Growing a Kombucha Mother Week 1

Well, it certainly is growing. I really just tried it all out as an experiment. But it seems to be working!
As I mentioned in my first post, I had bought the Kombucha originally to try out its affects and benefits for digestive health, which I believe is so important for your overall health. If your body is stuck using all of its energy digesting foods, especially the mis-combined, difficult foods that so many of us eat today then other bodily functions can be weakened or not given the energy that they need to function to their fullest potential. I have been focused on cleansing and supporting my body for a while now and this Kombucha stuck out to me but what I have been learning about it is incredible. It has very powerful detoxifying properties and is a source of vitamins and minerals including B1, B2, B6 and B12, C, amino acids, enzymes and several pro-biotic organic acids.

Here is what it looks like after it has been brewing for 1 week:

You can see how a film has developed on the top. That is your Symbiotic Culture of Yeast and Bacteria or SCOBY, you may see this called a 'Mushroom' in other places but its not a mushroom at all, its Yeast and Bacteria. The yeast here is not conducive to Candida so there is no need to be alarmed, although you may want to be cautious and start slow should you have problems with Candida. Here is what it looks like from the top view:

It looks kind of like brains doesn't it? You can see though how it has formed a pretty thick layer, this is Live Culture lives off of the sugar and caffeine in the tea. I stuck a straw in there to see what it tastes like and it was sweet and tangy like cider. I thought it may be a little too sweet yet, but thought that was a good sign that there is still adequate sugar for this culture to live off of. Check back to see what it looks like a week from now!

Growing a Kombucha Mother

I was recently at the health food store and I was looking at the items that they had in their digestive health section, I was looking for a herbal tea concentrate that I am very familiar and used to purchase, but now I have moved and this local health food store didn't carry it. I found a bottle of Kombucha, and thought I would give it a try. I was actually on my way to work so I tried a little bit of it, and it reminded me a lot of Apple Cider Vinegar, then as I was watching some Health Youtube videos that I subscribe to I saw a video in the related topics on Kombucha and I watched it and then spent far more time than I should have watching videos on how to brew your own Kombucha and how to grow your own mother etc. I watched a whole bunch.. it was like the whole world of Kombucha had suddenly opened up!

I realized that I could grow my own Kombucha mother and brew the tea at home. And as I got so excited about how I could do this I forgot to even read about what it does and what it is good for! Ha! There isn't really a lot of information about it, although the main thing that I was interested in was its affects for your digestive health, it is known to promote healthy flora in the digestive tract but there are so many other benefits which can be explained more thoroughly here.  (Please check it out, it is amazing!)

Nothing scientific, which doesn't really concern me, the best things for you are natural things that usually haven't been tested. So I thought I would start making my own Kombucha which really is fermented tea that is raw and still active. Here is how it started:

You will need a large glass vessel (this jar is perfect, but anything like it will work - must be glass though!), a stainless steel pot (cannot be aluminum), a wooden spoon, 3/4 of a gallon of water, 1 cup of sugar, 5 tea bags (I used 3 black and 2 green), a bottle of Kombucha, a piece of cheesecloth and an elastic.

Put the water into the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat off and stir in 1 cup of sugar, you want to make sure that it all dissolves. The Kombucha lives off of Caffeine and Sugar so you want it all to dissolve.

Then add the tea bags and let it steep for a while. Everywhere I saw said about 5 minutes, but I just left the bags in until the whole mixture had cooled. 

Once it has cooled, remove the tea bags and add to the jar. It was warmer then room temperature when I did this, but I did let it cool for several hours. 

Next add your Kombucha, I purchased this from a health food store, and I used about half of a 16 oz bottle, which I had left sitting out with the lid off on my counter for several days. I did this because I read that a mother will grow right from that, but after a couple of days there were threads of cultures but not a film like I was looking for, and I thought that it probably couldn't really grow without any food so I did all of this. And it is working (after only 2 days there is already a film where my SCOBY is growing)

Then fasten a piece of cheese cloth with a rubber band and put it in a fairly warm place that will get absolutely no direct sunlight. Some people say a dark cupboard, I put it on top of my fridge for the added warmth. It can be exposed to light, just not direct sunlight, no windowsills for the Kombucha!

Then just let it hang out. I will update you on how mine is coming, and also I will document how it benefits my health so please check back to see how it is going!

The reason that I started this blog

Can't believe it has almost been a year. Right before he left that night we were all talking about random things. I told him what I thought of the 'Glass half empty or glass half full' question. I said that If you begin with an empty glass and you fill it up half way then your glass is half full, if however; your glass is full and you drink it half way down, then your glass is half empty... he said 'That is so smart! You should put that on the internet'
So here is to you Jonathan!

Your friendship will always have a special place in my heart.

New Years Resolutions?

Hello All! December is such a funny month to me.
Many feel a great deal of pressure because of Christmas and then what is worse is that come January 1st we take a good long look at ourselves; generally focusing on the flaws and create resolutions for the New Year that are generally pushed by the way-side only to make us feel worse that we didn't keep them in the first place.

I suggest we all try to simplify the holiday. Lets shift the focus and take the opportunity to just reflect. Let us take a good long look at all the entire year, begin with all of the good that took place. Take time to reflect on some of the other milestones be they good, bad or somewhere in between and focus on how you may have felt when they happened and how far you have come now.

Rather then focus on an event focus on how you are feeling about it at the present time, how you have dealt with it and if possible let go of anything that may not be serving you at this time. If possible create or perform an existing ritual that you find to be very 'clearing'. I love to put my feet in the Ocean; even on a cold day and feel the salt water washing away the things that are bogging me down; the energetic matter that is clogging my field. It is important to remember to let go of that which is not serving you, and that which is not to your highest good. Sometimes even what we consider to be less good we will hang onto because we may not be finished with it yet.

There are of course many different ways to release energy, I love to use Reiki to shift and manipulate the energy, of course you can meditate or visualize this happening. Sometimes I love to write everything out; just to feel that release, you can then choose to keep or destroy the paper depending on what resonates with you. Everyone has a different way of 'letting go', and if you don't I encourage you to find your own way, whatever feels right with you.

So rather then focus on the bad; lets again take the time to see how far we have come this year and lets intend that whatever we may be hanging on to from the past year that is not serving us is released. Let it go and enter into 2010 feeling a little bit better!

Controling the Uncontrolable

Its amazing how people in our North American culture have just accepted that life is stressful. I mean sure it can be. But it is my personal view that we can only become stressed when and if we choose to allow ourselves to be. While some emotions are harder to control; Stress is quite easily mastered.
I know a man who becomes easily stressed at the drop of a hat, suddenly one thing leads to the next and his negative energy attracts more negative energy and 'the whole world has turned against him' Does this sound like someone you know?
Here is my dealing with stress lesson 1: When it really is out of your control-

I am talking about a situation that you really can't change at this present moment, not something with a true solution. Something like being in traffic or waiting in line
Now:
Think about it from a very subjective point of view, think of what you can control. I'm going to give you a huge tip here: the thing in any situation that you can always control, is you. The thing that you can always change is your perspective. For example when your in traffic; rather then focus on the slow moving vehicles and how you wish they would go faster; change your perspective and just accept that this is where you are now. Acceptance is huge and lets face it if you are waiting in line, or if you spill something, break something, if your car breaks down the fist thing is always just accepting what has happened. No need to get upset about it, its done, it happened and you can't change it now. Most people will get stressed maybe express a few expletives but really all you are doing is causing stress to YOURSELF. Why would you want to do that?
So lets recap lesson 1:
If you find yourself in a situation that would usually cause you stress but you just have to wait it out; change your perspective, accept that you are here right now, remember that you will not be here forever and for good measure find a way to enjoy something. Be it focusing on something visually enjoyable, listening to something you like, or taking a moment to just focus on something that does make you happy.