anne weiland

Thank you, that is helpful!

This year was exceptionally wet and the water content of my cabbage was very high. I had so much brine from my sauerkraut that I’ve been storing the excess in a jar in the fridge and using it as a starter for other fermentation projects. My question is how long will this brine stay viable like this? Should I feed it like one does with a sourdough starter? Thanks much.

@JohnW: Agreed. Didn't mean to imply that the nettle stages should be a variable, but these things are good to note. There's so much we CAN'T control but our observations are limitless.

I also wonder about using nettles during different life stages and how that might affect the tea. AND ambient temperatures and the affect on fermentation. How many batches of tea will be made? This is where documenting observations can really help you. Isn't this fun??!! I love it!

Yes, the question is important. Comparing fermented tea to pasteurized tea will theoretically test the effect of the microbes, but not if the tea works at all. If none of the plots show any difference between them, then you could assume the fermentation here didn't help and then you'd have the question of whether or not the tea itself helped. So, you need to determine what information is most important; 1) does the tea work or 2) is the fermentation step necessary?

I would argue that in this case you don't need a 'control' as in a plot with only water applied. There's so little area to begin with, I think Neil's design is pretty good. It has replication, isolation, and will test the effect of the microbes on his/her soil. Also, there are no failures! You may not get the result you wanted but you will always get information.