Beet Kvass And A Toast To Health

I don't know how changes work in your family but breaking out of habits sometimes requires going back to old traditions for mine.

My family has been making changes over the past few years in the field of health that covers a broad spectrum in living. We've combatted mold in our house by gutting the entire HVAC system and installing a new, better engineered system. We've tossed all our chemical filled cleaning agents and exchanged them with enviro-friendly products. I buy organic meat and produce and have even started my own garden. It's been a fun, interesting process educating ourselves on the why's and how to's of accomplishing a better lifestyle.

Although the changes have been good, we still run into health dilemmas. It seems a constant battle trying to be healthy in this day and age of modern industrial living. Our bodies take on a lot of stress  through outside stimuli in the form of chemical soup concoctions found in our air, water, food and pharmaceutical systems. Our mechanized culture adds to this onslaught of stress through technological demands that go against our natural make up. Sitting at desks in front of computers, radiation emanating from cell phones etc. are just a few examples.

When you take time to really look at modern life it really seems like a Sci-Fi novel found its way off the page into reality. I've been trying to slough off this toxic lifestyle for over a decade and it has been a challenge that has made me encounter spiritual, relational, political and cultural questions that leave me with answers I don't like especially for our future generations.

Before I go off on another tangent, I'd better get to the point of this post. Breaking out of a mold you've been conditioned to sometimes requires taking a step backwards (or maybe it is really forward's but we've been so conditioned to a way of thought we think it is backwards).

Farmer's Market
By: Crystl
'Beautiful Beets'

Food for thought:

My husband and I owned a restaurant in our not to distant past. During that time you have been trained to handle food with protocols for health safety. God forbid you fail a health inspection, it'll sink your business and fast. This is all important and good, sick people due to food born illness is not a goal in any business venture.

Refrigeration, shelf life and proper cleansing protocols have been the tools of choice to combat the food born illness issue. This is necessary with the way our food system is set-up using processed foods trucked in from far away etc.

I noticed a good paradigm shift recently in my household regarding food and its preparation and storage. With all the reading and educating I've been doing I always seemed to stop myself from trying those old ways of preserving and the process of fermentation just scared the bajeebee's out of my husband, "You're going to leave that out on the counter for how many days," he'd ask. I don't blame him, we ran a restaurant where leaving food out meant waste and money lost.

Yes, there is an art to these old ways. When reading the recipes for sprouting or fermenting, you have to know what you are doing, know the source of your ingredients and it takes fine tuned real food that isn't contaminated. It sometimes feels like a highly intricate chemistry class experiment. If done correctly the process makes some amazing, flavorful, health boosting food you can't find anywhere else.

So, I decided to celebrate the old ways by making a time-tested traditional drink with health benefits galore from a country my ancestors once lived in.  Somehow, I just want to toast to my health when I drink my home-brewed Beet Kvass. Ahh, yes! It is a fitting thing to do. Say it with me!

Будем здоровы! [vashee zda-ró-vye] – Your health


Beet Kvass Recipe: For 2- Enough to toast to and enough to make you want more


2 organic beets (peeled and diced into chunks)

1 TBSP Himalayan Salt

Filtered Water

*1/4 Cup Whey

Glass Jar with lid

Small mixing bowl


Place beet chunks in bottom of glass jar. Mix salt, whey and 1-2 cups filtered water in small mixing bowl. Pour over the beets. Fill the glass jar with filtered water to within an inch of the top. Seal tightly with a lid and place on your counter, out of direct sunlight for 2-3 days to ferment. After fermentation place in the fridge. You can use the beets again for another fermentation process or chop up in a salad or use as a garnish.

Beet Kvass on the Counter
Photo by: Chandra Brown

* I took 1/2 a pint of Organic, Plain Yogurt and placed it in a thin, clean dish cloth (washed with no perfumes, chemicals or dyes) and cinched the top of the dishcloth with a rubber band, hung it from my cabinet knob with a stainless steel bowl beneath the 'yogurt bag' and let gravity do the work of pulling the whey from the yogurt. 
Yes, I let it sit on my counter for 1 full day in order to render as much whey as I could. 

Making Whey
Photo by: Chandra Brown

Note: If you do not have whey or want to make whey, double the salt to help in the fermentation process. Allow longer time sitting on the counter for best results.

Note: Don't throw away the left over yogurt, it has now become cream cheese. It was extremely tasty. My daughter used some of it to make a desert topping.

Fun Beet Kvass Articles:
The Miracle of Russia
Beet Kvass by Hidden Pond

What fermented foods have you made?

Conk Fruit Exploration

Mushrooms on the Trail
Photos by: Chandra Brown

It's always interesting walking the 360 Trail. The terrain always gives up its secrets but you have to go at different times of the year to see all that it has to offer.  These glorious mushroom varieties were all taken at different times of the year.  It's said that one sign of a healthy forest is by the mushroom population.

We noticed many polypore mushrooms growing on the fallen trees. Their job is to help in the decay process, balancing the carbon cycle in the ecology of the forest.  Mushrooms are fascinating subject matter. I could spend hours studying their ornate growing patterns. Their dual function of helping in the death process for trees and their life giving properties for human ailments adds to their interesting complex nature. They bring balance to the forest and human ecosystem.

Look at this wonderful list of nutrients mushrooms provide: "Mushrooms are rich in B vitamins such as riboflavin, folate, thiamine, pantothenic acid, and niacin. They are also the only vegan, non-fortified dietary source of vitamin D. Mushrooms also provide several minerals that may be difficult to obtain in the diet, such as selenium, potassium, copper, iron, and phosphorus."


They taste great too! 

I have always loved sautéd mushrooms on my cheeseburger, and tell my daughter and husband to save their mushrooms for me when we eat a meal that adds them as an ingredient.

I'm not confident enough to forage in the wild for mushrooms just yet, picking a poisonous one scares the bajeebees out of me. For now I'll admire them from afar while in the wild and stick to buying them at the store for consumption. I may try to grow some from a kit, as a fun solution to my mushroom habit.

Pulp Fiction: The Bean Conspiracy

On my self directed journey to learn about nutrition I was way layed by an eye opening article uncovering the truth about that magical fruit we all attribute our bodily noise from the nether regions to; the fiberous bean.

Ahh, I might as well get it out of the way..

Everyone knows the well rhymed chant of childhood that causes uproarious giggles, finger-pointing and even proud admittance at the act of passing gas. The infamous Bean Song..the song that somehow became a legend through oral history and from generation to generation is unscathed by misinterpretation or incorrect wording only to live another day.

The Bean Song

by: Anonymous

(and probably wanted it that way)

Beans, beans the magical fruit

the more you eat, the more you toot,

the more you toot the better you feel,

so let's have beans for every meal.

(or this added line)

so lift your leg and let it squeal!

Let's break this conspiratorial message down line by line with what is truth and what is fiction..

Line 1: Beans, beans the magical fruit...TRUTH

It is common for most conspiracies to start out with a bit of truth, it makes it necessary for the targeted mind to succumb to the lie somewhere hidden or twisted into the plot. Beans really are quite magical, the way in which they grow is interesting in itself and their function in the human body is unique to the legume family. (more on this later) Of course, the well known English fairy tale Jack and The Beanstalk dictates the magical qualities in an entertaining fashion.

Line 2:  the more you eat, the more you toot...FALSE

This is where the conspiracy starts and I speculate the motivation behind this lie was fashioned by a parent to get their kid to eat their dinner which happened to involve beans. A parent will resort to humor in desperate attempts to get their kids to do what they want, my own humiliating experiences abound in my head as I write this. When a lie is outed, a fact must take its place. According to Karen Hurd Ph.D., Nutritionist and retired Army Captain, Beans Don't Cause Gas. The Bean Queen, as she is known amongst her colleagues and clients explains the reality of how gas is formed in our digestive system and how the bean actually is the regulator of this imbalance. (The entire article is worth the read, as she explains the process beautifully.)  She has had amazing results prescribing beans for health and has published a cookbook, suitably called The Bean Queen's Cookbook. 

Line 3: the more you toot the better you feel...TRUTH

I can't squabble on that one...when you gotta go, you better blow! Although, the lie is somewhat perpetrated further in this line.

Line 4: So let's have beans for every meal...TRUTH (with a condition)

If you have consistent flatulence problems beans up to six times a day is a curative method according to Karen Hurd's above mentioned article.

Maybe this post "spilled the beans" on a brilliant conspiracy to thwart and place blame on the innocent bean in order to get kids to eat their dinner. Ahh, when it comes down to it, this is one pulpy conspiracy I can live with...

The "conspiracy" lives on...

Tend Your Garden - Post #2

The garden is the poor man's apothecary. ~German Proverb

I have been wanting to plant a garden of my own for months now. The idea had been eating at the back of my brain in my spare thinking time and I found myself vacillating between the "should I" or "shouldn't I" and the cost versus time and management talk. Alas, from the pictures and post title, you can see that I decided to go ahead with my little pet project.

Every Garden Needs An Inspiration:

My grandmother had a plot to garden and I remember my young Summer's visiting her house in Durand, Wisconsin as ones with her in a sun hat and garden gloves holding a large basket to harvest her vegetables in. It was a pretty sight now that I am thinking back on the scene. The vegetable I remember most was the corn; shucking the stalks on the back porch made a kid feel good. My parents carried on the tradition in Colorado. A small garden just runs in my blood.

Not only do my childhood roots digging in the dirt give me inspiration, but the desire to give the best to my family has spurred me to at least try.

This next inspiration may not fit in the feel-good category that usually prods inspiration into action, but it definitely has merit in this new venture. The realms of economy and health have made a sound argument for trying my hand at the ol' farm gal routine.

The above quote, "A garden is a poor man's apothecary" certainly makes sense for the times at hand. It isn't hard to find articles regarding the tough economy and skyrocketing food costs. Health issues are constantly in debate and the future of healthcare is up in the air. I like the idea that my backyard can be my personal pharmacy and grocery store.

There comes a time when an idea can only be thought about for so long, turned around and studied in your mind so many times and then it is time to get off the tuckus and put that idea into fruition. As you can see we made this a family affair, something to do together, to learn, work, tend and enjoy together and as we watch our idea grow into something we can be proud of, use and share with others I'm hoping some life lessons and memories will rub off on all of us like the dirt stains ground into the grooves of our hands preparing the soil for seed.

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station,

through which God speaks to us every hour,

 if we will only tune in.

~George Washington Carver

This small 8' X 4' garden bed took patience, planning, time, sweat not to mention a few knuckles falling prey to bloody scratches and all before the seeds could be planted. We tilled and amended the soil, took precautions to keep the wild animals (or not so wild-Odie) from stealing from or destroying the bed.

I opened a pack of carrot seeds to see what they look like and I was amazed at how small they were. "I'm going to get carrots from those?" I thought.

Will Mr. Owl Keep The Pests Away?

A thought came to me just as I was writing this. "We prepare and take extraordinary steps to keep our ideas and the outcome of the action of those ideas protected so we can reap the benefits of our work. How much more should I tend to my 'spiritual garden'."

Hebrews 2:1-3 is my first lesson from this garden experiment, Pay close attention, do not neglect what you've heard and learned so that you may endure to the finish line (Hebrews 12:1-2)

James 5:7-8 is my second lesson from this garden experiment. Be patient, and strengthen your heart. "Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains."

I'm tuning in....