Unemployment, It's Been Good.....ish

Sitting in a cafe in the middle of the afternoon, with a Montreal spice bagel and coffee - Pretty much my typical routine for the past month has been pretty similar. But I'm feeling particularly leisurely since tomorrow I start a full-time, temporary position as a political organizer around the gubernatorial elections. I'll be spending most of my time with union members, getting out the vote and such, and part of my time with the Health Care is a Human Right campaign through the Vermont Worker's Center. I feel very, very thankful to have found such a passionate, hard working and determined group of folks at the VWC.

Yesterday, my very patient landlord approached me because she was feeling a little overwhelmed with the way I was dealing with unemployment - that is, loads and loads of crafts in the kitchen. Upon attaining a copy of Wild Fermentation when I arrived, the kitchen was doomed to be cluttered with buckets, crocks, and jars all over the place.

Since moving to Winooski, I've made (some completed, most aging or fermenting):

A half gallon of whiskey cherries
Two bottles of Kahlua (coffee liqueur)
Cucumber-infused gin (amazing with iced Sumac tea)
A gallon of dilly beans
A gallon of sauerkraut
Two quarts of turnip kraut
Cinnamon-vanilla liqueur
Ginger liqueur
A curtain (for my closet, since it doesn't have a door)
A quart of yogurt (from raw jersey milk, of course)
Two pounds of candied ginger

Above: top of my dresser with ginger vodka, the cherries and Kahlua, cinnamon liqueur and drying ginger candy

In addition to rye sourdough experimentation and a botched attempt to make a wild ginger beer starter. I've been trying to track down a kombucha SCOBY for a few weeks and am hopefully honing in on one soon.

So now we know what happens when Emily is not in school and unemployed. There are worse things!