The Sauerkraut is Finished & my Wonder Mill Junior

It's been a long time since I shredded, salted and stored two cabbages in my new crock...now we get to see if there's anything edible inside!!!!

First I soaked up all the water from the rim...

...pulled the lid off and hmmm...smells like sauerkraut...whether that's good or bad depends on the person....the liquid is clear...no yucky smells, scum, or color....so I pulled the weighting stones off and the large cabbage leaf beneath....and....

...yummy sauerkraut...It's very different from the sauerkraut I have bought in the jar.  The jar type is vinegary and soft.  I suppose that is because it must be heated to can.  This fresh kraut is very crispy, no sliminess at all and slightly tart and vinegary.  Talia gobbled up a fresh bowl full in no time.  Fresh kraut is supposed to be extremely good for you and loaded with little living things that are good for your digestive system...hmmm....we will see.

..the two large cabbages made a total of 5 quarts.  I put some in a pint jar to give to my mother to try.  I really shoved the jars full.   Success!!!!!!

One of my other Christmas gifts was a hand cranked stone grain mill.  This mill is called the "Wonder Mill Junior Deluxe".  It came with stone and steel burs.  The stone is for grains and the steel is for oily things such as peanuts.  Yes it makes peanut butter!

Tera and Byron helped me mill enough hard red organic wheat berries to make one loaf of bread.  Eeeks...I needed Byron and Tera's help.  I'm sure we'd eat less bread if I had to do this daily.  We'd probably have no need to watch our weight either!  My abs would be as rock hard as Brennen's (That's my nephew...I'm scoring brownie points.")   Whoa those women back in the day worked hard....It's no wonder they'd rather haul their grains to the local mill! 

I am excited about having this though.  We can mill grains if we'd like and my girls think it's great fun!  I think...it's great that they can have fun while learning a whole boatload of useful things.  Tera insisted on milling most of it.  She smiled the whole time.  I wonder how long it would last if I woke her up each day to this chore.

Speaking of Tera,  she is such a sweet (most of the time) practical sensible girl  Her name Tera (meaning earth) is so appropriate for her.  Her feet are really grounded.  I'm very proud of her desire to be independent and her fearlessness in learning new skills.  Saturday I awoke to her rattling around in the kitchen.   She had unloaded the dishwasher and was making breakfast.  All on her own she made skillet fried potatoes and onions, fried eggs and biscuits.  We ate the biscuits with some pure cane syrup my Mother bought for me recently from her hometown, Jayess, MS.  Yep...pronounced - J - S.  When I was young I spelled it that way!

(look at my micro seed blocks all planted in the back)

On another note.  My carrots are just fabulous this year!!!!!  Sweet crunchy and yum!