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Much better sleep last night despite bad sweats. Felt rested in the morning thank heavens, and my stomach didn’t hurt today. Overall a very pleasant and restful day.

First thing in the morning I made curried cauliflower with carrots and peas. So good. I also started some experimental sour cream by mixing two tablespoons of good organic sour cream with a pint of aging heavy cream. I’ve since learned you can do it with lemon juice or vinegar, too. In 24-48 hours we shall see what we get!

My carrot/ginger slaw went slimy so I tossed it, but I’ve since learned that it was probably fine, having an initial overgrowth of a harmless slimy bacteria which, after a few more days, would have been killed off by the more acidic bacteria. Still, it’s cool, I learned something, and I’ve ordered some ph test strips that I can use next time to be SURE it’s safe.

I started a jar of crinkle-cut carrot chip pickles instead, and also a jar of what will (I hope) become apple cider vinegar in 30 days!

She adds salt by volume, e.g. two tablespoons, but I’m more comfortable working with weight. I’ve read that the minimum salt you should use for pickling is 2% of the weight of your veggies, but pickles will be crisper with 4%. Also a tip I learned today is to add some sort of tannins to your brine for extra crispness: a few bay leaves, a few blackberry leaves, or a tea bag of black tea, for example. So one of Dave’s tea bags is in the bottom of my carrot jar.

I made myself a Fermentation Log using the “page assist” feature in Procreate, which allows you to make multi-page documents. Each layer is a separate page, and you can export to pdf. Perfect for comics and journals, etc.! And it was a fun use for the organizer stamps that I made a few weeks ago.

Henry told me to go outdoors and get some fresh air this afternoon, so I pried myself off the couch and came out to sit in the lounge chair in the shade in my container garden (my oxygen hose easily reaches) and I’m so glad I did! I’m a little bit too tired to read, so I’ve been listening to my audiobook and watching lacto-fermentation videos for hours. It’s almost 8 now and I’m getting hungry so it’s time to go in.