Kombucha Bottling

Our first batch of Kombucha has now completed its first fermentation process and is now bottled up. We have a few flavours brewing here too amongst the plain original kombucha, namely Raspberry and Ginger/Lemon :)

Our next fresh batch of kombucha has also now been started...

Sweyne's Eye 1 ~ Intro

Sweyne's Eye 1 ~ Layout Design Cont...

Working on the Layout of Sweyne's Eye 1

A Sleepy Distraction

It is difficult concentrating on the editing of my first photo-book zine with this one in the background. She can draw my attention even when she is fast asleep :)

Fermenting Kombucha

Following up from last week's post, here is the latest photograph of our kombucha. As you can see from all the bubbles, it is fizzing away nicely as it continues to ferment:

Fermenting kombucha

Sweyne's Eye 1...

I started work this morning on the design of my first photobook zine - Sweyne's Eye, the first issue of which will feature a little project entitled: Hand i̶n̶  Glove.

More details soon...

Excited Sparrows on a Windy Afternoon

Our little feathered garden friends are loving our new bird feeder. The sparrows especially can't contain their excitement and their constant twittering can be heard from our house even in the rain and wind :)

Brewing Up Some Kombucha

I've been a little unwell of late, suffering from an eye condition that has been exasperated by my being allergic to most of the antibiotics I have been prescribed for the problem. Anyway, as well as developing quite drastic allergic reactions to the antibiotics (swollen, burning eyelids and lips), they have also had a rather devastating effect on my stomach :( Whilst I am now on my fourth different course of antibiotics, courtesy this time of the local hospital eye specialist) and await to see if these can know wy health troubles on the head, I am combatting my belly woes with the consumption of kombucha.

To help combat that, I am currently drinking kombucha. And I really have to say that this product really has helped me a heap. Unfortunately, this drink can be on the rather expensive side if purchased commercially from local health food shops, and as my wife and I intend to continue drinking this beverage for at least the next couple of months to test out the claims of its much-lauded health benefits, we have decided to give brewing it at home a try.

The required scoby (an acronym for 'symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast') can be found easily online via dedicated forums, commercial producers or ebay. I purchased our starter scoby from ebay:

Our kombucha scoby from ebay

A close-up of the kombucha scoby

To kick start the fresh kombucha brew, we added a bottle of live starter tea, which can be purchased from Holland and Barretts and a growing number of supermarkets as a stand-alone drink.

A tasty bottle of live kombucha tea, which I used to kickstart
a fresh batch of kombucha drink

This was added to a bowl sugar-sweetened black tea, which was then decanted into a kombucha jar, along with the scoby.

Sugar-sweetened black tea - a base for the kombucha drink

Sealing the top of the jar from unwanted bacteria, we then placed the jar away from direct sunlight and let it do its work.

A fresh jar of pre-fermented kombucha - complete with scoby

It is now just a waiting game as we wait for the fermentation process to commence and take hold on the kombucha drink. I will add an update on proceedings in the near future...

A Rainy Sunday Morning

Another rainy Sunday morning. Still, it has created quite a moody atmosphere and I am taking full advantage of it to do a little ghost story writing.

To add to the ambiance, I am playing an absolutely beautiful pagan folk CD by Telling the Bees. I have seen this band play twice and they were both gorgeous experiences. I even got this treasured CD signed by the band before that sadly split:

You can catch a great interview by Andy Letcher from the band here. The artwork on the album is also as beautiful as the music itself and was crafted by the very talented Rima Staines.