Mama ~ out and about

I rarely go anywhere without a little girl, or two, ... or three, but this morning I headed out the door Alone to learn how to brew kombucha at Echo Valley Farm.  I drove the 20 or so miles of winding, hilly, country roads, arrived, let myself in the gate, parked, and was greeted by heritage-breed turkeys, and my kind hostess, Lauren.

 She took me on a golf-cart tour of the sustainably-built buildings, gardens, orchard, animal housings, and to the spring to get our water.

 Watercress was growing in the fresh, icy-cold, spring water.

 Back inside, we got down to the business of making kombucha.  Lauren brews kombucha in 5-gallon batches.

 She took the scobies out of the brew.  Each 'mother' scoby produces another one when a batch of kombucha is fermented.

We steeped a combination of grated ginger, and organic green and black teas.  Then we added raw cane sugar, which is what feeds the fermentation process.  I brought this home in my one-gallon glass jar to add the scoby and some starter kombucha when it cooled.  In a few days/weeks depending on storage temperature, my 1-gallon batch of kombucha should be finished fermenting and ready to drink.  Kombucha is a lightly-fizzy, moderately tart drink, filled with beneficial health properties.  I am grateful to Lauren, and the kind folks at Echo Valley for getting me started with my own brew.

On the peaceful drive home, I snapped a few pictures of the countryside.

I look forward to visiting Echo Valley Farm again sometime, ... with my girls, ... maybe to learn, and get my hands dirty, with cob-style building methods :)