Are you getting the fat soluble activators, as discovered by Weston A. Price, DDS?

Learn more about these vital nutrients for teeth, bones and other vital body functions.

Making kombucha at home is fairly easy.

Recipe: 

• 1 gallon filtered water
• 5 level tablespoons organic black or green tea
• 1 cup sugar

Bring water to boil.  Add sugar, let return to boil.  Add tea in bags or muslin bag just like making tea.

Let tea cool to room temperature.  Add liquid to 1 gallon container with a kombucha starter ("mushroom").  Cover with towel and leave jar someplace dark and in the kitchen or closet or anyplace quiet in the house.  Let stew for 10 days.  After 10 days, it's ready to jar and refrigerate, add your own fruit blends or juices.

Starters can be obtained by simply buying kombucha from the store.  Pour some of the active kombucha into the gallon jar and it should take off on its own.

You can also order your own kombucha kit from Kombucha Kamp.

April Events @ Vino Salida Wine Cellars

Cooking with Vino

Saturday, April 16, 2016 – 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Join Winemaker, Steve Flynn, as he covers the basics of cooking with wine. Topics covered include selecting wine for cooking, pairing wine with food, wine reduction sauces and deglazing technique. Wine samples, appetizers and demonstration included.

$35/person; $30 for Wine Club members

Call (719) 539-6299 to RSVP; 10 people max.


Wine 101
Sunday, April 17, 2016 – 3:00pm to 5:00pm
Wine 101 is the latest addition the Vino Salida educational events offerings. Winemaker, Steve Flynn, shares his knowledge on the basics of wine from viticulture to tasting. There is so much to learn! Wine tasting and appetizers included.
$35/person; $30 for Wine Club members
Call (719) 539-6299 to RSVP; 20 people max.

Blending 101 – Vermouth di Salida
Saturday, April 23, 2016 – 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Blend & Taste with the winemaker…
Vino Salida’s winemaker, Steve Flynn, will explain his unique approach to blending Colorado’s FIRST & ONLY Vermouth, during this fun and informative wine blending/tasting experience! Learn about the history of this mysterious beverage, exploring three different styles: Extra-Dry, Sweet White (Bianco), and Sweet Red (Rosso).
Appetizers Provided.
$35/person; $30/Wine Club members
Call 719.539.6299 to RSVP; 20 people max.

Blue Ice from Green Pasture is the number one recommended brand of cod liver oil by the Weston A. Price Foundation.

If you know anything about the pioneering research of Dr. Weston Price, a nutritional hero to many, then you realize the importance and benefit of good cod liver oil.

Blue Ice fermented cod liver oil provides many important vital nutrients often deficient from our diets.  These vitamins and minerals are important to brain, lungs, kidneys, digestion, heart, colon, skin, eyes, more. 

Packages with Vitamin D drops from live source.

Check out the Organic Fool store for more info.

Homemade yogurt using the slow-cooker, kefir, local raw cream.

Culturing dairy is often the best way to consume dairy for many people.  By culturing dairy, it brings it back to life with living enzymes and probiotic bacteria.  It is pre-digested as well, which makes it easier for us to digest.

Some people are lactose intolerant but living dairy contains the enzyme, lactase, necessary to digest lactose (sugar).  Really, these people are lactase-deficient not "lactose intolerant", which is a bit of a misnomer and misunderstands the root of the problem.

Other people have problem with BCM-7 in some dairy, typically Holstein milk (most of the commercial milk).  They can potentially use goat milk or milk from heritage breed cows like Guernseys or Jerseys.  This milk can often be obtained locally from a raw milk producer, found legally now in many States.  Check www.realmilk.com to see if your location has local raw milk.  Raw milk should be pasteurized before making it into yogurt. 

Refer to "Devil in the Milk" book by Keith Woodford (see link below) for more on A1 vs A2 type milk.

Making homemade yogurt

Making homemade yogurt is easy using a slow-cooker (Crockpot). 

Recipe:  I use pasteurized half-half from the grocery store.  I get the full fat, not the so-called "low fat" half-half (how can half-half be low fat, or how could  there be such a thing as low-fat cream?).

You also need a yogurt starter.  I buy active yogurt from the store.  It doesn't matter too much which yogurt you buy, as long as it has active cultures.

Pour half-half (I use two quarts at a time, plus add additional heavy cream to make it even creamier).

Add 1 tbsp. yogurt, and 1 tbsp. sugar to help feed the bacteria.  Stir or whip.

Turn slow cooker to warm, not low as low is too hot.  Do not cover with lid but cover with a towel to allow some heat to escape.  Yogurt needs to culture between 110-120 F.  You may need to get a thermometer to check the temp during this process. 

Let culture for 10-12 hours until finished.  Jar and refrigerate until ready to consume.  I use homemade yogurt on just about any food and for dips and sauces in place of sour cream.

If your slow-cooker gets too hot it will kill the lactobacteria, and then you may need to consider a home yogurt maker.  These are fairly inexpensive.

Kefir is made from milk with kefir "grains".  They are not literally grains but are colonies of various bacteria and yeasts, up to 25 different kinds or more.  This 4-5 times more strains of bacteria than found in yogurt. 

I use a mason jar with a sprouting lid to allow oxygen in.  Kefir likes to breathe oxygen and so is aerobically cultured.  Then you can jar it after a few days and store in the fridge for later use.   I use kefir to lactoferment vegetables or for soaking grains.  I also add some to my dogs food that I prepare to also give him some beneficial bacteria.

See Nourishing Traditions for more information on kefir and there are many links out there.

I have decided to stop using Facebook until further notice.  I will begin publishing my articles, links and food recipe ideas here instead.

Facebook no longer shows any of my posts since the beginning of 2016.  This is a serious problem.

Update: My 3 months of posts have returned.  I will continue to post only here in the meantime until I know Facebook is stable.