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Grandpa Orlov’s Vodka Recipe
Dmitry Orlov, Club Orlov
Sharon Astyk is running a month-long series on food storage, and, as it is an excellent idea to start learning how to grow and preserve your own food, I highly recommend that you get with her program. Even if you do not grow your own food, buying it in bulk, when it is in season, and preserving it yourself, will save you money and allow you to take a step in the direction of self-sufficiency.
Now, “Man doth not live by bread alone…” [Deut. viii. 3] This becomes especially apparent at the onset of cocktail hour, and, in circumstances both dire and not-so-dire, having a source of home-made “spiritual sustenance” can often spell the difference between miserable company and amiable companionship.
When it comes to food, waste is a fact of life. Almost always, there is fruit left rotting on the vine or on the ground, and it usually goes straight into the compost. But there is something more useful that can be done with it: it can be made into alcohol. Anything that has sugar in it can be fermented and distilled.
For years, my father made vodka in our kitchen in an apartment in Leningrad, using the technique I am about to describe. This made him a popular man: he would pour it into brand-name bottles and bring them to parties.
(8 March 2008)
Good Spirits
A New Look at Ol’ Demon Alcohol
Gene Logsdon, Chelsea Green Publishing
Gene “The Contrary Farmer” Logsdon has taken on some controversial subjects in his time, but this time he has bitten off (“sipped on” doesn’t sound right) a topic bound to raise strong feelings on both sides of society’s moral boundary lines. His subject is alcohol and its traditional role on the family homestead. Not surprisingly, Gene speaks the bare-naked truth, and finds a lot more good than bad to say about booze.
Alcohol has historically played a significant role in agricultural life. In colonial times it was the most “liquid” alternative to hard currency as a means of exchange. Alcohol was the most reliable, safest, and most convenient way to store the grain harvest, and was an integral commodity on nearly every farmstead. Because it was so valued-does this surprise us?-the government muscled in, looking for its own piece of the action. George Washington was the first of many politicians to regulate alcohol as a means to generate revenues and gain political control.
Good Spirits is a rare and brave revisionist view of history. Logsdon is a master at exposing the absurdity of the commonplace. Does it really make sense that the government can make it illegal for us to combine common substances (grain, water, and yeast) on our own property? Can it be true that every war effort in the nation’s history has been fueled literally and figuratively by alcohol and the tax revenues it produces? Why must the farmer fund the government that oppresses him?
In between good-natured tirades, Logsdon makes sure the reader learns some valuable lessons. He tells us how to make beer; he teaches the rudiments of distilling…
(book published in 2000)
Farmer-writer Gene Logsdon publishes regularly in Energy Bulletin. -BA
Sources of Bulk Dry Foods
Sharon Astyk, Casaubon’s Book
First let’s talk about the word “dry” here – because it is important. Globally, trucking and shipping are major contributors to climate change and heavy users of fossil fuels. And yet, the truth is that while some of us will be able to meet most or all of our needs in our local foodshed, others of us will not. We’re going to have to get some of our staples from far away. So how do we make good choices in this regard?
Well, the first and most important way to do this is to restrict your purchasing to dry foods – dry grains, beans, dry fruit, etc… Because when you ship fresh produce around the country, you are mostly shipping water. In many cases, we end up, as Joan Dye Gussow observes, shipping water from very dry places that grow food with irrigation to wet ones – particularly wasteful So it is especially important for us to get our fresh foods near us – and while it is both important and useful for regions to start growing some of their staples, it is much more environmentally sound to buy bulk dry foods from far away than it is to buy bananas (not that most of us won’t eat the occasional banana).
Now my first preference would ALWAYS be that you get your staple foods from local farmers near you. It is really important that we start producing local staple foods. So if you are seeking something, the first place to look is in your immediate region. One good source is www.localharvest.com. Another is your local agricultural extension agent, who may have sources that aren’t online.
You might be surprised at what is/can be grown around you. I was surprised when I learned a farmer near me was growing barley (unfortunately not for human consumption, but I’m working on him). There are a lot of small agricultural producers around, and sometimes they are hiding ;-).
But what if you can’t get it locally? Well, expand your vision of local a bit. Cross a few borders. Maybe try a farmer in nearby state. Check around.
(10 March 2008)
