Speaking of fun ecology, after some previous false starts, I'm getting the hang of fermentation. This is pretty much what it always looks like next to my kitchen sink these days: stuff fermenting along side fresh milk jars waiting to get washed. Currently we have a ginger bug, beet kvass, and carrot, beet, garlic, ginger salad all set abrew this morning while my family was asleep. I've tried fermentation before and it never really took. Mostly because it felt scary. Can you really eat this stuff? Aren't we supposed to avoid food that's alive? Take a look around. Our culture has been carefully demanding ever increasing spirals of death from our food, on every level. And that isn't working out very well. Time to change direction.

I've been inspired by our family's participation in the Wildlife of Your Home, current writing by Michael Pollen, Sandor Katz, a new love of kim chi, and not least WholisitcSquid who makes fermentation look like child's play.