The Nerd is Back

Garden update, welcome back Christopher, new section announcement, and a course discount

This morning, I went to our car and saw that the “dew” on the windshield was actually solid, as in, frozen dew. I had an appointment to get to but I went running back into the house to ask Christopher to go down to the garden and sprinkle the last of the pepper plants with water before the sun hits their frosty leaves.

I’d watched the weather forecast and the low was predicted as 40° F/ 4° C, the same as the last week or so. I have been slowly putting the garden to bed and bringing in plants that aren’t hardy, but there are a few things that I haven’t wanted to harvest just yet, hoping for a bit more ripening. And honestly, these slow, cold-ripening fruits are so much sweeter.¹

I found an ice scraper and left. When I got home, I asked Christopher how the garden looked. He laughed. He said, “I remembered as the sun was cresting the ridge. I went running down there. When I went to turn the water on, I remembered it had been turned off for the season, and when running back up to the valves. By then, the sun was lighting up the tops of the apple trees. I went running back to the garden and managed to spray water all over myself while trying to get the plants wet.”

“So how did everything look?”

“Wet. The plants and I were well-sprinkled.” I giggled, imagining the whole scene.

When I checked, everything was fine. I head to Montana tomorrow to visit my brother and teach at Bacteria Bazaar over the weekend. Once again, I am wondering if I should continue to gamble. From here on out, the weather is a touch warmer with rain forecasted later in the week. If I do wait, I don’t have to harvest this afternoon (I do need to pack) and may get another week. 🤔

An announcement (and a welcome back)

If you have been part of this Substack since late 2020, you might remember Christopher began this as his “Ferment Nerds” project, which I eventually renamed it Fermenting Change, cuz, while we are both nerdy about fermentation, it is in very different ways.

If you are new and have no idea who Christopher is, he is my partner in all things. In 2022, he passed this newsletter on to me when he started working full-time for a small non-profit local arts organization. He loved his job as the COO of the music venue. He would often tell me that in this time, when there was so much conflict, his job was about joy. People came to have fun and get away from their daily worries, and find happiness, if even for an evening. We, like many others over this last year, were blindsided when he came home a few weeks ago with no job.

After the initial shock, we realized it was an opportunity to be all-in again in helping people understand fermented foods, whether that is to make them or just understand and enjoy them. I am looking forward to working with him again, and we are already having a good time dreaming up our what’s next.

All this to say, I am excited to announce that you will see his voice back in this space. We are resurrecting Ferment Nerds as a section, or a column, in this space. You can see the first post here where he wrote about our microbiome’s role our cravings.

Later this week, we will send you the first Ferment Nerds Reboot. I am excited about this post, which builds on the conversation we have been having here about metabolites.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The trays of green tomatoes are ripening and turning into ferments. Last night, I did fermented stuffed green tomatoes. It is a Georgian-inspired recipe from the second edition of Fermented Vegetables. This week also put jars of Curtido, El Salvadorian-style sauerkraut, and Edgy Veggies on our counter. The ferments are piling up. Winter can come.

This past weekend, I fermented mountains, well, maybe just small piles, wee hills, but it felt like mountains, of peppers. In case anyone else out there is facing an abundance of peppers, I thought I would put my Fermented Hot Sauce course on sale. This link should automatically give you $10 off, but in case you need it, the code is SAUCY. The code will also work on Mastering Fermented Vegetables and the Veggie and Hot Sauce Bundle.

As far as those last peppers, I still haven’t decided if I am going to pick them today. The fact that I am running out of day might make the decision for me…

1. *Which reminds me of a rabbit hole, which I won’t go down today but will share since it is apropos. While at the Sanford Fermented Foods Conference, Andrew Luzmore presented a study he co-authored from his work with Blue Hill Farm at Stone Barns, about how seasonal frost influences the microbial communities and fermentation and nutritional profile of cabbages and carrots. Seasonal frost improves probiotic and nutrient availability in fermented vegetables. Their “findings suggest that frost can enhance the nutritional and sensory qualities of fermented vegetables, offering a model for a new climate-resilient strategy for producing value-added, regionally distinctive food products.”