1966 - Sauerkraut
After the 4th year of living Under the Ledge on my dad’s farm,
mom decided to expand the garden so she could preserve garden crops for the
long winter months ahead. Mom thought it would be a clever idea to plant
cabbage, lettuce, carrots, beans, peas, beets, turnips, tomatoes, and other
crops for late summer harvesting.
A friend of my parents, Arnie Sartorius, sold seedlings from
his greenhouse by Gravely Brook. He was a single confirmed bachelor and lived
down the road from his mother, Ester Sartorius, who was one of mom’s best
friends. Mom would get her started plants from Arnie, such as tomatoes,
cucumber, cabbage, pumpkin, and squash plants that Arnie had started in the
early spring in his greenhouses.
Our main garden was 300’ wide by 300’ deep. After a neighbor
came over to plow the area Dad used his yellow troybilt tiller to turn the
freshly plowed area to a pulverized soil to plant in.
Dad staked the rolls and helped place the seeds to the right
distance and depth for germination. My sister and I would be responsible for
weeding rolls while dad tilled between the rolls of plants. After those seeds
sprouted, it was time to plant the new seedlings from Arnie’s greenhouse. My
added duties included pumping water from the well and the watering the seedlings
to keep them alive.
My sister and I would spend a lot of our days weeding the
rolls of plants to keep the garden weed free. My sister did not like weeding,
so she convinced some neighbor kids across the river to come over and help weed
the garden. In return she threw a tea party as payment for their weeding
efforts.
For weeks in early July. I attended 4-H camp at Camp Bird and
while I was away, dad would maintain the garden. While I was at camp, mom
purchased 2 goats for milking and upon coming home from camp, it was time to
water, feed, and milk the 2 goats.
One afternoon after I had watered and feed the goats in the
lower barn, I started running back to the house and landed on a board in the
tall grass that had a large 20 penny spike sticking out of it. I yelled as I
fell forward and yanked the board and spike off my foot, all the while wailing,
then limped to the house. My mom saw me and asked what had happened, she
removed my shoe and bloodied sock and saw where the nail and penetrated the
foot and came out the top on it.
She loaded me up in the car and took me to the
Borden Clinic in Marinette, WI. Dr Jim Borden saw me right way and after
scrubbing and running a small brush thru the wound, said I needed to keep it
elevated for a week. I perceived this as good news and I could read and be lazy
for bit and said that to mom. Mom retorted “not so fast, we will find other
chores for you to do while recuperating.
Upon arriving home, she had me sit on the rocking chair by the
phone and told me I would be helping make sauerkraut and relishes for the next
week.
Mom had dad and my sister harvest the cabbage, clean them, and
bring them by my chair. I removed the damaged leaves and cut out the core
throwing it into a bucket. Then I set the cabbage shredder with a bucket under
the knives and ran the cabbage across it to slice the cabbage for mom to put in
a crock for the fermenting process.
Since
making sauerkraut is ancient skill, it needs only the basics: cabbage, salt,
cabbage shredder, sharp knife, big bowl, and storage containers. It’s as simple
as that!
- Cabbage. Various
types contain different amounts of sugar, but generally best fermentation
results are achieved with large solid heads of white cabbage. You can use
all kinds of cabbage-heads and still get great sauerkraut, but the larger
the head (especially if it’s been picked in late autumn) – the higher
percentage of sugar it contains and faster the fermentation.
- Salt. Choose natural
non iodized salt. Non-iodized salt will not slow down bacterial fermentation
plus it’s full of minerals. Since you will later drink and use fermented
kraut’s juice (which is very healthy source of vitamins and healthy gut
bacteria) – it’s best to use a good quality salt. On average, you will
need 2-2.5% of salt by weight.
- Cabbage shredder.
It’s important that shredder’s blades are sharp and adjusted for fine
shredding. Having high quality cabbage shredder will make the experience
of making homemade sauerkraut fast, easy and enjoyable since process of
shredding is basically the only “work” you will have to do to make this
delicious, beneficial and healthy food.
- Large bowl. You will
need it to slice cabbage into it without making a mess you must clean up
later.
- Storage containers.
You can use earthenware crocks, food-grade plastic containers or glass
containers. Mom used a 25-gallon crock to start with before packing quart
jars with the sauerkraut and sealing the jars.
After
having spent several days slicing cabbage I moved onto to the process of making
relishes by slicing and mincing pickles for the relish so mom could do her
thing. Mom put all the ingredients into another smaller crock before scooping
the relish into jar and blanching them to seal the lids.
My tasks and elevated foot were now able to resume some light
duties. My mom cut out the toes of my tennis shoes so that my toes could
breathe while my foot healed. I then wore shorts, t shirt and my tennis shoe
the rest of that summer until school started.
My mom then showed me my new shoes, pants, and shirts for the
start of school that she had purchased at store sales earlier in the spring.
She had thought ahead, and she planned for me start as a freshman in high
school. But she had not noticed my growth spurt that summer as I had grown to 6”-
1” from 5’ - 7”.
However, my high school gym coach noticed the change of height
and weight and had me step on a scale. Then he measured me for a varsity jacket
as they now wanted me in football as well as track. I was already in wrestling, wrestling in the
127-weight category. My new weight category was now 164, if I could get down
there, as I weighed now 180.