The Best Fermentation Weights - My Humble Review

There are many fermentation weights and styles out there, but I wanted to share with you my simple set up.  Many years ago, I used a variety of methods from glass jars filled with water to Ziploc bags and all of them had drawbacks whether it be mold growth or smell or just plain hassle. Online you could find weights made in China, but the thought of shipping materials back and forth across the ocean just didn't sit right with me. So, I decided to start to make my own - through trial and error, I came up with a very elegant weight that looks great and is easy to use which you can find on bubblycrock.com or in my Etsy shop. Over the years, I've come up with several styles, but my favorite is the weight with the handles as you keep your fingers out of the ferment.  

Below is a video showing how to use my weights and shows just how easy it is to get your ferments off on the right foot. 

To finish it off, I toss a fermentation cap on the jar to keep any wandering bugs or fruit flies out. 

It's simple, but I have found this to be the best way to ferment. I'm sure there are other great way to ferment out there; I just want to get more people doing it, and I think it's a small step towards making the planet a better, more sustainable place where you can grow your food and package it all in your home. Finally, all of my products are shipped using repurposed packing materials; Etsy offsets the carbon emissions from shipping and packaging. My garage is filled with boxes and repurposed packing materials that friends have brought over.  I hope you found this helpful. As Bob from Bob's Red Mill would say, "To your good health".

Make Your Own Holiday Gift Bags

This holiday I am trying to use less wrapping paper by using cloth drawstring bags. Using up some fabric scraps, I made my own.  Listed below are instructions on how to make a bag followed by pictures of other bags that I designed.  Also, don't forget to check out my post titled Resourceful Gift Wrapping from several years ago. 

1. I cut two pieces of red fabric 9x10 inches and two strips of green fabric 3x10 inches.  For each piece of red fabric, attach the green strip by putting right sides together and sew along the top edge.

2. Next I sewed three sides of the bag.  On one of the long sides I left an opening for the ribbon by sewing 1 3/4 inches from the top, stopping, and then starting again 1/4 inch from the bottom of the green and continuing down the length of the red.  For a drawstring bag with ribbon coming out of both sides, you can leave gaps on both sides of the long edges.  (Optional: If you want to keep the edges from fraying, serge.)

3. There are a few ways to sew the bottom corners and there are several youtube videos showing the process.  With the bag inside out, open up the corner and line up the bottom and side seams, fold it flat.

4. Sew across the bottom and side seam one inch from the corner.  Before sewing the other corner, make sure that you fold the bottom seam in the same direction as the opposite corner so that it lays flat and isn't twisted.

When the bag is inverted, this is what a bottom corner should look like, and if you are lucky, the bottom and side seam will line up.

5. With right sides facing out, fold down the green fabric below the side opening, leaving about a 1 1/4 inch fold.  Stitch on the green fabric right next to the red fabric all the way around, checking that the side seams are facing the same direction and not twisted.

This is what the top of the bag should look like with a hole on one side for the ribbon. 

6. For a finished look, sew along the top of the bag.

7. Using a safety pin, thread the ribbon through the opening.  Finished!

Pictured below are a few more bags I made with applique and printed fabric.

I add two layers of batting behind the applique designs.

How To Keep Produce Fresh Longer

Years ago when we started growing our own vegetables, I remember harvesting a bunch of spinach and putting the excess in the refrigerator crisper for the next day.  Much to my disappointment, the spinach turned into a limp pile of rubbery leaves the next day.  From this experience I learned that farms treat spinach and lettuce with chemicals so they stay crisp and fresh for several weeks at the grocery store.  I quickly figured out how to keep our produce just as fresh for weeks at a time without the use of chemicals by storing the produce in a damp cloth bag.  Simple!  Basically I place washed produce into the damp cloth bag and place the bag in the refrigerator crisper.  When the bag becomes dry, I run it under cold water again and wring out the excess water.  I use this damp bag method for all of our vegetables including: celery, spinach, lettuce, kale, asparagus and pea pods.  I have used this method for years and have kept celery crisp for 2 months easily!  This cloth bag has saved us a lot of money over the years.

Homemade Wrapping Paper

Three years ago I wrote about Resourceful Gift Wrapping.  Since then we have taken it a step further by making our own wrapping paper.  We use plain paper that has been included in packages we receive in the mail and Paul's fingerpaint. If your children are grown and you don't know what to do with all that random, half-dried paint, this is a good project for it!

Having Paul paint on paper is a great way to pass the time during the long summer days.  We held the paper down using blocks of wood.  This picture was taken August 2013.

Paul had fun drawing pictures, writing letters, and just scribbling.  In the end, it doesn't really matter what the designs look like because the paper will be cut to fit the packages.  The key is to have a lot of colors and irregular lines. 

If you don't have a child to help with painting, you can do it too.  And don't say you aren't creative and artistic...dots, lines, and swirls look pretty awesome too!

Why Buying Food in Bulk Makes Sense

When people talk about "buying in bulk," there's the assumption that you have a grocery store with a multitude of bins that allow you to pay for items by the pound.  While living in Portland, OR, there was an abundance of these options in grocery stores, but where I live now, I have only found one store with 8 bulk bins that contain nuts, popcorn, rice, oatmeal, and granola.  I was a bit discouraged by the lack of options, so I did my research, made several phone calls, requested grocery stores to purchase items in larger containers, and compared the cost of purchasing small bags versus the added cost of shipping large bags.  No surprise, but even with the added cost of shipping, I could still save money by mailing large bags of oatmeal, flour, and peanut butter, to my doorstep.  I do want to clarify, that I purchase specific brands so I wasn't comparing store-brand labels.  If you watch closely, many companies offer free-shipping, especially during the holidays which give you an even larger savings.  Our bulk items are stored inside Rubbermaid totes in the cool basement.  

King Arthur Flour is our favorite brand of flour and we order it in 25 pound bags.  100 pounds will last us about 8 months.

We purchase our grains from Bob's Red Mill in the 25 pound bags.  Our family consumes about 50 pounds of oatmeal each year!

Okay, some of you readers may be laughing at this point with our oatmeal and flour consumption, but I challenge each of you to actually keep a log of what you consume, because I think you will be shocked to see how many bags or containers of a specific product you purchase every year.  Take for instance, peanut butter.  Paul enjoys a peanut butter and jam sandwich for school lunch.  I probably make peanut butter cookies and scotcharoos three or four times a year, and between Jon an me, we probably only have toast twice each month.  Given that information, I think you would be astounded to learn that we go through two, 9 pound tubs of peanut butter every year!!  Our brand of choice: Once Again Nut Butter.  The added benefit of this peanut butter is that it comes in a reusable bucket with a metal handle (makes a great compost bucket!)  Purchasing in bulk helps reduce a lot of the packaging waste...just think how many small containers we would be going through if we didn't purchase the bucket?

What else do we consume a lot of?  Cheese!  I was born in Wisconsin and have a serious love affair with cheese, eating it at least 5 out of 7 days a week.  Homemade pizza is a staple food for us.  We ask the deli department to cut a half wheel of Monterey Jack every 2 months. 

How to Make a Bag Drying Rack

We have been reusing our plastic Zip-loc bags for years.  We simply wash them and hang them to dry on our handmade log dryer. 

Making a bag drying rack is really easy.  A log is cut in half, sanded smooth, and coated with two applications of polyurethane.  We leave the knots and other features on the log because we like that unique look.  

Holes to fit the dowels are drilled randomly on the rounded side. 

We use a 3/8 inch oak dowels for our drying racks.  The dowels don't have to be symmetrical.  The longest dowel is 15 inches long and the shortest is 6 inches.  The racks in the picture above are being sold at the Wild Ramp, a local food and artisan store.  Reusing our Zip-loc bags is one simple thing we can do on a regular basis to conserve resources.   

How to Make Cloth Pads

Twelve years ago I purchased my first Keeper and Glad Rag.  I loved the idea of saving money and resources and decided to give this a try!  The first initial purchase seemed a bit expensive, but they were worth the investment because they lasted for years.  Just recently a friend expressed interest in having some pads made for her daughter, so I decided to make this tutorial for those interested in making your own.  You can save a considerable amount of money making them yourself, especially if you don't have to purchase the flannel.  Recently I was given a pile of flannel scraps leftover from making pajamas.  These scraps made 16 pads!  I want to mention that you can make cloth pads without a sewing machine.  In fact, all of my pads until recently were made without a sewing machine...I spent many hours hand sewing during the long winter months.  I don't have a pattern on my blog, but it's simple to make one, just trace a disposable one that you may already have (add about 1/4 inch all the way around to account for the seam) and customize it for your own needs.  Some people add PUL, waterproof fabric, for leaks.  This is a personal preference.  I chose not to use it because the body needs to breathe and PUL can trap moisture.  I don't have problems with leaks because I use the Keeper too.

For washing, I soak the pads in a bucket of water and rinse them before tossing them in the washing machine.  I have a front loader and small items tend to get stuck in the door gasket so I place the pads in a nylon mesh bag (similar to what you put nylons in).  

I make three sizes: light (4 layers), medium (6 layers), and heavy (8 layers).  

For those interested in making your own, I included instructions below on how to make the medium size.

Cut 2 pieces of flannel fabric.  Place right sides together.

Sew about 1/4 inch from the edge all the way around leaving an opening on the wing.

Invert.  Notice the opening on the right wing.

Cut 4 pieces of flannel (absorbency layers) to fit the center of pad.

Fit the center absorbency layers in the middle of the pad leaving enough space at the top and bottom for sewing.

Using a zig-zag stitch, sew where the absorbency layers meet the pad.  By sewing on the edge, you are alleviating frayed edges after washing.

What it should look like after sewing the zig-zag stitch.  Click the picture for enlargement.

Stitch the opening on the wing closed and add snaps to the wings.  I've used velcro instead of snaps, but the velcro edges always scratch my legs and didn't always stay closed.

So there you have it...pretty easy without a lot of steps!  

Homemade Egg Noodles

Making egg noodles is really easy, requires only a few ingredients, and doesn't take a lot of time.  In the past I rolled them on the counter with a rolling pin but the dough tended to shrink back on itself which made rolling them a challenge and they were always too thick, requiring a couple days to dry.  After 5 years of rolling them by hand, I decided to purchase a noodle maker and chose the Atlas 150.  It's really easy to use and has two cuts: fettuccine and spaghetti.  You can make a couple batches at a time, hang them up to dry, and store them in a jar for later use.

Recipe:
1 2/3 cup flour
2 eggs
1 T oil
2-3 T water

Mix everything together.  If the dough is too sticky, add more flour.
(it should have the consistency of bread dough)

One batch of dough makes enough noodles for 4 adults. 

The Atlas 150 noodle maker has 9 thickness settings and fettuccine and spaghetti cuts.

Rollers squish the dough...

the dough comes out the bottom...

and then you put the dough through the cutter. 

Noodles are draped over a cookie rack waiting for water to boil.

After a few minutes in boiling water, the noodles are ready to eat!

Noodles that will be for later use are hung over a dowel suspended above the kitchen sink until dry.

The noodles are stored in a gallon glass jar for later use!