My Kombucha continuous brewer has been set up!!

I set up the Continuous Brewer for my Kombucha. I put the two jars that I had on the go into the brewer. I worked out the ratio for the tea to water for the 2 1/2 gallon brewer. I'm good to go. I feel like an alchemist. 

DONE!!! My brewer set up. Isn't it wonderful. To the left is my plantain infusion and SCOBY hotel. That is a jar of SCOBY's and liquid so you have SCOBY's in reserve in case a batch molds etc. And of course to give to people starting out.

I am a research kinda girl. I have been reading about Kombucha and making batches for several months. I made my original SCOBY from a bottle of GT Kombucha unflavoured. I lost two batches to mold. Rather than getting totally disillusioned and quitting. I set about to figure it out. The only thing different from previous batches was a box of green tea I was using. I whipped up a batch with black tea and then a green/black combo. I got rid of the old box of green tea and substituted a new type. It worked just fine. I now wonder if the tea itself could have contained mold spores. My cleaning was impeccable, so I knew it wasn't that. So Kombucha back on track and I had two half gallon jars on the go at all times. I did the second fermentation and managed to get fizz. Then I started adding raw ginger and I was hooked. 

So back to research. I started reading about the continuous brewing system. The Kombucha goes into a large vessel with a spigot down low. You decant out your litre for the week and top up the brew. I bought a 2 1/2 gallon porcelain crock with green stripes. So when you take out the litre, there is so much Kombucha left when you top it up, it only takes a couple days for the Kombucha to be ready instead of ten+. I set my system up last night. 

Making Water Kefir for the first time.

I recently spent some time with a lovely couple at their farm. Nicole gave me my first taste of Kefir. It was yummy. It tasted a lot like Kombucha, but a softer taste. It only takes a few days to make instead of the week plus that Kombucha takes, I plan to keep both on the go. I like the stronger taste of Kombucha but I love the speed of Kefir. Nicole gave me the grains I need to start my own first batch. I added some organic dried blueberries. Batch on!! Isn't it lovely.

The bottled Kefir. I'm doing a second ferment. I added two oz of Pineapple Juice and sealed. I am hoping for fizz. I love fizz.

Oops, just read that Pineapple juice is too acidic for Kefir. It has white foam all over the top now and is bubbling, tiny little bubbles from the sludge at the bottom. We will see what happens!

It was perfect and a bit fizzy. Really nice.

The Kombucha is almost ready. And looking good this time!!

I tasted the Kombucha I made on about August 12. It is finally losing the sweetness. I don't like mine too sweet. I'm think about another week. Interesting that this batch is working again. I am wondering if the problem I had using green tea and both batches molding, may be that the green tea contained mold spores? This batch made with black tea is fine. Can't wait. I'm going to try ginger!! I love GT'S Organic Raw Kombucha Gingerade.

A healthy non molding Scoby.

Pumpkin Flax Muffins. God I just love them.

I just made yet another batch of Pumpkin Bran Flax Muffins {recipe at the right}. Last week, I was hankering for a flax muffin so I bought a four pack of the organic bran flax muffins that I used to buy at my fave supermarket. I like to have one for lunch at the store. They are good enough....but I hadn't had any since I started making my own. Well....it was quite disappointing.....yet affirming. Disappointing cuz they aren't as good as mine, not by a long shot, but affirming because it made me realize, I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!! Yummmm. 

I am completely addicted to these muffins with a topping of Earth Balance Organic Coconut Flavour Spread. OMG. It's like candy to me.

This is me. This is what I look like when I come in out of the garden. This is my teeny tiny kitchen. What you see here, is pretty much the whole kitchen. You can see my favorite kitchen tools in this picture. My Kitchenaid in the corner. I've had it for, I dunno, about 15 years? Beside it is my Nespresso machine. Not really a kitchen tool, rather more of an obsession. Beside it is my Vitamix. Truly the most incredible thing if you follow a pretty healthy diet. I even make my own almond milk!! 

An update to "Keeping Hens Should be Everyone's Right"

I have been writing Sidney council for nearly two years trying to get the bylaw changed to allow a few hens on residential lots. About a year ago, I was told that they were working on wording of a new bylaw. This week, unbeknownst to me, there was a council meeting to discuss it and a vote. Six people showed up against the new bylaw and none of us who wanted the new bylaw. It was reported that there was a single request for the change. There are a great many more of us. We thought the town was going forward with a new bylaw, so there was no need for a letter writing campaign. Because we weren't told, and as I didn't realize there was any debate over it, I wasn't watching for a meeting. I have been emailing the bylaw officers regularly for updates. I should have been told about the meeting and vote. I am extremely disappointed that this was dealt with in what I consider a a sneaky fashion. I would ask that anyone who lives in Sidney and would have liked to see a new bylaw, please let them know how we feel about not being given a chance to be at the meeting. 

Town of Sidney...I am really disappointed by your obvious bias and stacking the meeting in your favour.

Here is the post I wrote on my food blog outlining my plea to council.

Salad season is my favourite time of year.

Oh, how I love salad season.

I am so happy it is fresh salad time again. I'm quite lost when I have to eat greens from somewhere other than my own yard. I am so thankful I found the gardener hidden within.

Here is what I foraged for tonight. We had a lovely bed of greens, with warmed goat cheese and ahi. The greens were various lettuce, beet leaves, kale, snowpeas, borage and nasturtium flowers and lots of Sungold tomatoes. The tomatoes are the only hybrid I grow. They are like tomato candy!!

Food can be so beautiful.

Keeping hens should be everyone's right.

For an update to this post click here.

I live in Sidney BC. Currently we are not allowed to keep hens, rabbits or any other farm animals. Bees are only allowed on 750 sq meter lots. My yard is large by Sidney standards. We bought this house new in 1979. We have 603 sq metres. So very few people in Sidney can keep bees. in a time that we are losing honey bees at an alarming rate this just doesn't make sense.

I find this interesting on many levels. Sidney is a small town. Cities like Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria and on and on allow chickens in yards. How is it possible that major metropolitan cities have bylaws allowing hens, sometimes goats and bees. There are restaurants in New York City that have bee hives on the roof to supply the restaurant with honey. Yet, in tiny little Sidney, we have an ambiguous and restrictive bylaw (see below).

Why do I feel so passionate about this:
I live on Vancouver Island. Vancouver Island is in very real danger of a major earthquake as we sit along side the San Andreas Fault. We are overdue. Vancouver Island has a two to three day supply of food on the island. If such a catastrophic earthquake should happen, we would be cut off from the mainland......and only three days worth of food.

The other reason I am passionate about people taking charge of their own food supply, is peak oil. Peak oil, is literally the peak production of oil. We apparently are there now. Oil will never be more plentiful or cheaper than it is now. The supply is only going to shrink from here on out. Also, the average food item is being shipped 2500 miles. So imagine if you will, oil is now a rarer commodity, the price is going up and up. It will reach a point that no one could pay for a pineapple to come from Hawaii. Or a banana from Central America. 

There is also the GMO (genetically modified organism) issue. There are a great many of us who believe that GMOs are carcinogenic and deadly. It is getting harder and harder to eat a Non GMO diet unless you go totally organic. Even then, GMO seeds drifting onto organic farms is becoming a problem.
I think we should all be learning how to grow food. We are going to need it. We need to show our children how to garden.

That brings us back to chickens...and bees. Chickens average slightly less than one egg per day. So if you have seven chickens you will get 5-6 eggs per day except in winter. Less in winter. A few hens for eggs, bees for honey, some veggies (we can grow them year round on the island) and a supply of fresh or purified water, and we could easily get by until the food starts moving on and off the island again. So this applies to everyone everywhere, not just those of us on an island. 

So Sidney Town Council. Let us have our chickens. Let us have our bees. Let us have an Urban Homesteading bylaw. Let us be responsible for our own food choices. Let us have a "Tour De Coop" every year. Cities everywhere are doing it. It's where all the people with the cute chicken coops welcome the public to their yard to see it. We could become famous!!!! We could be the little town that did. That took the Urban Homesteading lifestyle to the next level.

The writing is on the wall. It is obvious to me that we will go back to how things were done 100 years ago. Every yard will have fruit trees. Vegetable gardens. A few hens. A beehive. That will be the new normal.


Sidney Bylaw
Here are the ambiguous and restrictive Sidney Bylaws. Note part (a) sets out the rules restricting where farm animals can be. Note part (b) says clearly that farm animals are prohibited. I have contacted the bylaw officer who admitted they contradict each other, but part (b) is the one in effect. Why? What if I say I am using part (a)?

CONTROL OF FARM ANIMALS:

(a) No person shall suffer or permit any Farm Animal owned by him or in his charge to:
Stray or trespass on a highway;
Stray or trespass in a public place;
Stray or trespass on private property; and
Graze on unfenced land, unless they are securely tethered.

(b) No person shall keep or harbour any farm animals, poultry or rabbit on any parcel of land.

5.1 CONTROL OF BEES:
(a) No person shall keep or harbour Bees on any parcel of land under 750 square metres; and
(b) No person shall keep or harbour Bees in excess of two (2) beehives on any parcel of land over 750 square metres.

Kombucha making...

My Kombucha Scoby (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria & Yeast) is mature and large enough to start my first batch of Kombucha. So here we go!!

The Scoby nursery

My ipad recipe book

Brewing tea and Raw organic cane Sugar

Everything added to the new Kombucha bottle

The Scoby sitting on the bottom, just as it should.

My Panasonic Lumix reflection.

Look at what I found in the cupboard above the fridge, or...Ode to a pack rat.

Look at what I found in the cupboard above the fridge. The three bowls on the right were nested in the cupboard. I needed to make room for a canning jar of Kombucha.

First the backstory. I used to have a set of Gripstand bowls. They were accidentally given away during a move, oh about 34 years ago. Gripstand bowls were made by a company called TG Green. I LOVED them. My mom had one and I just loved using it. I learned to cook using that bowl. I grew up, bought two for myself and you know what happened to them. See above.

I bought myself another one about the size of my mother's about 30 years ago. My husband accidentally dropped something into it and broke it. At that time I just couldn't afford another. So I bought a knockoff. It developed a lot of fine cracks so it needed replaced. So after last thanksgiving I went on the hunt. Turns out, sadly, they aren't made anymore. ARGGGGHHHHH. I went online and looked for TG Green Gripstand bowls. There are some on eBay, but OMG they're crazy. One in mint condition is about 100.00. I looked everywhere for a knockoff...there just aren't any. So I started researching. I read about Mason Cash bowls. Amazing bowls but they don't have my beloved gripstand feature. So I went to my favorite kitchen store in the world!! Muffet and Louisa in Sidney BC. I bought myself two Mason Cash bowls. One large, one smaller.

That brings us to today. I had to make room in the cupboard above the fridge for the Kombucha. I opened the door. I actually let out an OH MY GOD, so loud my husband asked if I was okay. There were three very neatly nested gripstand bowls. The smallest is an actual TG Green. The other two are Cloverleaf. I've done a bit of research and I think Cloverleaf is the same company as TG Green. I'm in nirvana.

So I have one TG Green, two Mason Cash and two Cloverleaf Pottery/TG Green. Okay, confession time. I also have two vintage Pyrex bowls. A yellow and a green from the 50's, and of course my 35 year old Tupperware mixing bowls. Can you say 'overkill'?

Well, as I said to my husband tonight. I definitely have enough bowls to last me the rest of my life.

As people who follow my blog know, I am suddenly on a decluttering and de-pack-ratting my house. I am spending hours a day doing it. I cannot believe what a gift these bowls are. I wonder how many other little treasures have been squirreled away that I have no memory of.

Kombucha scoby forming.

With all the glare coming off the glass, it is really hard to see the forming Scoby. I will try to get a better picture in the daylight. It is in the little cupboard above the fridge and hard to get at.
There is a layer of milky scobyness happening there on the top surface. I am beyond excited. Stay tuned.

Trying to make my own Kombucha 'Scoby'. First step in making Kombucha.

The purchased Kombucha.
Can you dig the 70s tiles we did....in the 70s. Kind of retro now.

I really like the taste of Kombucha and LOVE the health benefits. So, I went on the hunt for a bottle of raw organic Kombucha that had a trace of Scoby or Mother. I found one!! It had a small Scoby about two inches across in total. I rinsed a clean one litre canning jar with vinegar. Poured a fresh cup of black organic caffeinated tea and added about two TBSP of sugar. Stirred it in and let the tea cool. I poured it into the canning jar. I added the bottle of Kombucha. Then covered the jar with a clean cloth, secured it with a rubber band and put it where it will not be disturbed. The rubber band is to keep out any flies that may lay eggs. Apparently that's pretty gross.

Making the sweet black tea

When I have a full grown Scoby, I will move on to making Kombucha. Stay tuned.

Look closely, you can see the baby Scoby floating there.

*One can purchase a Scoby, but I really wanted to try to make one myself.

**I am also going to do a post about what I found in the upper cupboard when I went to make room for the Kombucha. I am so glad that I am cleaning and decluttering.

What to do with all the veggies I'll grow this year....how about fermenting?

My favorite local independent bookstore Tanners Books in Sidney is having its annual customer appreciation sale. All books are 25% off. I noticed a lot of bustle as I walked by so I went in to check it out. It was like the week before Christmas in Tanners. It was awesome...packed with people!! The recession has really impacted business in our lovely little seaside town.

I had a bit of time before I needed to be back in my own store, so I strolled around just enjoying the noise, people and books. I just had to check out the food and garden sections. I was getting ready to leave and on the lowest shelf, furthest right side, Wild Fermentation. That's right. Wild Fermentation. I am a healthy food nut as well as garden nut. I read a lot of food blogs in addition to the garden blogs that I love so much. Wild Fermentation is considered the bible of fermenting books. And it was on sale. So guess what I'll be reading this weekend? I am dying to try fermenting. I will blog my progress this year.

Can't wait to use this cookbook!!

I am a huge fan of Carolyn Herriot. We just got her new book The Zero-Mile Diet Cookbook in at the store. I just had to have a look through it and I cannot wait to get a copy of my own.

*I treated myself to a copy. I will report back soon.