Making Sauerkraut and the Honorable Harvest

Picking cabbage at the Community Garden (see my blog) there were a few small heads that I brought home to make sauerkraut. This was my first attempt so I used a recipe from The Pioneer Woman. After fermenting for two weeks I cooked the sauerkraut with chicken sausage to make a delicious meal!

In the previous blog Garden of Gratitude, I shared a glimpse of the wonderful book Braiding Sweetgrass. The author Robin Wall Kimmerer describes guidelines of the Honorable Harvest:

Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.

Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.

Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.

Never take the first. Never take the last.

Take only what you need.

Take only that which is given.

Never take more than half. Leave some for others.

Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.

Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.

Share.

Give thanks for what you have been given.

Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.

Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.