Travelling With Cultures
On Sunday I embarked on the long road trip between Columbia Valley and Prince George for a visit with family. It was a very spur of the moment idea; I didn’t prepare for it and had nothing written in advance this week! But I’ve settled in a few days and have taken over another kitchen, so all is well lol.
Columbia Valley to Prince George is a 14 hour drive through scenic mountain passes. We only stopped for a few breaks, but I managed to take a few quick pictures.
This will be a fairly long visit, so of course I had to bring “the monsters”.
I don’t mean children lol. The monsters include my milk kefir, water kefir, and Herman – the sourdough starter.:) (Kevin named Herman – do you name your cultures??) Collectively, we always refer to them as ‘the monsters’.
I toyed with the idea of leaving them at home, but I usually enjoy them daily, so I didn’t want to go without for so long or risk coming home to find they didn’t last without care.
By bringing them, I can continue to keep them healthy, and they can continue to do the same for me!
I did leave my ginger bug home, but I’ve left it in the fridge for long periods in the past and it perked right back up with a couple of feedings.
14 hours in the back of a vehicle through hot and humid mountains would be a little too much to ask of my cultures, so I brought them in our awesome little electric cooler
I love this cooler – when our fridge died a couple of years ago, we got it to use as a temporary fridge and it did the job until we found a new fridge. It literally saved our bacon.:)
We also bought an adapter cord;, one that adapts it from 110AC to 12 Volts DC
It comes with a cord to plug it into a vehicle cigarette lighter; so it is absolutely awesome for long trips and camping. It will even work as a freezer down to 40 below ambient temperature…and heats up to 135 degrees. Love love love it.
I did not have to worry about my cultures at all and was able to share some water kefir with family earlier, so they finally know what the heck I’ve been telling them about for so long.:)
It is a great option if you’re ever in a similar situation, I didn’t have to worry about ‘the monsters’, and they arrived in Prince George without incident.
Have you ever travelled with your cultures? What was your method?
posted by Abigail @ They're Not Our Goats on May 15, 2015
Haha, I love this post! I traveled with my sourdough starter last summer, and it was a super hot, humid time of year. It was hysterical because the starter was literally bursting out the top of the jar by the time our four hour drive was over. Needless to say, I came in the house, hugged my family, and immediately dumped my starter into a bowl and added water/flour/etc. to start some bread. Glad you made it without incident!
posted by YogurtHydro on May 15, 2015
Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious. Hi – I need flour immediately LOL.
posted by Megan A on May 20, 2015
I’ve never heard of anyone doing this before, interesting!!