More Common Ground Fair

I finally had a chance to download some photos I took at the Common Ground Fair last weekend. One of the big features at the fair is the whole wool industry, fleece, spinning, knitting, etc. There is a tent filled with tables of all different kinds of fleece in bags - all grades, colors, breeds, etc. It's wonderful just going down the table and feeling the different kinds of fleece:

Fleece in the raw

 Connected to the fleece tent is a tent devoted to hand-spinning wool. An amazing sight was the "Wednesday Spinners" a group of women who have been getting together every Wednesday to spin for years  - I think I heard  that some of them have done it for 37 years.  Here is a photo of many of them spinning away:

The Wednesday Spinners

I couldn't resist stopping to take in a demo of making doughnuts over an open campfire. Boy does that ever evoke a romantic image of camping!  We even got to taste the product - it was good!

Yum!

I mentioned Sandor Katz and his fermentation workshop in the earlier post. Here he is addressing the multitudes about making sauerkraut at home. He does it in a canning jar like the one in the foreground. As he was talking, he cut strips of cabbage, carrots, beans, etc., and put them in a bowl, salted them, and then manipulated them with his hands - sort of gently bruising the veggies and working in the salt. The salt draws the water out of the veggies and by the end of his presentation he had a bowl of very wet veggies which he then stuffed into a canning jar and then poured the remaining water (veggie juice actually) over them up to the top and then screwed on the lid. That sits on your counter for a few days. You unscrew the lid now and then to let the gas (CO2) escape, then screw it tight again.  How long you let it ferment is up to your taste. You can try it in three days, try it again in 6 days, 10 days, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, etc. According to Sandor, the bacteria will be different each time you eat the sauerkraut - so if you want the greatest diversity of bacteria in your gut, eat it at different times. When it's just the way you like it, put it in your "fermentation retardation machine" - i.e., the refrigerator. It's as easy as that. Of course you can use a crock, and a plate under pressure, etc., too - that's fine. This is just an easy way to get started. According to him, it is totally safe. Only good bacteria survive the process. If by chance any "bad" bacteria get into the mix, which is highly unlikely, they get eaten up by the good guys. That's just the way sauerkraut is I guess.

Sandor Katz talking fermentation

Common Ground Fair

Ellen and I went over to Maine this past weekend. We stayed with Jim and Mary in Hope and then on Saturday we all went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine - sponsored by the Maine Organic Growers Association. What a great fair! We went to several presentations, including Will Bonsall on What Forests and Prairies Can Teach Us, Sandor Katz on Fermentation, and Jim Bahoosh on Small Houses and Vaughn Woodruff on Navigating Renewable Energy Sources. These were all very interesting, but I found the one on fermentation especially so. 

Here's a little taste of fermentation, so to speak: 

Fermentation makes foods more nutritious, as well as delicious. Microscopic organisms – our ancestors and allies – transform food and extend its usefulness. Fermentation is found throughout human cultures. Hundreds of medical and scientific studies confirm what folklore has always known: Fermented foods help people stay healthy. Many of your favorite foods and drinks are probably fermented. For instance: Bread, Cheese, Wine, Beer, Mead, Cider, Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, Pickles, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Salami, Miso, Tempeh, Soy Sauce, Vinegar, Yogurt, Kefir, Kombucha.


There were several other presentations I would have liked to go to, including Home Burial How-To, but  there was no time. I was able to collect helpful information instead. I also watched demos on making doughnuts over an open campfire and woodsplitting, caught a little bit of the Women With Wings a cappella group singing, and of course had some yummy food from some of the many food vendors. Ellen visited the yarn tent, of course. The weather was perfect and we had a great time.

Will Bonsall

One of Jim Bahoosh's small houses

Sandor Katz

We came home from Maine today (Sunday); I went to Chorale rehearsal this evening, and right now Ellen and I are doing a night vigil with our friend, John Nissen, who is terminally ill with cancer and is in the Center for Living and Rehabilitation in Bennington, VT.  John wakes up and calls out in the night and it's good to be here so we can answer and get him what he wants. Having Ellen and me here for a night gives his wife Mary and son Mark a little break. We've helped set up a Caring Bridge site for John. Just go to caringbridge.com and put in the name "John Nissen", and you'll get some background.

Sleep well, John!

John with his grandson, Julian

Lots happening!

Things are hopping. Ellen has gone to New York City today to meet her friend Adrienne and drive her to Boston tomorrow. I'll be spending tomorrow with my friend John Nissen in Manchester, VT. Both Adrienne and John are dealing with serious cancer issues. Since our return from our trip I have led the Dummerston Church choir and gotten back into Christmas Oratorio rehearsals with the Chorale. Ellen has run a cooking school for her grandson, Ben, visited her friend Wallace at the Cummington, MA Fair, visited Katie & Savanna, and prepared a church coffee hour. We both have sung at a memorial service, visited John Nissen (with food), had a Hallowell sing, and seen Tamar in a play.  Plus cleaning around the house to reduce the mildew odor.

The cooking school was fun and culminated in a meal that Ellen and Ben served to Mimi, Jerry, Julie and myself, with Tamar as server. Tamar was lovely in her role in the play - as you can see.

Tamar's play:

Tamar the dancer

Tamar the mythic animal queen

Tamar the narrator

Photos from Ben's Bistro:

Lucky dinner guests

The main course: salmon, risotto, carrots and haricot vert

Fab dessert!