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Gathering Summary: Sourdough, A Panel Presentation, May 18, 2011

Sunday, May 29th, 2011

by Catherine Haug, May 29, 2011

(photo by C. Haug)

This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable Gathering Summary: Sourdough, a Panel Presentation. See also related posts and handouts:

Cat's First Sourdough Loaf

The Importance of Grinding Your Own Flour
The Problem with Unfermented Grains
‘Sourdough’ Pie Crust
Cat’s Sourdough Learnings or ‘how not to get a too-sour bread’
Alternative Sourdough Starters
The EssentiaList: Sourdough (pdf handout)
The EssentiaList: Sourdough Recipes (pdf handout)

Presentation Topics

Panel members Veronica (Ronny) Honthaas, Kathie Lapcevic and Fran Wade led discussion on the following topics:

History and health benefits of sourdough
About sourdough starter
How to make sourdough starter
Forming bread – Ronny’s demonstration
Resources & references (more…)

Posted in Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health, Gathering Summaries, Health, Home & Ranch | 11 Comments »

Gathering Summary: Gardening in NW Montana, by Julian Cunningham, Apr 20, 2011

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

Summary by Catherine Haug, May 13, 2011

Julian ran his Swallow Crest Farm as a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for 14 years, but now is changing the way he markets. As a CSA, he started with 5 subscribing families, and had 160 members the last 4 years. This format pays the bills, but his children are teens now, with new needs, and he wants to develop the art, beauty and pleasure of gardening at his farm.

Despite the changes in format, several features will continue:

Apprenticeship program;
Pre-arranged sales with drop off in Bigfork;
Presence at Kalispell Farmers Market and perhaps also Whitefish.

This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable Gathering Summary: Gardening in NW Montana and handout: Julian’s Produce Distribution Timelines (2010 Season) (pdf files). (more…)

Posted in Gardening, Gathering Summaries, Home & Ranch | 3 Comments »

Event Summary: Preparing an Emergency 4-day (96 hour) Food & Water Pack

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

4-Day Pack For 1

by Catherine Haug, April 27, 2011

(Photo of 4-day food pack by Lana Nelson; NOTE: fruit leather is missing from the photo)

This event was held on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 7 PM in the Bigfork High School Music Room, and was hosted by the recently formed Bigfork Emergency Response Team (BERT), as part of their 2011 Community Preparedness work.

Topics covered at this event:

Welcome by Cheryl Richmond
Report on current situation, by Mark Noland
Ways to become involved, by Bruce Nelson
Emergency communication, by Jim Eddington
96-hour Food Pack and Water by Lana Nelson
4-Day (96 Hour) Emergency Kit (Food Only), by Lana Nelson (printable pdf)

In addition, I have added some recommendations from ESP community members.

Here are two news items about how other communities came together to recover from floods:

After Floods: Nashville Proud of Model Recovery (NPR News Item): As communities across the country’s midsection respond to potentially historic flooding, federal emergency officials say they could take some cues from Nashville. The city endured record-breaking rainfall and devastating floods one year ago, and FEMA continues to point to the local response as a model. From member station WPLN, Blake Farmer reports.
Community Preparedness for Flooding in Vernonia OR (ESP post based on article in The Oregonian): A small, rural community organized to deal with, and recover from an oncoming, devastating flood.

(more…)

Posted in Community, Emergency Preparedness, Food-Nutrition-Health, Gathering Summaries | 5 Comments »