An effervescent fermented tea made from regular black/green tea, sugar and the starter culture, also known as the Scoby.

What is that alien-looking thing and why do I want it in my tea?

Scoby is actually an acronym for “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast”.

The bacteria is Acetobacter (a genus of acetic acid bacteria). The yeast eats the sugar in the tea and excrete alcohol. The bacteria in turn eat the alcohol and create acetic acid. If you let your kombucha ferment long enough, it actually becomes vinegar.

Supplies needed for one gallon of kombucha:

• 1 one-gallon jar (glass)
• 1 flour sack-style dishcloth (tight weave; do not use cheese cloth)
• Rubber band or cord that can be pulled tightly around jar
• Distilled/filtered water (do not use tap water)
• Something to heat water in
• 1 cup white sugar (do not use agave syrup, honey or other sweeteners)
• 6-8 tea bags (either all black, all green, or a mix of the two)
• 1 scoby
• 1/2 cup previously-brewed kombucha (not essential but will speed fermentation and make scoby happy; can use commercial kombucha brought to room temperature)
• bottles for fermented kombucha
• funnel for bottling

To make kombucha:

1. Boil one quart of water.
2. Add tea bags and allow to steep for 10+ minutes.
3. Remove tea bags.
4. Add 1 cup of sugar to gallon jar, and pour in hot tea. Stir/swirl to dissolve all of the sugar.
5. Add filtered water until jar is about ¾ full.
6. Add scoby to jar along with kombucha from a previous batch.
7. Cover jar tightly with towel and leave on counter for one week to 10 days. Fermentation period will vary depending on temperature – the warmer it is indoors, the faster it will ferment.
8. Taste it after a few days. It’s ready when it no longer tastes like sweet tea and has a slight acidic bite.

Time for bottling!

• Make sure your bottles are clean; if recycling from other beverages, wash out with hot water to remove any chemicals or other foreign matter.
• Remove scoby from jar
• Pour kombucha into bottles, trying not to disturb the cloudy liquid at the bottom too much
• Reserve the kombucha at the bottom of the jar and the scoby for the next batch. You can peel apart the pancake layers to expand your production or share with others!
• At bottling, you can add flavoring. My favorite is one rasberry or 2-3 blueberries (fresh or frozen) per 500ml bottle. You can also add fresh ginger, a small slice of lemon, or other fruit. A very small amount will flavor an entire bottle.
• Once bottled, leave bottles unrefrigerated for a week. This will allow the kombucha to continue to ferment lightly and increase carbonation.
• After another week on the counter, you will refrigerate the bottled kombucha. This will slow/stop the fermentation process.

Other notes:

• Make sure everything is super clean before starting. You can boil jars/bottles or use a brewing sterilizer. Do not wash with dish soap as soap residue can harm scoby.
• Use only filtered/spring/distilled water. You do not want the chlorine etc. from city water or the extra minerals from well water in your kombucha. Even water filtered through a brita filter is okay.
• Spring-top, grolsch bottles are ideal for kombucha as they are strong and the lids seal air-tight; the lids also remain attached.
• Kombucha is temperature-sensitive. Do not expose to high heat (could cause over-fermentation/bottle breakage) or freeze (will kill beneficial cultures and allow harmful bacteria/molds to grow).
• If allowed to ferment longer, kombucha can be used in place of vinegar in nearly any application apple cider vinegar would be used. It’s been used locally as a cleaning agent, hair rinse, in place of wine in cooking, and other creative uses.
• Fermented kombucha can build up a lot of pressure. Do not shake bottles and use care when opening!
• If you get a lot of extra scobies, you can store them in their own jar with just enough kombucha to cover. No need to replenish kombucha regularly. This is called a “scoby hotel”.

CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Teams, and is a national program for individuals who want to help out in case of a disaster in their community. In basic CERT training you learn the basics of personal safety, search and rescue, first aid, hazards, and leadership and organization. The training prepares people to form teams that can help out in case of home or wildfires, accidents, natural disasters like tornadoes or earthquakes, or other emergencies.

Among other things, we learned the basics of first aid including head to toe assessments; how to safely lift heavy debris off injured individuals, how to use fire extinguishers safely; how to assess buildings for damage and then enter to search for trapped people; and how to operate effectively in teams.

CERT is a great (and free!) training that really helps prepare you for the unknown. It’s also great reinforcement and practice of skills you may already have, as teams regularly drill and work on advanced training.

Our class was great. We had a lot of hands-on practice with search and rescue drills, including how to lift walls or other heavy objects using cribbing and a lever. We learned how to find and carry out injured people from damaged structures.

In two drills, we learned the importance of teamwork and organization.

In the first, we were tasked with making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the whole group under a time limit, and although chaotic we succeeded in completing the challenge, with only a few minor errors.

In the second, we simulated a disaster, with a CERT team rescuing a group of injured people. Some of the “injured” had fake wounds and blood, and if we didn’t catch their injuries fast enough and provide proper treatment, they could go into shock or even die on us.

I was a role player the first time around and got to pretend I was experiencing psychological shock, and it was eye opening to watch my fellow students try to organize the treatment area and deal with the chaos. Then it was my turn. As the lead of the treatment area, it was my job to try to keep track of what was happening at the disaster site and then direct both my team members and uninjured individuals as we dealth with those who were critically-wounded. I never thought it would be that hard to deal with a half-dozen people, but I never imagined the reality of doing so while people were running around, screaming, wandering off, and constantly yelling your name. As someone who is learning first aid and herbal medicine, this was my first real experience dealing with patients, and even though it was all simulated, it was still incredibly intense.

It’s a lot of work and impossible to explain to someone who’s never been there, but it was also an amazing experience that boosted my confidence a lot because of how much I learned from the experience.

For more information or to find out how you can connect with your local CERT organizers, visit the national CERT website.

To offset the significant costs of such a trip (which is currently being financed by the individual students with support from the schools we attend), we held the first of several fundraisers on June 23, 2012, in Liberty Hill, Texas.

At our recent event, the students participating in the trip along with many of our friends, taught classes on everything from friction fires to bicycle repair, soap making to beer brewing. We also had workshops on homesteading, bug-out bags, edible and medicinal plants, kombucha brewing, aquaponics and intuitive archery.

It was a great day and we met a lot of wonderful people who came out to learn a variety of new skills and show support for our efforts.

And of course there were zombies. We don’t seem to be able to do anything without zombies!

This time, however, we came prepared with our own anti-zombie task force leader!

I encourage you to visit the Missions of Grace website for more information on our trip. If you can, all of the students – and even more, the people of Nicaragua – would appreciate your support. In addition to travel costs, we need to raise a lot of funds for supplies to bring with us. All donations are welcome and tax-deductible!.

That was me in November, 2009. At the University of Texas at Austin, they had launched a new platform to solicit feedback and ideas from the University community. On the day it launched, I happened to walk by two large raised beds, filled with flowers that were being dug up so that Landscape Services could replant them with winter-hardy annuals.

It was a ritual the University had engaged in as long as I had worked here, and I was fed up.

It seemed like such a poor use of landscaper staff time, not to mention a really bad gardening practice, to plant non-native flowers that can barely make it through a season, only to replace them seasonally with other flowers that could only squeak through the next season.

On a more personal note, it seemed wasteful and sad to see a lot of plants dug up and thrown away. It also bothered me that cheap bedding plants were the best the University had come up for these large beds right in the heart of campus.

And let’s get real. Austin is increasingly a “green” city, and xeriscaping is increasingly popular. So why was UT Austin wasting its time planting and then digging up pansies of all things?

So that very day I tossed a suggestion to the new suggestion forum called The Ideas of Texas. Initially it was just a way to blow off steam because these gardens had been a sore point for a long time.

Little did I know they would actually like the idea.

In fact, the University liked it so much that they decided to implement it, and worked with me to make it happen. I got to meet a couple times with representatives of Landscape Services and experts from the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center to discuss the idea and the kinds of plants that could go into the beds.

President Powers even featured the idea on his blog Tower Talk!

It took nearly a year to get the landscaping plans drawn up and approved, and then for the University to secure the plants and other supplies needed, and then to actually plant the garden. Oh and factor in University time because nothing happens overnight on a large campus.

So the idea came to me in November 2009, but it wasn’t until December 2010 that the garden was actually planted.

And now?

Instead of pansies, there’s now a gorgeous garden with native perennials, flowers and grasses. It’s gorgeous and needs very little care other than a bit of water from time to time.

Every time I walk by it, my heart swells with pride. That’s MY garden, my legacy to the University of Texas at Austin. And it’s a beautiful thing indeed.

There are a couple of morals to this story:

2. Always encourage and promote sustainable gardening practices whenever you can. Start with your own home, then maybe talk to your neighbors, local businesses, city park departments. Then hit up the large corporations, college campuses, and other areas with large green areas soaked with Roundup and drenched with water just to keep the grass green.

You never know what could happen!

First of all, my small duplex garden is going crazy! I’ve already harvested tomatoes and zucchini, and I have a baby eggplant and poblano peppers teasing me. My pumpkin vine has taken over the fence I share with my neighbors, and with all the rain we’ve had, my comfrey plant is lush and gorgeous.

On pragmatic survival issues, a week ago I got a screw in my tire. Thanks to a handy tip I learned from my Urban Core Basic class taught by The Human Path, I had tire repair tools and an air compressor in my car. That allowed me to air up my tire long enough to drive home and change it there. This may seem like a small thing to some people, but being in the middle of a busy shopping center parking lot in the middle of a hot day, with groceries in the car, it was wonderful to be able to get home and fix my tire in the safety and relative comfort of my own driveway.

And on a totally different topic: as some people know, I am a passionate user of WordPress, a web development platform many people use for their blogs. I do freelance WordPress training and development for small businesses, and I was one of the main organizers for WordCamp Austin, a two-day event for WordPress developers and bloggers. If you’re interested, I just posted my reflections on the day on my WordPress.com blog.

There’s lots more going on in my life and I’ve discovered that my survival training has helped strengthen my personal coping strategies and leadership skills. These skills in turn are critical in surviving the stresses and challenges of our modern world… and that’s where I’ll leave you today.

After class, we did some dry goods canning and talked about plans for many of The Human Path and Wildflower School students to go to Nicaragua this fall to hone our herbal medicine and first aid skills within a rural community.

All in all it was a great spring day down at the Human Path Quarry with a lot of great folks!

Last year I planted a small raised bed garden in the backyard of my duplex apartment. I had a couple tomato plants, herbs and peppers, but not much else. As the summer progressed, I got a little bit of food out of the effort but the record heat and drought really did a number on my plants and overall the garden wasn’t particularly successful.

Cue Spring 2012.

Unlike last year, in Austin we’re getting enough rain for the forecasters to scale back our drought rating and the weather has been remarkably warm (I think our last freeze was maybe in February).

Thanks to all our spring rains, gardens in central Texas are going crazy!

Even before I knew we’d be getting all this rain, this year I planted triple the garden space of last year, using both of my raised beds as well as a series of containers made from storage totes with holes in the bottom. A couple of these containers have water reservoirs (actually, 2.5 gallon water jugs) on the bottom, while others are dirt from top to bottom. It’s all part of the life-long experimenting that comes with gardening.

I have two tomato plants in one of the raised beds, snuggled up with some chard and spinach. In the second bed I also have rosemary, thyme, peppermint, fennel and a single ornamental plant. I also have a series of containers in which I’ve planted basil, comfrey, lemon balm, catnip, zucchini, echinacea, eggplant and pumpkin.

Last, but certainly not least, is the compost pile.

Really. I have a small pile of garden waste (leaves and green matter) and kitchen scraps. At the edge of that is a type of squash yet to identify itself, and some sort of legume, perhaps a pea, which is strange since I don’t typically eat peas or similar plants that could have ended up in the compost.

For now everything is happy (so happy, in fact, that this early in April I already have a green tomato!), but this leaves me with lots of unanswered questions. Will the zucchini plants survive the (inevitable) onslaught of vine borers? Will the pumpkin take to the chain link fence, or choose to tumble to the ground? Will the tomatoes produce a surplus this year (they didn’t last year)? Will the comfrey, a shade and water loving plant that is super happy right now, make it through the summer?

And perhaps the most important question of them all: will 2012 be the year the peppermint successfully reaches its goal of total garden domination?

For more on container gardening, you might like the article on container gardening in the new issue of Mother Earth News!

I’ve posted the brief comments they made about each plant, to the best of my ability. Please note that many of these plants have fantastic medicinal qualities, but if you’re new to herbal medicine you should take care to learn more about the plants, the preparations and uses, before diving in. Just as you wouldn’t take a prescription medicine without understanding how it’s used (or get it from a professional), you shouldn’t just pick a plant that you just learned and know just the basics about, and start chowing down on it.

Agarita

Mahonia trifoliolata (Berberis trifoliolata, Mahonia trifoliata)

This is a great plant to use for the gastric system, and all parts of the alimentary canal. Agarita contains berberine, the same constituent in goldenseal. Usually roots and woody parts are used medicinally, although leaves are also effective. Agarita berries are edible as well. Local herbalists consider this to be one of the best local plants to use for a variety of illnesses, and would have it in their top 10 useful herbs.

Yucca

Yucca spp.

In the agave family. The root contains saponins, which can be used to make a form of soap. These constituents are  precursors to cortisone and can help with inflammation. The root is edible and can be roasted like a potato. The leaves can be used to make cordage.

Prickly or Wild Lettuce

Latuca verosa and Latuca serriola

Similar in appearance to dandelion but leaves tend to be more upright, and there are prickly spines on the leaf spines. The leaves are edible and can be used raw or cooled. They are very astingent, and bitter, stimulating digestion. Latuca Verosa – called lettuce opium. Has the lobed/toothed leaves. Serriola – less of a toothed leaf. Taken internally, the herb causes secretions from mucus membranes, the latex in stems has a relaxing effect, but care should be taken if used internally in significant quantities or in an herbal preparation because it can cause cardiac issues.

Sow thistle

Sonchus oleraceus and other spp.

Another dandelion look-alike, although this plant grows much larger than dandelions in Texas. It has spikes on leaves,  and multiple flower stalks, both traits also unlike dandelions. Leaves are edible as raw or cooked greens, and flower buds are delicious sauteed in bacon fat.

Red seed plantain

Plantago rhodosperma

All species of plantain have similar qualities and can be used medicinally. Leaves of plant have parallel veins which is unlike look-alike plants and can be used to distinguish it. Often grows in disturbed soils, can take a lot of abuse.

Plant can be used topically. Amazing for tissue regeneration.  Best for insect bites – you can chew up leaf and put the pulp on a cut or fire ant bite. in dried, powdered form plantain is great  in a facial scrub or mask for acne. A plantain poultice can help to pull out splinters. Psyllium husks = plantain seeds. Also called “plant for life.”

Hedge parsley

Torillis arvensis

Looks like so many other things. Not really medicinal. Be careful. Althogh edible, some look-alikes are very poisonous. Makes burrs. Grows up in a stalk.

Evening primrose

Oenothera speciosa

Very safe to use. Typically flowers are used medicinally, and evening primrose oil contains fatty acids that are especially good for women, relieves menstrual cramps.

Acacia

Acacia spp

Tree with small  yellow flowers; thorns. In Mimosoideae subfamily, with similar leaves, and is considered a legume. Bean pods can be ground up  like mesquite beans, with similar results.

Texas verbena

Glandularia bipinnatifida 

Looks a bit like lantana (Lantana camara and spp) but leaves are different. Verbena leaves are fern-shaped, and look like nervous system, while the lantana leaves are oval. Verbena is a good nervine and can help promote calm and relaxation.

(thanks Sam Coffman for corrected identification)

Poison ivy

Toxicodendron radicans

It tends to grow in places that are disturbed or where there is a lot of human activity. In Austin it is prolific on the greenbelts and on the hike and bike trail. Protective of other plants. Don’t touch, but surely we don’t have to tell you that. It also tends to make blog writers break out into song when least expected.

Englemann’s Daisy

Engelmannia peristenia

No immediately known medicinal or edible properties. Just a cool plant we found as we wandered around.

Below are a few photos of the campus turtles I took over my lunch break.

That’s all… no recipe or description of a wild adventure today. Just turtles.

According to SurvivalBlog.com, the FBI has been visiting sites and even tracking users. They note that the FBI “surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of [their] site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers.”

Since the news broke, other sites have been checking their logs only to find federal agencies visiting their blogs, often quite regularly. Off Grid Survival reported that it has had over 1000 visits from Homeland Security.

Since I heard this from Save Our Skills, which reports also having Homeland Security visits, I thought I’d give my own analytics a looksie.

Sure enough, the feds have dropped by, though only a handful of times (hey, this is a small blog compared to others… give me time!). I also saw visits from the EPA, the US Government Accountability Office, and various city, county and state governmental offices.

Am I worried? Nah. I’m just glad they dropped by. If I can help our federal government prepare for natural disasters or other calamities by teaching them how to make soap or render fat, that’s fantastic!

If you want to check your site (assuming you have Google Analytics installed; you can check your server logs if you don’t):

On the left side of your Google Analytics dashboard, go to Audience > Technology > Network. You can add City as a secondary dimension. And then just browse the networks people are using to visit your site.