Returned from a wonderful, educational workshop hosted by the FermentWorks team, Kirsten and Christopher Shockey, at their picturesque farm near Applegate, Oregon. Lots of hands-on crafting and creating ferments, pastes, and old fashioned apple cider that can be fermented into hard apple cider. 

Here's what I created:  spicy kimchee ferment; basil and cayenne pepper ferment that will be blended and strained to create a basil-pepper paste; eight different pepper ferment that will be blended and strained to create a multi-dimensional pepper paste; green and red tomatoes ferment flavored with coriander seeds and black peppercorns; celery, shallots, fresh sage leaves and rosemary ferment; and, fresh apple cider made from crabapples, Roma and Kop apples. The ferments will take anywhere from two to eight weeks to complete.

Last, my own Napa cabbage, watermelon radish, sunflower choke and grated turmeric sauerkraut after two weeks of fermentation.  Another week or so, and it should be ready.

Also, a photo of the kitchen wall in the Shockey home displaying old, new and mostly forgotten tools used in cooking, canning, preserving and fermenting food.

Recent travels have taken me to Port Angeles, Washington, and, in particular, Olympic National Forest. Here are recent photos:

Hurricane Ridge, elevation 6000 ft with views of the Olympic Mountains. So called since winter winds can reach speeds of 75 mph+ causing havoc across the valleys and forest. During winter, this location is covered in several feet of snow.

Trail to Marymere Falls
A ninety foot falls that cascades to a small pool deep in the forest. From there it gently tumbles down a meandering stream which feeds into the river which leads to the Straits of Juan de Fuca.  Salmon are migrating even now.

Lake Crescent
Formed several millions of years ago, this lake is almost 700 feet deep, and maintains an icy blue color due to the ice crystals suspended in the lake's water. On a clear day, the water can take on an aquamarine to blue malachite color. Beautiful lake for kayaking, paddle boarding or sailing When we there, it was completely empty.