Hopped Up On Soda

Bill has another soda experiment going. After several years of brewing beer, he branched out to soda last year. He started out using soda extracts that he buys where he gets most of his homebrew stuff. But recently he’s been brewing up his own ideas.

Last summer he scored a big win with his rose petal soda. It’s not something you chug a big bottle of, but it’s very floral and refreshing. He has a stash of magic rose elixer in the freezer to make a batch of rose soda this winter when cabin fever gets bad.

Right now he’s infusing hops he grew and harvested himself. They're more of a bittering hop rather than an aroma hop. He’s shooting for a flavor that’s not too bitter. For this experiment, he used a half-ounce of leaf hops, a gallon of water, 1 Tbsp. each lemon juice and lime juice, and 2 cups of sugar. He may add more citrus and sugar before he bottles. I’ll keep you posted when we can sample the soda.

Doesn't take much to entertain us.

Building The Pile

Welcome to Compost & Creativity. I’m Donna Kallner, a fiber artist from rural northern Wisconsin. For most of our lives, my husband and I have been self-employed. We’ve had lots of practice at coming up with creative solutions to challenges faced while trying to make art and make do. And in trying to make a difference in the world, we’ve learned that even small things can yield big results.

Everywhere we turn, we meet wonderful people who are also trying to make do and make a difference. This blog is a place to share ideas. Thanks for coming by and joining in.

I’ll be posting once or twice a week about topics related to living well but simply – things like vegetable gardening, composting, food preservation, bread making, growing and gathering craft materials, homebrew, winemaking, low-cost low-impact recreation, pets, housekeeping, clothing, craftivism, community, volunteering, vehicles, books and blogs. I’ll post occasional creativity exercises, DIY gift making tutorials, and PDF resources that make it easier to get volunteer jobs done in your local community.

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Building a blog is a lot like building a compost pile: It can be done with little thought to the ingredients and left on its own, and still produce results – eventually. But the results will be better and we’ll have something rich and fertile sooner with a healthy mix of elements added to the pile.

Here, the key to the mix is you. I hope you’ll share your ideas and experiences. Join the conversation related to a post by clicking the Comments button at the bottom of it.

Want to write a guest post for Compost and Creativity? Send me your ideas at donnastitches[at]gmail.com.