Saurkraut and Health Fair

Sauerkraut first. About 12 days ago I made my first batch of sauerkraut from cabbage grown in the shala's organic garden. I tasted it at ten days. It is amazing! The crispness, the freshness, the 'fermenty' richness .. its in a jar on the kitchen counter .. looking lively and green.

Two days ago I harvested 3+ pounds of cabbage and spent part of the day making sauerkraut (and raw goat milk yogurt). This is the eighth fermented food I have made (idli, natto, dosa, kefir, yogurt, dhokla, saurkraut, sourdough. Then there are the fermented drinks, like mead and tea.).

I am really enjoying both the process of fermentation and the many health benefits. Like promoting the overall health of the intestinal tract, improving the bodies natural enzyme and vitamin absorption, and other pluses. Naturally then, I am also looking forward to preserving with whey and fermentation when the garden starts producing root or vine vegetables.

But moreso is how fermentation is introducing itself to me as an Old Mother. She is older than humans, in that fruits naturally ferment, so have been doing so on their own before we walked our first steps. And for my ancestry, in the Caucasian Region, there have been found vessels containing wine that is 8,000 years old.

Fermentation is a wise teacher of transformation, of changing one thing into something simplier. Ah .. the beauty of simplicity in my life! Yes .. simplicity is something that is blossoming within me - since my resolution at NY, and even moreso since my 50th birthday in April.

Yes .. this Old Mother - perhaps Madhudevate - is the mistress of mystery and miracle, of rising from the dead even. And she is an Old Mother - a woman - because where food was scarce, this wiseone preserved and kept the foods - and the vital nutrients - that kept the hearth healthy in fallow times.

As to the health fair .. I participated in one yesterday at a local health food store (link above). It was quite a success because I met several local healers and reconnected with a few that I hadnt seen in a few years.

Plus .. Lakshmi was with me, for my luck was strong! I won an organic products gift basket!

Locally, I met some massage therapists (both eastern and western), a clinical herbalist, reflexologist, and a fellow Reiki practitioner. Both the therapist and reflexologist took my Ayurvedic classes when they were part of a certification course in Thai Yoga Body Therapy, so we knew some of the same folk and shared some mutual teachers.

And all but one of these were women .. healers all. Shakti is near and dear to my heart, so I dearly love to meet with, to sit with, to share tea with, to exchange experiences with women healters.

In all, it has been a very productive two days - filled with healing and laughter, of new ideas and information!

Om Peace!
Yogini Valarie Devi