffles – you get the picture.. Did have some real food though – hamburger, chicken fried in shortening, etc.. And my favorite – lima beans with ham hock and cornbread.. ? ..As kids, we were mostly left to fend for ourselves, so good thing I have a natural instinct to cook.. And a voracious sweet tooth too..

Life-long cook here of many many different types of food – my favorites being Indian, Ethiopian & Thai.. Have also gone through it all – from vegetarianism, to veganism, to raw foodism, and sprouting, and bread baking, and back to meat.. Love to try new things in the kitchen!.. My own little alchemy lab.. I can spend 3 hours or more just working on dinner.. Love it..

Knowing that I’m homestead-bound, I taught myself the art of fermentation, with the eventual goal of doing a great deal of food preservation.. I make krauts & kimchi, kombucha, kvass & kaanji, as well as fermented nuts & seeds (which I used to do way back in the raw food days).. And recently I’ve been experimenting with making vegan sweet treats..

So in this group I’ll probably be sharing some of my kraut and kimchi creations.. I cook up some good and interesting combinations, but I’m also gonna be focusing specifically on basic things that are readily harvested from a garden, things that may be a bumper crop.. (Example: I recently did a kraut with purple cabbage, green beans, zucchini, and coriander seeds, and it was off the chart delicious – all things easily grown in N. America)..

Peace, y’all..

[Kev]

Ah yes, I’ve tried to use my oven set on the lowest setting, but that was too warm and too difficult to control for dehydration, so I gave up on it..

Yes, lots of kraut ideas.. Here’s an idea to think about — I started using apples in the mix for a bit of sweetness.. Really good.. Have yet to venture into other fruits, but surely will.. It gave me confidence that preserving apples/fruit in this way is viable if you have an apple/fruit tree on your land..

[Kev]

Hi Sarah.. I’m below you in Portland, and feel and relate to what you’re saying.. Same boat here.. I’ve got my eyes and ears peeled for an opportunity to connect with someone in the area that has land and needs help and/or wants to bring in others for the effort..

I was in Goodwill last week and some random guy honed in on me and came up to me and struck up a conversation.. We got to chatting and he revealed that he turned his urban backyard into a food forest (removed the grass), and has ducks & chickens, etc.. So that gave me a hell of a lot of faith that that sort of connection can happen.. Next step: connecting with someone with rural land..

It seems to me that local connections might be a stepping stone that a lot of us will have to take, or the easiest way to make a transition, especially with established landowners..

I’m definitely game for staying in the Pacific Northwest, just for the temperate climate and good grow conditions, and ample opportunity for rainwater catchment.. But I’m wide open otherwise..

I’ll keep you in mind for when/if I meet someone with an opportunity.. And I’m sure I have a lot to learn from you with wild harvesting.. ?

[Kev]

I just learned of aircrete earlier this year — cement mixed with a foamed surfactant/soap, if I’m not mistaken.. Makes very lightweight material, or bricks, from what I saw.. And I know cement can be made from a few different things, so would you use the red clay and sand (and possibly limestone) on the property for the cement component?..

[Kev]

I especially like how AV grows a medicinal herbal garden and produces products for sale.. I’ve had that idea bumpin’ around in my head for years.. Could go conventional with it (the really common herbs), or could go somewhat unconventional (such as Chinese medicinal plants that are not easy to find, that sort of idea).. But also, I think with herbal medicine, you need to stick with what you know, and keep it simple, try not to bite off more than you can take care of.. I do tincturing, and I know a shorter list is easier to manage and get through.. And if you’re going fully off-grid, you need someone in the group that can work a still and produce ethyl alcohol, or have a neighbor that does it.. ?

[Kev]

Oh nice.. I had to look up that area of northern Mississippi, and it looks relatively sparsely-populated and forested.. I’m guessing a lot of native pine trees in that region..

My best friend also lives in Orlando and has become an avid gardener, lovin’ her banana trees, and she’s sending me some Bidens alba wildflower seeds.. I’m about to turn her onto Galt’s Landing.. ?

[Kev]

Hi Mary!.. I’ve heard of “The Art of Fermentation”.. That’s the book by Katz, yes??.. Haven’t read it.. When I got into krauting, I just looked at a couple basic recipes, saw they were essentially the same and then just went from there, and then I learn and work it out as I go.. There’s a basic guideline I use, in terms of salt-to-weight-of-veggie ratio, but that can vary a little, so I just go on instinct and don’t fuss too much about it.. The important thing to me is combinations, and how different veg and spices work together.. I’ve lost track of all my recipes.. Just yesterday, I thought I’d put some Shishito peppers in a kraut, and threw one together with “what I had on hand”, which was green cabbage and purple carrots and onions.. Why not??.. And I just finished up one with carrots and frozen green peas and black pepper, which I will be tasting today.. Lol.. Why not??.. That’s my ode to school lunches..

A little advice on krauting, if you’re just getting started – manual pressing is a good idea just in terms of the learning of the art and understanding the science and interactively observing the process, but I also highly recommend lids with springs that hold everything down and in-place, so you can just set it and forget it, maybe check on it every once in a while.. I swear by these springs & lids – so handy.. The Ball company makes them..

I learned not too long ago the benefit of soaking nuts before eating them, to get out the components that aren’t so great for the gut.. I haven’t been consistent with that, and I really want a dehydrator so I can get that production going..

If you want a really excellent recipe for a fermented “seed cheese” full of lacto-bacteria, it’s relatively simple, so lemme offer it to you.. Take equal parts of raw sesame seeds and raw sunflower seeds, and grind them into flours in a coffee grinder.. (Of course you can soak and then dehydrate them first, as you do).. Then mix them in a bowl with water and a lacto-bacterial culture.. Put the mixture in a mason jar with a loose-fitting lid and let it ferment for 12 hours (possibly a little more, depending on ambient temperature).. A good ferment will lead to the volume of seed mixture doubling in size, so filling the jar half-full is a good rule of thumb, although this phenomenon doesn’t always happen.. And when you see carbon dioxide bubbles forming in the mixture, you know you’re on-track.. Then store in the fridge when you like the taste and have fermented it long enough.. And the sesame-sunflower combination is bitter from the sesame, and sometimes tastes like a hard cheese of some sort, like parmesan.. (And, any nut or seed can be fermented this way — pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, and pumpkin seeds are all delicious!.. Flavors change in interesting ways)..

And also, here’s how you create a lacto-bacterial culture (very easy): put a small amount of a whole grain in a jar with water.. I use whole wheat berries, and you could use whole oat berries also, or whatnot, but I’ve only ever used wheat, so that’s what I can attest to.. Just let it sit at room temperature for 12 hours or a little more.. (I put a sprouting lid with holes in it on the jar so the water is exposed to the air, but a loose-fitting towel would be fine).. You know you’ve captured lacto-bacteria when you see slightly-cloudy water, with a faint sour/acidic odor, and when you tap the jar, bubbles will come up out of the grain at the bottom.. All indications that you’ve caught some critters.. Pour off the water, and that’s your lacto-bacterial starter culture.. You can store it in the fridge for a while, but not indefinitely, as I have found.. This all sounds complicated, but really quite simple..

And finally, I too heard Amandha V. recently make reference to her new freeze-drier, and it caught my attention as well.. I was like, of course, that’s an important food preservation technique.. I’m sure she’ll talk about it again and let us know what to look for in terms of equipment.. Any advice on a brand of dehydrator to look for, one that’s relatively affordable??.. So many options, and potential duds..

[Kev]

Absolutely Mike!.. I’ve had so many business ideas in the past couple years – from the obvious selling at farmer’s markets, producing kraut & kimchi, medicinal herbs & tinctures, plant propagation, raw ice cream made with our own raw honey, etc.. So many things to imagine, like learning to build with cob and then offering a home-building service in the local area..

Also had the idea of making the homestead an educational opportunity (as opposed to closing ourselves off and retreating into the woods), with gatherings of various sorts for various reasons (especially permaculture, medicine & healing & the woo stuff).. And Food Forest Abundance created their Freedom Farm Academy program in order to turn homesteads into demonstration sites, so that strikes me as an established framework to plug into.. But I love that the AV farm does this independently already.. It’s like this is all a whole new world of ideas.. But also, what can’t we achieve when we work in collaboration??..

[Kev]

Ah, yes, land patents.. I want to learn the in’s & out’s of that too.. I’ve heard a few people talk about them, but I’m not certain I entirely know what they are.. From what I gather, it’s a legal process for extricating your land from “the system” so you’re completely free and no one has say in what you can and can’t do (no jurisdiction), which may include the elimination of property taxes.. Not sure if I’m in the ballpark, but I definitely want to learn..

Would be curious where your other land is, generally speaking.. Personal question there, so no answer needed if you don’t want to.. I just ask because I lived in southern Alabama as a lad, so could be in the general region..

[Author]

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