Many of you have enjoyed our signature event, the Kentucky Green Living Fair, in the past. Wild Fest will be a different sort of event, emphasizing in-depth learning. We are only selling a limited number of tickets, which means a much more intimate experience for you and smaller workshop sizes. Come prepared to delve deeply into the topics of wild and fermented food.

We have the most impressiveworkshop lineup that we’ve ever put together, including a keynote by Sandor Katz, bestselling author of Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation. Other special guests include Master storyteller and naturalist Doug Elliott, Jesse Frost of Rough Draft Farmstead, Jim Scheff of Kentucky Heartwood, The Kentucky Forager, and Rachel Milford of Reclaiming Your Roots. (Lots of other great presenters, too—check out our presenter page.)

We are also very excited that the Fermentation on Wheels project will be joining us. These cool folks have been traveling the country (from Portland, OR!) spreading fermentation love (and starter cultures) wherever they go. They will be bringing their biodiesel-powered bus to WildFest to learn and share with us.

You can check out our full workshop list (natural wine making, lots of wild plant walks, hunting ethics, yogurt making, and much more!) and other details on the Wild Fest Website. If you are interested in foraging for wild food or fermenting, you are not going to want to miss this. Classes will be suited for beginning and advanced learners. Besides the great workshops, this will be a great opportunity to network with others who share your passions. We have already sold tickets to attendees from all over the United States!

The last day for Early Bird Ticket Sales is April 1st.  After that, tickets will be $50 each. Buy your tickets today!

In case you were wondering about what’s up, I am now going to squeeze several months of updates into one blog post…. hope you can keep up!

• The Kentucky Green Living Fair… on March 15 this year at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset. We haven’t released the details yet, but we have so many great workshops scheduled so far (DIY aquaponics, growing ginger, backyard poultry, beekeeping, 3 years to food self-sufficiency, composting toilets… and much more!) and a line up of vendors that I could not be prouder of! We are also going to have live bluegrass/folk/Americana music all day, but we’ve somehow managed to still keep the cost super low—$5 for adults, 12 and under free. I so hope you will join us. And let me just send SO MUCH LOVE to our fair partners, Caught Wild Salmon, Rough Draft Farmstead, The Bluebird, Kentucky Soaps & Such, and Wilderness Road Guest Houses for helping make the magic happen, and our sponsors, Au Naturel Farm, Earthineer, Eat: Local Food For Everyone, and Somerset Community College.
• I am now contributing to the website of Hobby Farms Magazine! While I am happy to be writing for a national audience, I am even more excited that they are letting me write about the subject nearest to my heart: Beginning Farmers. My first article “The Beginning Farmers Guide to Self Sufficiency” is now up and my next one will be available to read mid-February. We must must must do something about the shortage of young farmers in this country, folks. It is a national crisis…
• If you didn’t catch the Winter Issue of Story Magazine, you should still be able to find it on newsstands. My article about beginning farmers in Kentucky (see a theme here?) is in it and features some gorgeous photos of our friends at Rough Draft Farmstead.  Also, you can read my Summer 2013 article, “Kentucky’s Coffee Trail” online now.
• I have also been working on another event to follow up the fair… WILDFest will be dedicated to wild and fermented foods. In partnership with my friends at Cedar Creek Farm and Vineyards, we will be hosting some amazing speakers on April 19th—Sandor Katz, the fermentation king himself, and naturalist/storyteller Doug Elliot among many others. We’ve also got some great workshops lined up—forest medicinals, wild mushrooms, natural wine making, mead making, healing the gut through fermentation, and more. A limited number of tickets just went on sale, but you better grab yours now because they will sell out quickly.
• If you have ever wanted to know more about Sustainable Kentucky, today’s your chance! The kind people over at the Kentucky Project recently interviewed me as part of their series on obesity.
• I am speaking at the farm-to-fork dinner at the Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival in May! Public speaking is a little stressful for me, but I am willing to do it when I can talk about what I am passionate about—local food and farmers. Hope you can join us… it would be great to see some familiar faces in the crowd!

Outside of Sustainable Kentucky, there are plenty of other good things going on in Kentucky:

• I LOVE MOUNTAINS DAY is Wednesday, February 12 in Frankfort. RSVP on Facebook and join Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to make a stand for good.
• My friend Rona Roberts is teaching a class on Food Writing in Lexington Feb-Mar of this year. Rona is an incredibly kind soul who has been immensely personally helpful to me as I have worked on this blog. If I lived in Lexington, I would already be signed up for this class!
• I’ve done some experimentation with a fall/winter garden and have found it so much more enjoyable than summer gardening because of the reduced pest pressure and temperatures. I’ve always known I could do better, and following along with Mother of a Hubbard and her winter garden in eastern Kentucky has confirmed that. This lady is incredible and I hope inspirational to farmers and home gardeners all over Kentucky. You can have fresh garden produce in winter!
• Jeff Poppen, the Barefoot Farmer, is speaking at Foxhollow Farm (outside of Louisville) on February 22nd! Sign up today… and don’t forget your dancin’ shoes for the square dance that follows.
• I have it on good authority that Sweetgrass Granola is bringing back a revamped version of their chocolate granola. To say that I am a devotee of this sorghum-sweetened granola would be an understatement. Keep your fingers crossed that it releases soon!

One last thing….

Would you like to see your sustainable farm or homestead featured on Sustainable Kentucky? We really want to open up the great platform that we’ve developed here to share more of your stories. Drop me a line at info@sustainablekentucky.com and tell me a little about your and your farm (or even backyard garden). I may select you to be included in a future post!

1.) Seasoned Salts. So easy it may be bordering on lazy…. I use kosher salt and mix with dried herbs, garlic, tomatoes, etc. from my garden. I wish there was a fancy recipe here, but I usually just eyeball it. I like to use the resulting product on pizzas, pasta, etc. You can experiment with the mixes that work best for you. I like to use lovely jars that I pick up throughout the year at Hobby Lobby as they go on sale, usually at 50% off. This makes it seems more like a festive gift and less like you were frantically mixing herbs into salt at 1 am in the morning to get all your gifts done… (Hint: if you didn’t dry herbs or garlic this year, you can actually chop up all the fresh ingredients, toss generously with the salt and leave out to dry on the counter for a day or two before bottling.)

2.) Sweetgrass Granola Holiday Bundle:  All three flavors of Sweetgrass Granola, a fresh roast of Magic Beans Coffee, and an 8 oz decorative sorghum syrup jug makes a great gift for the Kentuckian or breakfast lover.  Comes in a decorative craft paper bag. Ships FREE anywhere in the continental United States. The catch is you’ve gotta order NOW to get it in time for Christmas as it ships on December 19th! Our friends Jacob & Carolyn lovingly make every bite of your granola by hand and are lovingly handpackaging these gift bags, too.

3.) Bringing Wine Home, Books One & Two by Jesse Frost: a memoir about farming, love, and natural wine making by half of the duo at Rough Draft Farmstead. Perfect for anyone who wants to get back to the land, live off grid, or make their own wine…. or just enjoys a really good read by a great Kentuckian.

4.) Recipe Cards. If you have a flair for graphic design or maybe even just brilliant handwriting, why not put together some small bundles of your favorite recipes to give out as hostess gifts? This gift is good because it is easily reproducible and you can put it with a dish towel or jar of jam for a lovely and simple gift.

5.) The Kentucky BBQ Book: Wes Berry has traveled the state in search of the best barbecue. Perfect for the meat lover in your life, especially when paired with a gift certificate to a favorite or off-the-beaten path BBQ joint.

6.) Community Farm Alliance Membership. This is the gift that keeps on giving all year long! CFA is THE group to be a member of if you are a farmer or eat food grown on farms in Kentucky. I’ve written about Community Farm Alliance’s important work in the past, so read up and give the gift of agriculture.

7.) Homemade Mustard. I usually gift gifts of homemade fruit preserves this time of year in gift baskets, but it is nice to round out the sweetness with something savory. Homemade mustard is super fast and easy. I have been experimenting with recipes for a few years now and have come up with one that is easily adaptable to whatever your mood is and whatever is in your pantry.

1 1/2 cups alcohol (local wine, Kentucky bourbon, maybe some West Sixth IPA?—if you use Bourbon, you might want to 1/2 cup of water instead of all bourbon)

1/2 cup vinegar (white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, etc…)

1 1/4 cup mustard seeds (brown, yellow, or a mix)

1/4-1/2 cup of something sweet (honey? brown sugar? sorghum? mix and match?)

1 tsp salt

optional: dash of hot sauce (we heart Sadistic Mistress here), fresh chopped herbs, etc.

Most recipes call for blending the ingredients in a food processor after you’ve made the mustard. My food processor is not the best, resulting in a very whole grain mustard that is a little weird texturally. This year, I’ve learned the magic trick, which is to grind all the mustard while it is still dry, using a mortar and pestle.  (Great tasks for the kiddos who have so much extra energy this time of year.) Soak the ground mustard in the alcohol a few hours or overnight. Then combine with remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly until the mustard reaches the desired thickness. Ladle into jars (this recipe makes about 4 8 0z. jars) and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. This makes a great gift paired with yummy soft pretzels or my favorite homemade cracker recipe.

8.) Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste by Bill Best: Bill Best is the king of seed saving in Kentucky, and this book will reveal to you why. “Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste will introduce readers to the cultural traditions associated with seed saving, as well as the remarkable people who have used grafting practices and hand-by-hand trading to keep alive varieties that would otherwise have been lost. As local efforts to preserve heirloom seeds have become part of a growing national food movement, Appalachian seed savers play a crucial role in providing alternatives to large-scale agriculture and corporate food culture. Part flavor guide, part people’s history, Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste will introduce you to a world you’ve never known — or perhaps remind you of one you remember well from your childhood.” Good for the farmer, seed hound, or Appalachian-history lover in your life.

9.) Bourbon Barrell Foods Soy Sauce. Why, yes, as a matter of fact… that is a $32 bottle of soy sauce on the list. But it is microbrewed, made in Kentucky, non-GMO, and completely incomparable to anything you’ll buy in the grocery store. Perfect for the person in your life who is obsessed with the quality of the ingredients in their food… and they have smaller, more affordable bottles that would make great stocking stuffers.

10.) A CSA membership. You can find CSAs near you or your gift recipient on Local Harvest. While it may seem expensive (memberships can run hundreds of dollars), what better gift can you give than healthy food for the entire summer? Some CSAs offer smaller shares, too or even egg-only shares that would be very affordable. (If you aren’t familiar with the CSA concept, local farms sell shares at the beginning of the season then give part of the farm’s harvest to you each week during the growing season.) This might be a great gift for a needy family in your life or anyone who loves to cook and eat well.

11.) Basically anything from Kentucky for Kentucky. While it might not be food-related, the cool folks who brought us the Kentucky Kicks Ass campaign have a ton of gifts for the person in your life who loves Kentucky and would be proud to show it by wearing something other than a Wildcats sweatshirt.

12.) A Gift Certificate to The Bluebird. The Bluebird in Stanford is a great farm-to-table restaurant that a lot of folks still haven’t been to because it isn’t in a major city. Give the gift of a delicious local lunch, or even better, take a friend or loved one there to share in their company, too. While you are that way, visit Kentucky Soaps & Such (next door) and Marksbury Farm Market (a hop, skip, and a jump down the road in Lancaster).

*****

Christmas and all the consumerist behavior that comes with it can be discouraging… but it can also be a great time to support local producers and businesses and stimulate our economy. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone here at Sustainable Kentucky.

Oh… if you are still out of ideas… you can always get a Sustainable Kentucky t-shirt or tote bag… if you order today it could still make it in time for Christmas!

Angela Correll is a seventh generation Kentuckian. She owns Kentucky Soaps & Such on Main Street in Stanford, KY, selling handcrafted goat milk soap and other local products. Angela and her husband Jess are partners in the Bluebird, one of our favorite farm-to-table restaurants in Kentucky. She lives on a farm with her husband, Jess, and an assortment of cattle, horses, goats and chickens. Grounded is her first novel. 

SK: Tell us about your involvement with the local food movement here in Kentucky. What led you to where you are today?

AC: When I married Jess and moved to the farm fifteen years ago, one of the first things I wanted to do was plant a garden and can my own vegetables.  Jess was already making his own marinara and pesto sauce from the garden and that inspired me. I liked knowing my food came from just out the back door and that it was free of chemicals. I also liked the connection it gave me to my grandparents, by doing some of the things they would have done.

That was all it was for me until a few years ago when our son Preston passed some books to us about the distance food has to travel and how a farm should be sustainable. It all clicked into place and made so much sense. I already had the store at that point, selling locally made Kentucky soap and products, so it was an easy jump to think about food in the same way.

From there we’ve been cheerleaders for Marksbury and the Local Food Association while changing our own farms to be more sustainable.

SK: Chef Bill at the Bluebird was one of the first folks I interviewed for Sustainable Kentucky… and the restaurant still remains one of my favorites! What prompted you and your husband to invest in that project and how has the experience affected your perspective on food and community? 

AC: We always knew a restaurant was the missing link for our town after developing the Kentucky store and the guesthouses. I think we knew on some level it could be a gathering place, but we’ve been blown away by how the Bluebird has come to be the community’s center. During the week you see business folks and community leaders discussing ideas as well as church groups or friends having lunch around an outing. On Saturdays you often see families sitting around the table together sharing a meal and that feels good, too.

From an investment standpoint, it’s always about people. Having Chef Bill Hawkins as our partner is key because we have the same values. He designed the kitchen to be a part of the restaurant so customers can see it is all good food and fresh ingredients. People like that and they know that whatever you get at the Bluebird it will be fresh and as local as possible. Chef Bill, his wife Mandy, and the kids are all part of our community now.

SK: Tell us a little bit about Grounded and why this story was so important for you to share.

AC: The idea of Grounded started when I moved back to the country after years in the city. I realized how disconnected from the land I was after living in the city, so part of the motivation was to express those ideas in my main character who comes back to the farm after living for ten years in New York.

Ultimately, the story is about the healing power of creation and how two women of different generations find common ground. It’s about community and the sacred trust to care for one another and for the land. It is about deep roots and a long heritage. And, it’s about hope for second chances.

Now that the book is out and people are reading it, some of my favorite comments are things like, “After reading your book, I went to the farmer’s market and bought green beans and broke them on the front porch.”  I love that.

SK: Sustainable farming is an underlying theme in this book. Why did you feel like that needed to be a part of the story?

AC: Years passed from the original idea of Grounded to the drafts my agent took to publishers and through that time my ideas about farming changed. The sustainable theme was a natural part of that evolution as I was growing in my own farming journey.  I am so glad the publishers didn’t take some of the earlier drafts because now I feel it is whole.

SK: Favorite Kentucky farm:

AC: My grandfather’s farm in Northern Garrard County holds me for sentimental reasons, but my own farm in Lincoln County is the one I love most.

SK: Favorite fresh-from-the-garden meal or recipe:

AC: Black Beauty Eggplant, halved and hollowed out, filled with sautéed veggies (carrots, onions, peppers) and baked in the oven until the eggplant is tender.  Use butter or olive oil and season veggies to taste before filling the eggplant and baking it.

SK: Favorite reads related to sustainability:

AC: Nancy Sleeth’s Almost Amish and all of Wendell Berry’s fiction.

SK: Favorite Kentucky Proud products: 

AC: Plainview Farm Goat Milk Soap and Marksbury Farm Market Meats

Baxter’s Coffee and Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese

Angela has some upcoming appearances, so don’t miss the chance to meet this lovely lady and get your book signed!

October 1 Kentucky Soaps & Such, 203 West Main Street, Stanford, 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.

October 11 Morris Book Shop, 882 East High Street, Lexington, 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

October 17 Carmichael’s Book Store, 2720 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

She will also be at First Southern National Bank’s 30 Year Celebration in several places across Central and Western Kentucky, so visit her website for more event dates: www.angelacorrell.com

Check out our interviews with other Kentucky authors:

Will Samson

Catherine Pond

David Domine

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Well, there’s no better way to learn than personal experience, is there? So this year, I started a farmers market in Somerset with a great group of farmers and some very devoted market shoppers. It has been a rewarding and challenging experience that has found me (as usual) just a little bit in over my head most of the time.

I’ve been quickly learning that there are a lot of misconceptions about farming amongst us consumers. Many of us sort of assume things when we see a farmers market and never take the time to start conversations with our farmers. We assume everything is local or organic when it isn’t always. On the flip side, I’ve noticed that people readily assume that anyone growing in quantity simply must be buying their vegetables from someone else, especially if they are in boxes. Why are we so quick to assume that people are buying their produce at auction? I mean, someone has to be growing all that produce that is being auctioned off, don’t they? A lot of these issues could be resolved quickly and easily by nothing more than a simple chat with the person on the other side of the table.

Yet, I realize it can be confusing, daunting even, to navigate the many farms at a market and try to decide who deserves your hard-earned dollars. Especially if you aren’t a farmer of a gardener, it can be confusing to know what should be in season or even what can be grown in Kentucky—especially with folks like Au Naturel Farm consistently pushing the envelope of what can thrive in our climate! You may not know what to ask or how to be sure that you are getting produce that is local or organic or humane or all of the above.

I thought it might help to make a list of general questions to ask the farmer next time you are at the market. This is not some sort of exhaustive list meant for interrogation to catch some unsuspecting farmer in a lie. And definitely don’t ask all the questions at once! Instead, it is meant as a sort of gentle introduction to agricultural conversation to help you get to know who should be one of the most important people in your life—the person growing the food that sustains you!

(1) Did you grow this? This seems basic, but don’t assume that they did. And don’t cast them immediately as a villain just because they are reselling. Many markets allow for selling the products of others and they may have partnered with another nearby farmer who is too busy or doesn’t grow enough to attend the market on their own.

(2) Can I visit your farm? Usually 30 seconds on a farm is enough for me to know if this is a farm I want to do business with. Seeing a farmer’s passion for what they do on the land that they do it makes it very quickly evident if their values line up with my own. Be respectful of a farmer’s schedule, always give them plenty of notice when scheduling a visit, or even better go on a planned farm tour day. Farming is busy and exhausting work and if a farmer took a couple hours out of every day to give a tour—nothing would get done!

(3) What variety is this? Farmers that are growing their own can usually pretty quickly name the variety they are growing, where they got the seed, etc. Also, there is a difference in flavor and quality amongst vegetable varieties (or even meat animal breeds), so it is good to keep track of what you like and what you don’t.

(4) What’s the best way to cook this? Maybe I’m biased, but I think the best farmers are the ones that actually eat what they grow. (I find it strange when I ask a farmer about something on their table and they say that they have never tried it!) Especially if it something that you are unfamiliar with, let them share their knowledge with you on how to prepare it for maximum flavor awesomeness.

(5) Are you certified organic? Why or why not? So many passionate opinions on both sides of this topic, but I will just sum it up. Not every farm can afford the time or money to get certified. Many think the standards are too lax anyway and so the label doesn’t matter. Let your farmer tell you their perspective on the organic label and why they have it or not.

(6) Who helps with your harvest? I feel comforted when I visit a market and see a small table with an amount of produce that I could have grown in my yard, but I recognize that an operation running on that scale probably isn’t going to feed the world. On the other hand, when I see piles and piles of green beans or corn or potatoes, I always wonder—who harvested that? Having done my own share of farm harvesting, I know how brutal it can be in the hot sun, laboring for hours on end. A farmer once bragged to me about how his migrant workers had put in nearly a hundred of hours of labor in what happened to be one of the hottest weeks of the year! Given the choice, I don’t feel comfortable giving my money to support those kinds of labor practices.

Veggie-specific questions:

(7) Do you use chemical fertilizers or pesticides on your garden? This is a good follow up question to the organic question if they didn’t already answer it. Typically folks tend to answer on a sort of sliding scale, somewhere between “I spray the heck out of these beauties!” to “I would never use anything manufactured, even organic-approved sprays.”

(8) How do you deal with __________ pest?  Okay, so if you don’t use sprays, what do you use? I also like to ask this because it can be helpful with my garden at home, where some seasons I might possibly get carried away by a swarm of Colorado potato beetles. My personal favorite answers usually involve crop rotation and companion planting rather than using chemical treatments that are approved for organic use—but we all are comfortable with different levels.

(9) Tell me about that box. Before I was running a market, I never realized how seriously worked up folks get about how vegetables are packaged. If you bring your stuff to market in dirty, broken plastic crates, people are turned off by your lack of attention to detail. If you bring it in nice, purchased, labeled cardboard boxes, they automatically write you off as someone who is going to auction instead of growing your own. The truth is that when you harvest a few hundred pounds of tomatoes, it is a serious dilemma about where to put them all so that they can be transported safely to market, which is sometimes hours away. So ask about that fancy box before you automatically assume it came from the nearest wholesale auction.

Meat-Specific Questions:

(10) Was this animal born on your farm? My favorite farms are raising their animals from start to finish, but some may just be building up their herd or flock and might have purchased the animal elsewhere. Chickens, in particular, are probably coming from a commercial hatchery if they are growing in any scale at all. It may not matter to you where the animal was born, but then again it might.

(11) Where was this animal processed? There are many complex laws and regulations concerning the processing of meat. Personally, I would prefer an animal that is processed at home, but to sell in most places in the state, Kentucky farmers must use a USDA-inspected processing facility. The good news is that some abattoirs, such as Marksbury Farm, offer tours so that you can see how your food is processed.

The reality is that you may not be happy with the answers to all of these questions. In your mind, if you were a farmer, you might do it differently or better. But it is hard to know until you’ve been there what you might compromise on. The point is that by asking any questions at all, you are already ahead of the game from where you would be when you buy something at the grocery and know absolutely nothing about its farm (or country!) of origin.

Bonus points:

(12) Do you need help? It’s a fine line with farm help—most farms need it, but it isn’t worth their time to train someone who just wants to be a casual volunteer. That being said, there might be a specific building project or work day (harvest an acre of garlic, for example) where a helping hand would be welcome. Working on the farm will give you an extra insight into how the farm is run and also probably make everything you eat from that farm taste better! Don’t be offended if they say no—the farm is their life and some farmers may find it intrusive. But many will welcome your offer. Don’t limit it to farm chores either—perhaps they need help setting up a Facebook page, finding grant opportunities, or manning their market booth for an hour on Saturday so they can catch their nephew’s Little League game!

(13) Have I told you lately that I love you? Okay, maybe you don’t need to confess your love or anything, but please oh please tell your farmer thank you for all their hard work. Sometimes we forget that this tiny little potato we are buying had this magical long life before us. The ground had to be prepared, planted, watered, bugs killed by hand, fretted over, harvested, washed, packaged, driven to market, and then sold.

Like I said, use these questions to get to know your farmer. The beauty of buying local is that you actually can know where your food comes from, how it was raised, how the workers who harvested it were treated… When you buy from a chain grocer, you will never know.

The most important thing to remember when talking with a farmer is that—unless you are a farmer—don’t judge what they are doing. Yes, you may choose to take your business elsewhere, but it’s important to realize that we are all learning and growing. Farming is hard work that often requires difficult compromises that those of us not in the business of growing food may not understand. I think this is why these types of conversations are so important to have.

You may be surprised that what starts out as a fact-finding mission can turn into the beginning of a beautiful friendship. And maybe, just maybe, your positive influence may sway someone towards better environmental practices, too.  Some of my most valuable friendships are with the folks who produce the food that I eat, and I think a restored sense of community is possible the single biggest health benefit to eating locally!

Happy shopping and happy eating!

On to the post, an introduction to making sauerkraut:

My wife and I live, for the most part, off of what we grow ourselves. So in the wintertime, when the gardens are reluctant to offer much of anything beyond mud, we long for something fresh. And where the chick-weed salads we forage don’t suffice, kraut (and kimchi) help to fill the void of fresh food.

Sauerkraut is a very old form of preserving cabbage by encouraging certain beneficial bacteria (lactobacilli) to acidify the cabbage, thus creating an environment ideal for preservation and for keeping the food safe from harmful bacteria. Sauerkraut has long been hailed for its help in the digestive process, as well as the flavor it adds to food. In fact, as far as health goes—as I note in my book Bringing Wine Home—Captain James Cook famously cured scurvy by taking barrels of sauerkraut with him on long voyages. Scurvy was a devastating disease sailors were suffering from due to the lack of fresh food (and specifically vitamin C), especially when at sea for months at a time. Sauerkraut, high in vitamin C among other beneficial nutrients like lactic acid, helped prevent scurvy and keep Cook’s crew healthy. Deep in the wintertime, this is the story I keep in mind: we don’t just want some kraut, we need some!

What you need to make one quart of kraut:

2-3 T of Sea Salt (I don’t prefer iodized salt, sea or “real” salt has more minerals)

2 small non-sprayed Cabbage (red or yellow—or one of each if you like pink kraut!)

1 one-quart mason jar

Optional:

Hot peppers, garlic, cardamom seed, juniper berries, clove, peppercorns, carrots, curry, radishes, or just about any other herb, spice or vegetable you like, or would like to keep around a bit longer.

The recipe I’m giving you is for one quart, though if you know you like kraut and would like to preserve more of it, feel free to multiply this recipe by how much ever you want, and ferment in a crock or non-reactive container.

1.) Chop or shred the cabbage and optional veggies (sans hot peppers—add chopped hot peppers when packing) into thin strips. Place in a large, non-reactive mixing bowl and sprinkle one tablespoon of salt.

2.) Massage the cabbage with your hands or a potato masher. I prefer using my hands, but it can be a bit of a workout either way—enlist some help if needed! After one or two minutes, add a second (or third if you don’t mind it salty) tablespoon of salt and continue massaging. The goal here is to release the juices within the cabbage, so it might take a few minutes to break down the cell walls and gain the amount of liquid you’re after.

3.) Massage until thoroughly wet and until a pool of liquid has formed at the bottom. (NOTE: you can also soak the cabbage over night in a salt brine of 2 quarts of water to 4 tablespoons of salt to avoid massaging, though I personally prefer the massaged kraut).

4.) Pack the cabbage with a wooden spoon into your quart jar one handful at a time (if you’re adding hot peppers, add them here overtop of each layer to avoid getting it all over your hands). The juices should overtake the cabbage—that’s what you’re going for. Pack tightly but stop packing the jar once the liquid comes within one inch of the top, and the cabbage within an inch and half (if you have to pour out some juice, that’s fine).

5.) Place a small bag of water or a small piece of plastic overtop of the cabbage to keep the solids submerged. Tie a cloth or napkin overtop and set on a saucer or small plate (to catch any spillover), and leave on a counter (if you are afraid of the smell, I recommend you locate this countertop in your garage or outside under cover!). After one week, checking often for mold or yeast blooms (which rarely occur in kraut especially if the cabbage is submerged well), place a plastic lid on top of the jar or a metal lid with a thin piece of paper bag separating the lid from the kraut (as it will taint the flavor). Leave it on your counter for a few more days, letting the gas out occasionally, then store in a cool place or fridge. You can taste often throughout the process. If it gets to a point you really like before seven days, just pop it in the fridge which will more or less stop the fermentation thus souring. Seven days will indeed render a rather “sauer” sauerkraut.

In a cool place, kraut can last for several months. And in the fridge, your finished kraut could easily last until fresh greens return, if not longer! If discoloration occurs (light browning on top) simply remove it and eat what’s underneath––it simply became oxidized.

Using Your Kraut

In America, kraut often makes us think of bratwurst, and indeed kraut does really well with fattier meats and dishes. I enjoy stirring some into soups or having it with butter and sweet potatoes. Making fresh salsa? Add a couple tablespoons of finely chopped sauerkraut. Kraut can also be sweetened up with honey (or sweet wine) and heated as a sort of after dinner digestif and treat. Can’t find anything to put it on? Just eat a spoonful every day for digestion!

As always, if you have any questions or anything to add, please don’t hesitate to comment. We always love to hear your recipes and thoughts! You can also reach me at roughdraftfarmstead@gmail.com or comment below.

Happy Fermenting!

September 7th – 8th: Kentucky State BBQ Festival at Constitution Square Historic Site in Danville

September 7th: Art in the Vineyards at Cedar Creek Vineyards in Somerset

September 14th – 15th: Permaculture in Practice workshop at Salamander Springs Farm in Berea

September 21st – 22nd: Crave Lexington Festival at the MoonDance Amphitheater in Lexington

September 28th – 29th: Harvest Fest at Shaker Village, including a farmers market! Here is our post from last year about this event.

OCTOBER

October 5th: Autumn Wild Mushroom Retreat with Forest Retreats in Berea—read what we’ve written about Forest Retreats in the past!

October 5th: Kentucky Beginning Farmers Conference at the KSU Center for Sustainability in Frankfort

October 12th: Pickin’ in the Park, bluegrass festival and farmers market at Pulaski County Park

October 12th: Healthy Food, Local Farms Conference in Louisville—here is our post from last year about this event

October 26th: Incredible Food Show at Rupp Arena in Lexington

CFA Field Days are essential to my survival because they help me to reconnect with like-minded folks. It’s always a refreshing reminder you are not alone in your weirdness—everyone here gets your obsession with seed catalogs, heritage chicken breeds, and composting toilets. For me, it is usually much more informative than a classroom workshop or lecture, because you get to see actual working farms and what they are doing.

(Just a friendly reminder, too… the work of Community Farm Alliance is essential to the survival of small Kentucky farms and also Kentucky consumers of farm-grown food… which means each and every one of you. JOIN TODAY!)

A quick word about Cedar Creek—this is a working vineyard and winery, which is fascinating on its own. But the farm is much more than just fermenting grapes. My dear, dear friends, the Wiles family, are constantly working to develop a diverse, sustainable family farm. Their operation is always evolving as they implement more permaculture practices and plant more diverse crops.

In short, the Wiles are our people. To say that I love them and their good work would be an understatement. They are passionate about what they do and are very excited to share it with you. The farm is beautiful—like looking into heaven, as a friend recently told me—and if you don’t come for any other reason, this should be enough:

Here are some of the topics that will be covered:

• permaculture
• rainwater collection
• growing berries
• beekeeping
• mushrooms
• edible landscaping
• fruit production
• vineyard management
• organic gardening
• composting
• bicycle powered grain equipment
• mob grazing cattle
• scything
• plant grafting

Afterwards, we’ll have a potluck and a wine tasting, so bring a dish to share and an instrument to play. $5 suggested donation. For directions visit www.cedarcreekvineyards.net. I can’t wait to meet you!

RSVP on Facebook or to carolyn@cfaky.org.

Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) is one of the most common roadside trees in Kentucky. Considered a nuisance by most, this incredibly prolific plant is easy to spot and can be found nearly everywhere.

Sumac tends to get a bad rap for a number of reasons, but you might be surprised to find that smooth sumac is just one of many edible varieties of sumac.

Let’s do some word association. What is the first word that comes to mind when I say “sumac”?

Did you think “poison”?

If so, you are not alone. Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) is the only sumac that most people are familiar with, but if you are worried about confusing smooth sumac with poison sumac, don’t fear. Poison sumac does not have red berries like the edible sumac varieties, and it is not common in Kentucky. In fact, it is so rare you will likely never see it at all, even if you are looking for it. It prefers wet soil and is almost exclusively found in the middle of swamps. Poison sumac will have white or green hanging berries. I’ve personally never seen poison sumac, but it’s good information to know just in case you ever have the misfortune of coming in contact with one. Another word of caution, sumac is in the anacardiaceae family, commonly known as the cashew family. So if you are allergic to cashews, mangoes, or pistachios, you should not ingest sumac.

Begin to look for smooth sumac in mid July. The cone shaped clusters of red, velvety berries are a dead giveaway. Late July through early August is the optimum time to harvest it’s fruit. Taste a berry before harvesting. If it’s bitter, you are too early, if it’s bland, you’re too late. The berries should be extremely tart, like a lemon.

The berries are not good to eat, as they are mostly seed, but they are excellent for making a lemonade type drink. Sumac-ade, or Indian lemonade as it’s often called, is a delicious, nutritious, and refreshing summer drink. The Native Americans have been using sumac for centuries. They not only used it for flavoring food and drinks, but also used the leaves for tanning leather and adding to their pipe tobacco.

To make sumac-ade, gather several berry clusters from a clean source. Sumac loves roadsides, and roadsides tend to be polluted. Look for trees that aren’t too close to any heavily traveled roads, and look for signs of herbicide poisoning. Do not gather them right after a rain, and do not wash them. Most of the flavor is in the velvety outer layer and is washed off easily. Carefully inspect the clusters for bugs. (Some people leave the clusters whole, I personally like to pull them apart to thoroughly inspect them.) You will likely find a few stowaways. Some people are not bothered by a few creepy crawlies…I am not one of those people.

Place the berries in a pitcher or jar, and cover with water. Do not use hot or boiling water! It will leach the tannic acid from the stems and seeds, and make it very bitter. Crush the berries a little using a wooden spoon, potato masher, etc. Cover and let steep overnight in a cool place.

After the berries are done steeping, give it another quick mash, strain through a cheese cloth, and sweeten to your taste. It’s the perfect recipe for the beginner forager. Easy to find, easy to harvest, and easy to make. Oh, and did I mention it’s DELICIOUS?! Like lemonade, it’s tart, refreshing, and a great source of vitamin C.

Sumac berries can also be used to make wine or jelly, and they can be dried and stored for future use.

Growing up homeschooled on a Northern Kentucky goat farm, I was intimately involved in all aspects of farm life. Woven into my studies was a regimen of feeding and milking animals, helping in the garden, and completing the seemingly unending number of farm chores. The cycle of birthing, raising, and butchering goats was a natural—and necessary—aspect of farm life. Although we often mingled with friends and relatives unfamiliar with what it’s really like to live on a farm, it wasn’t until I went off to college, traveled the country, and pursued a career that it became evident to me that the vast majority of people in our country either know nothing about how the meat they eat is raised, or have visceral reactions to the very thought of butchering an animal. I feel strongly that, if one is going to eat meat, one should become familiar with the methods by which animals are slaughtered and processed in both mass factory and small-farm settings.

Know what you eat. Eat what you know.

The vast majority of industrial-processed meat is subject to all manner of chemicals, hormones and other potentially dangerous and unhealthy ingredients. Since I no longer live on a farm and still enjoy eating meat, I fully admit that I have ingested plenty of meat that has been processed in factory settings. As I become more aware of the implications of consuming this type of meat, I am working to ensure my family’s diet consists primarily of meat that I have purchased from a trustworthy (i.e. organic and, when possible, local) source, or that I have butchered and processed myself. Even with access to many local farms, this is not always an easy task. I find that I have to work the concept fully into my psyche so that I am constantly keeping in mind that I need to do the necessary planning to ensure I am able to have food ready in time for dinner that is healthy, locally produced, and humanely raised and butchered. Until I have my own goat farm, I strive to visit my parents’ farm as often as possible to keep a regular supply of fresh milk and, when available, butcher a goat or two. Since their farm is a small operation and focuses mainly on raising and selling Nubian dairy goats, I substitute with meat, eggs and milk from farms and farmer’s markets in the Madison County / Berea area. I also like to purchase Boer goats for butchering. Although Boers are bred primarily for meat, and Nubians for dairy, I’ve found that both have flavorful and abundant meat if slow-cooked.

Butchering a goat can be simple and stress-free.

My dad has butchered many animals in his life, so I initially relied on his expertise for assistance with the finer aspects of butchering a goat, but have since begun to develop my own technique. Since goats are relatively small animals, not as much processing is required as for, say, cows or pigs. One or two people with minimal knowledge and little-to-no experience can do a perfectly adequate job of transferring a goat from the pasture to the freezer. With a little practice, I have found that goats can easily be butchered and processed in an hour or two with little fuss. My mom and I have developed a method for butchering goats that we feel is humane and doesn’t stress the animal. To put it bluntly, we are putting the end to an animal’s life, but I think semantics need to be considered when discussing this. While there are those who feel killing any animal is wrong, I look at it is an important part of the cycle of life. There are other reasons one may need to kill an animal; whether it be putting down one that is sick, preventing overpopulation, or simply to protect oneself from a dangerous animal. This is a fact of life and we may as well get down to business and discuss how to do it properly.

Speak softly and carry a sharp knife.

When slaughtering a goat, I prefer the animal to be as calm as possible; it should have no idea what is coming. For a recently weaned kid (around four months), I like to hold it on my lap with its neck over a bucket, stroke it calmly, and then slice the jugular with a quick, firm stroke of a sharp knife. If the goat is older, or particularly active, I have someone help hold it and keep it calm, and stand or sit next to it, cutting the jugular when the moment is right. The animal dies almost instantly; the only movement, other than an initial twitch from the kill, comes from involuntary muscle spasms. This also makes for better meat, as the goat will not have had time for an adrenaline rush to cause its muscles to tense. Although I give my mom credit for instructing me to become friends with the goat before slaughtering it, she seems to feel I have a knack for it, and has begun referring to me as the “goat whisperer.”

Make butchering a family event.

When I butchered my last goat, my two-year old daughter and her cousins were present. They weren’t in the least bit jaded, likely due to the fact that the animal didn’t show any signs of stress. They observed a gentle, kind, humane death, and then went back to playing while I finished processing the meat, occasionally coming around to have a look. I was present for many a butchering while growing up, and helped out where I could. My dad’s technique often involved hanging the goat by its haunches first, which caused all manner of stress to the goat, and wasn’t exactly easy on the participants. He no longer contributes to the slaughtering because this got to be too much for him. Although I don’t recall being traumatized in the least, I prefer the ease of my process, and the humane manner in which it is executed.

My wife and I like to teach our daughter that we should respect and appreciate animals for all that they provide us, from companionship, to milk and eggs, to healthy and affordable sources of meat. Sadie is still a bit young to understand fully (after watching me butcher a goat, she spent several days randomly exclaiming “Daddy cut goat!”), but by starting her young, we hope to instill in her a passion for living sustainably in all facets of her life.

Watch for future blogs on techniques for quickly butchering and quartering a goat, along with recipes and tips on using as much of the goat as possible, from hide to head. For more info on Nubian Dairy Goats and how they can provide a family with dairy products, meat, income, and companionship, visit Earthineer.com for blogs by Twin Meadows Farm and myself, RedHeadedYeti.