Some Great Folks

Sandor Ellix Katz was one of two presenters who came and taught our Wild Foods and Fermentation workshop. What an inspiring and cool thing to have been involved in! We were so lucky to have him and Frank Cook spend so much time with us. They answered our questions, and empowered us to take a second glance at things like weeds and microrganisms! Sandor is the author of Wild Fermentation and The Future Will Not Be Microwaved. He made tempeh, meade,villi, kombucha, and kefir just for us! All these things are super good for us because of active enzymes, beneficial bacteria, and partially digested proteins that our bodies love us for. Check Sandor's skills out here.

Frank Cook was the other presenter at our Wild Foods and Fermentation workshop. What an amazing human being he is. Frank took our class on plant walks both Thursday and Friday. He, along with Mary and Angelina, (Thank ya'll!) made a fabulous South Indian meal for us consisting of Idlis (fermented lentil and rice flour) and Sambar. He talked to us and the plants about what an important part they play in our well being. Lots of plants that we consider "weeds" are so exceptional in many ways and we just don't know it. His mantra at the moment is "eat something wild everyday." Take a look at Frank's website, www.plantsandhealers.com/ for more info about the genius things he's dedicated his life to.

morning tea

Frank made a great tea for the students in our workshop before class started....all the leaves were from our yard and have various medicinal properties.

1. Kudzu

2. couldn't figure this one out...looks like an oversized red raspberry leaf....Hey Frank,you out there? let me know what this one is.

3. Dandelion

4. Mint

5. Sumac

6. Rose of Sharon

7. Sorrel

8. Violet

pretty genius huh? anyway...take a look at Plants For A Future to see which weeds are good for you in your yard.

How eatin' should be

So above is the fabulous gourmet meal we devoured on Friday during our Wild Foods and Fermentation Workshop. The menu was (starting clockwise from upper left)

-A dressing made from homemade miso, a Sandor-made villi (cultured dairy goodness),organic lemon juice, and tahini.

-wild greens pesto

-coleslaw with wild greens from the yard and edible flowers

-pan-fried Tempeh we made the day before

- miso soup

-russian raisin bread baked locally from Farm and Sparrow

-wild greens salad that included lettuces,lamb's quarter, broccoli, basil, tomato, daikon, althea, nasturtium, calendula, arugula, walnuts, thyme, strawberry leaves, lavender, yarrow, rosemary, & mint!....did ya get that?

-homemade sauerkraut with a plethora of veggies including cabbage..of course...burdock root, red onions, garlic, carrots and some different types of seaweeds.

- last but certainly not least a dandy honey wine (meade) made with mangoes and pineapples

Where does our stuff come from?

We go shopping for things, we use bags from the store, we buy a bunch of reusable bags but forget to use those and shop for more things and more bags. Where does it all come from and where does it go? PLEASE watch the video called "The Story of Stuff" I can't really say or write how necessary and appropriate this video is. See for yourself.

ode to the latin ladies

So, Ben can sing some songs in Spanish and it's AWESOME! He's our entertainment alot when we get some down time.

just another garden day...

During our garden day, we worked on the cob bench that was started during the natural building workshop. Jen (left) and Janell are smoothing out and designing shape of it.

Our garden is beautiful AND edible.

Ben (foreground) and Jeremy are making a mulch bed.Adding leaf mulch adds carbon to the topsoil and builds it up. We use mulch beds instead of tilling up the soil for multiple reasons. "No-till" gardening includes increase of soil quality (soil function),preservation, and protecting the soil from erosion. Another benefit is not disturbing the microbes and organisms that make our soil alive. Some hot friends came over to help us burnish the earthen plaster on the house and remove sand particles.

Natural Building

Sienna gettin' dirty...

Meka's dirty toes...

muddin it up....

(left) making adobe bricks

(middle) plastering over concrete

(right) Josh is plastering our window

everybody's doing the mud stomp.

Our Natural Building workshop went smoothly and it was alot of fun for everybody. Above is pretty much everyone who took the workshop over Thursday and Friday. Our Permaculture class did some earthen plastering on Saturday and Sunday. We built that really cool arch on Janell's front porch.