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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Just Putterin' Along

It's a cool and rainy day here in the foothills. 

Knockout Roses
 I'll be heading out to pick up my granddaughters and a new batch of chickens later today.
Juvenile Bluebird
 This young bluebird was waiting a turn in the birdbath.
Wary....
It pays to be on the lookout for the neighbors' cats. O.O

 This nest was blown from a tree in the yard.

Our blue hydrangea blooms have been in the process of fading all summer.


 I enjoyed hanging out laundry all summer...until the stink bugs showed up in force yesterday.

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 They love to hide in socks, by the way. O.O


Goodman and I took in a few garage sales last weekend, and I found these vintage metal seagulls for just a few dollars..now, if I just had the nerve to paint a wall black...but I don't. They'll have to be content on a country white wall just as soon as I figure out which one...
Have a great week, Y'all!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Homemade Sauerkraut, A New Way

                                                          *waves* from the hills...


I just finished my second batch of sauerkraut this year giving me a best-ever, 2 and 0 success record for the season.  I wanted to give it a second go before raving about the newest method for making the world's best sauerkraut (IMHO). Regrettably, I've had more failures than successes with the crock method so you can see why I'm thrilled to share this new way of making sauerkraut with you. It's a no-fail, no-skim, no aggravation method by Eileen who  posted all the details about her method here.

Source

I have to tell you, though, that the star of the show is this Fido jar by Bormioli. The lid has a gasket that lets the fermenting gas escape but doesn't let outside air that contains bad bacteria enter to spoil your kraut. That's where the no-fail, no-skim, no-aggravation part comes into play. Love that. All I had to do was prepare the cabbage and pop it in the jar, then leave it alone until it fermented.



We like our kraut coarsely shredded so I used the slicing disc that came with my food processor to shred the cabbage instead of the shredder disc. The first batch was so good it didn't last very long at all.


 I opened this jar from the second batch after just 15 days into the fermenting process to see how much fermentation had taken place. The good news is since my kitchen is usually around 76-77º it had already fermented enough for our taste. It's wonderful, really.  Note: The kraut must be refrigerated once it's opened.


What's for dinner - homemade sauerkraut with bratwurst, red beans, wilted lettuce salad and fried cornbread. That. was. good.


Until next time, hope you're enjoying these fleeting days of summer. :)
Linking with:
Homestead Barn Hop
Encourage One Another
Wildcrafting Wednesday