Ich hab das schon probiert!

So I tried it. The legendary, cultured health tea drink, kombucha. Interesting, but not really worth it, I don't think.

Bild des Tages

Just a pretty.

Wind in den USA

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/17/nyregion/20080818_WIND_index.html

I've always found it interesting that people in some regions are against wind power installations. I guess it's easy to take it for granted when you don't live near one, but I don't think I'd have a big problem with it. Course, I also probably don't use up nearly as much energy as the average American, and I might be a little annoyed if I had to deal with a whole field of them so that people far away can leave their televisions on all day.

Wanderlust

This weekend's wandering: the Europäishes Brotmuseam in Ebergötzen.

In reality, not very exciting. The didn't even have any free bread! or anything on the chemistry of bread making or yeast or the changes in bread-making technique. It was basically a collection of bread-related things. But they did have a selection of different grains and I can now distinguish roggen (rye), weizen (wheat), haffer (oats), and a bunch of others. They even had a garden with a bunch of different things growing. AND the most amazing apples. I might actually not dislike these. AND a windmill and watermill. AND I got to play inside them. It was fun.

Ebergötzen is pretty far away--17 km by the highway--so this trip was kind of a whole day thing. Most of the way there were nice paved bike paths, but occasionally the road disintegrated into gravel. I'm still in awe that you can even get around on a bike and that people let you pass through their property. Maybe it's just part of the integration of city and country in Germany. The village is quite small actually--I guess most of these villages are agriculture based? I don't know where else money comes from for these people. The surrounding countryside is also really pretty: larger rolling hills and a broad valley which ends at the base of the Harz mountains (which were barely visible to me).

Rock formation and bluff in the middle of a forest. Bike paths often run along the old roads between villages and this one looked ancient.

A very old, Roman? style mud oven. It would be fascinating to use one of these! I saw a TV program on it recently and the results looked delicious.

Grain garden with oats, wheat, millet, linseed, rye, barley, sorghum, and others.

Bread machines.

Funk isn't really that common of a name. Funke might be a little more common.

Nice little watermill. Nothing like the grist mills in the Smokies though.


My way home took be through Seeburg, a nice little village on the banks of the Seeburger See (descriptive people, these germans). The See was hard enough to find and not terribly spectacular, but a nice detour. I swear ever yard I saw had a cute little wooden windmill in the yard. Deutschland macht grün!

And I came back through the south, by way of Groß and Klein Lengden (which is ironic because Klein ist größer als Groß Lengden). Altogether, 39.5 km as the car drives, probably more for me, and in about 6 hours. Of course probably more than half that was stopping for Brombeere and Pflaumen (Zwetschgen actually).

A Zwetschgen. I took about 10 of them home and all but one had worms inside. Very sad.

Seeburger See. Might be nice to visit with a boat.

The road back was long and hilly, but very scenic.

Windkraft

Sorry for repeating, but I just can't get over how much wind power there is here. I don't know if this is the future or not, but it seems like it's at least a step in the right direction.