Robert Neville

R Overman wrote:

Hi!  Natto? - this is new for me. Of course I can google it, but anything you’d like to share?

Natto is a Japanese soybean ferment through a bacteria, bacillus subtilis.  It's quite the hardy, spore-forming bug.  It's my understanding it has survived trips to space unprotected against vacuum, absolute zero and cosmic radiation.  On earth, it can survive inoculation into my hot, pressure cooked soybeans to at least 140F, briefly anyway.  I seed some dry spores in a quart (dry volume) of such beans, stir in a couple tbsp brown sugar to give them a jump-start, cover in perforated foil and incubate over the pilot of my gas stove at roughly 105F for about 20 hours.  I'll crack the door to modulate the temp.  The result is an odd bean ferment with stringy strands of polysaccharide that trail off your utensil like stands of hot mozzarella.  Some object to that texture or to it's odor -which I don't find very objectionable in the homemade variety.  You can find dry spores for sale imported from Japan, or you can go to an Asian grocery and buy frozen natto in single-serve styrofoam packets that also work passably well to get your own batch going.  

A further interesting aside is that it was once used to treat dysentery and was under investigation for it's antimicrobial properties before the advent of modern antibiotics.  I've found it useful to have in my own personal pharmacopeia.  

Milk kefir is forever going.  Natto was incubating over the gas stove pilot until last night.  Now it's in the fridge.  Totally subjective, but I feel better eating a serving every day prior to exercise.  I will also forever maintain that natto will head off nasty GI bugs before they really get started -I would like to see this studied. I have decades of strictly anecdotal data about this.

Looks great!  What did you use to plaster the roof?

Thanks for the heads-up on this.  I've made use of both his books over the years.  We regularly make several ferments including kefir, natto and seasonally lactofermented veggies of different styles.  Though we've been doing less of the latter less since a lot of salt has ceased to agree with me.  I'm missing the kimchee.  

Mason jars are expensive, but I'm always on the lookout for somebody clearing out an old hoard of them.  Have got lucky a couple times and have a good collection now.  They're pretty indispensable.  We get a lot of bulk food like lentils, beans, oats, etc in 25 of 50 lb sacks and if they're not vacuum sealed in a hurry, you'll get insects hatching out in them.  Not to mention external pests like mice.  The half gallon size are particularly handy.  I've reused lids a lot and they're good for a few times, though it's good to spot check.  I'll put the rings on loosely.

Hi,

Excuse me if I've missed any recent discussion of this in my search of posts.  We've had some unfortunate experiences lately that make some cameras maybe a good idea.  But there's some preferable criteria to consider given our situation.

We'd like to find some reasonable cost camera system that:
Does not rely on a subscription service
Has local storage
Has solar cameras or can otherwise function without frequent battery changes

There is electricity and WiFi on site.  But would not wish to run wires to cameras unless necessary.  

Figure this might be the place to ask for off-gridish camera advice.

Thanks!

A weak solution of the food grade is great for rinsing sprouts to keep them fresh while growing.

An alternative to lacto-fermentation might be fermenting with some natto starter -or even just inoculate from some frozen natto.  I've always done this with cooked legumes to insure the desired bacteria take hold.  

This is sort of a makeshift solution, but it worked for us so we've kept at it for more than a decade.  We've always just used a glass, half-gallon milk bottle with a plastic snap-on cap.  When setting out to ferment, we'll put a couple paper towels folded over the cap and a heavy ceramic mug over top of the lid.  A sort of makeshift gasket.  When the gasses build up and pop the top, it just sits on there loosely under the paper towel gasket and mug.  This insures it remains covered from stray fruit flies of whatever.  

Hi,

East Kentuckian here.  There is remote land to be found hereabouts.  We're about 3/4 miles from our nearest neighbor.  Bet you could find more isolated if that's your thing.  Parts of Lawrence, Elliot, Letcher counties are awfully remote.  Just be on the lookout for heavily polluted land.  There was some proto-fracking done here in the 80's that seriously polluted some areas around oil fields -also a lot of strip mining, but you can avoid those spots if you do some looking.  Lots of very hilly land that is free of minerals that is probably a bargain -just look for flat places that can be cleared for solar exposure to permit gardens, photovoltaic power, etc.  Utilities are often lacking but you can luck out as we did with a rural phone coop and end up with a fiber connection run back in the woods.  

Good luck!

Michael Riley wrote:I'm looking for really remote land, like miles and miles between neighbors. Can anyone recommend any areas in KY or help in any way?