In memory of Lady Bird Johnson

Wed Jul 11, 2007 at 7:15 pm in Stories | No Comments

I received a sad notice in my inbox just now - Lady Bird Johnson passed away today at her home here in Austin.

If you’ve never been to Texas in the springtime, you don’t know about Mrs. Johnson’s most startling legacy of beauty that she left to us in this state. Each April by the roadsides, wildflowers begin to bloom - bluebonnets, paintbrushes, Indian blankets and a million others. They bloom into June. For a few months, the flowers reign and the grasses are not cut. People happily let their yards grow wild. For a few months, Texas looks a little more like the wild land it used to be, thanks to Mrs. Johnson and her efforts. She was a conservationist, and dedicated to the idea of native landscapes and being environmentally sensitive. And not just here, but nationally as well.

She inspired in me much of my love of flowers and nature, herbology and conservation - just through her undoubted effect on the land that I’ve lived in. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a real nut about wildflowers, and that springtime in Central Texas is my slice of heaven, and that flowers in general are my “thing.” She is why. Visiting the wildflower center and seeing their ongoing work of conservation, of keeping our landscaping and gardening in harmony with the indigenous plant life of the area, was sort of like going to the altar of Lady Bird for me. For one thing, the whole thing is watered by collected rainwater and an aqueduct system. It’s my dream to one day have a butterfly garden like hers. I will definitely mourn her, and I know a lot of people will mourn her as well.

I’m going to share what the Wildflower Center sent me, and if you feel so moved, honor her passing by giving to the Center that she founded. The pictures on this page are of the flowers at her ranch, along the Texas roads and at the Wildflower Center. Please enjoy.

“Mrs. Johnson created the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1982 as a place where people could visit beautiful native wildflower gardens, and learn about the role served by native plants and native landscapes in maintaining a healthy environment and defining our sense of place.

Even before this wonderful place existed, Mrs. Johnson was a champion of our natural heritage. As First Lady, Mrs. Johnson traveled all over the country to draw public attention to the need to protect our natural treasures and to address growing environmental problems. She was the driving vision behind the Highway Beautification Act, and a public force for expansion of the National Parks System, the preservation of wilderness, and other initiatives. Her example and her accomplishments laid the groundwork for the later emergence of a national environmental movement.

As Mrs. Johnson said: “The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become.”

Mrs. Johnson’s extraordinary vision and commitment will live on at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. We urge you to visit the Center and enjoy the place she loved so much.

———-

Here you can find a final tribute to Lady Bird Johnson.

For more information about her, you can read the biography page at the Wildflower Center.

The family of Lady Bird has asked that those wishing to pay tribute to her make a donation to the Wildflower Center.

Day 8 - Is it ready yet?

Sun Jul 8, 2007 at 8:25 pm in Food-Related, Interviews, Serial Stories | No Comments

There are really only three active days in making beer in small batches like this: cooking day, bottling day and tasting day. These days are a week apart. So for a week now the beer has been thinking about itself and being active on its own. But it’s done with all that, at least for now.

Today we prime and bottle. And that over there –> on the right is an example of the equipment you need to do it. A lot of beer bottles have plain metal caps, and the contraption in the front is a capper. Place cap on bottle, put capper over it, and push down on the arms until you feel it squeeze tight (before you break the glass).

You can also buy screw-top bottles - but make sure you buy the kind made for this purpose, because they are made of extra-thick plastic. Try this in a Coke bottle and your bottle will explode. Remember - you’re creating CO2 here! The bottle is going to try to expand over the next week.

The green bottle is a different kind of cap that’s sort of like a cork attached to the bottle. Some beers actually corked in different ways, but usually with a metal “cage” over the cork like champagne has. Many beers, like champagne, have the last of their fermentation done in the bottle, and the cage is necessary so the corks don’t go popping prematurely from the pressure in side the bottle.

Step One, Prime your Bottles:

In this particular type of brewing we don’t filter the yeast out of the beer after it’s done. It’s really your choice, but it’s simpler if you don’t. This type of brewing, as mentioned above, completes the last of the necessary fermentation right in the bottle. That’s why you have to prime them.

All you do when you prime them is put approximately 3/4 tsp brewing sugar per 12 oz in your bottles. As the picture to the left shows, use a funnel so you don’t create a giant mess.

Step Two, Pour in the Beer:

The beer that’s been fermenting comes next. My dad’s kit has a convenient spout on it for pouring. Quite nice, and I recommend it. I tried imagining ladling the beer out or some other suctioning method, and it didn’t seem as good.

Pour beer into each bottle kind of at an angle so the beer doesn’t foam so much and you can see how high you’re filling each bottle. If it foams, let it sit for a moment before topping it off. Fill longnecks about halfway up the neck (see illustration, right).

For ALL bottles just be careful not to fill too much so that the continuing fermentation has room to expand. If you don’t leave room, your bottles will explode, and my, won’t that be a mess.

A Note About Yeast:

The beer you’re pouring into bottles right now contains yeast. Over the last week your yeast that you initially added has been Livin’ Large - it had all the sugar it could eat, and the alcohol content wasn’t high enough to kill it. So it multiplied and there’s now more of it in your vat than you put into it to begin with.

That yeast will continue to ferment using the sugar you primed your bottles with.

As you’re bottling your beer, when you get toward the end of your vat you need to make sure that the bulk of the yeast solids (the gross white stuff at the bottom) don’t start pouring into your bottles. You just need a little yeast in each bottle, not a cupful of gooey stuff.

Step Three, Cap the Bottles:

After the beer has settled, just cap each bottle off and set it aside. That’s me there workin’ the bottle capper, left. Exciting stuff.

And voila - a bevy of bottles (right), which I put in to a box and covered in a quiet corner of my house. Over the next week, the yeast will continue to produce CO2 and alcohol. This time, though, the CO2 isn’t released and carbonates the yummy contents.

Well, that’s it for my Week O’ Beer. I hope those that have read have enjoyed the process. In a week, I’ll report back about the end result of this batch of beer, show you how the color came out, etc. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been inspired to make more beer.

I like brewing for the same reason I always like crafting — I get to go through the process of making something, and I enjoy the (useful!) end result more because it was the work of my own two hands–and my dad’s two hands in this case!!

Cheers, Miriam

Day 6 (and 7, oops)

Sun Jul 8, 2007 at 12:53 am in Food-Related, Interviews, Serial Stories | No Comments

Again I missed a day in this process, however, it’s no biggie. Exactly one thing happens on both days 6 and 7 - nothing. The beer looks like the day it began. The foam has dissipated because the fermentation is complete - the yeast is just seeking out a few last sugar molecules to eat and the rest of the CO2 is dissipating. During this whole week, of course, the barley and hops and yeast are continuing to meld flavors. Although the primary flavoring occurs when the malt and hops are boiled, it certainly doesn’t stop there.

Green and Brown Beer Beer Chemistry

I can’t remember if I mentioned, but my dad is a biochemist. No, no kidding. So now is the fascination with the chemical process of beer-making becoming clearer?

My dad had a few lessons in beer chemistry to impart to me. I haven’t really seem much that was good about the chemistry on the web, so I’m going to try to share some of it here in hopes it will do someone some good.

Q: Why is beer bottled in brown and green bottles?

A: The darker green and brown bottles protect beer from UV light. Beer is a chemical process with the primary agent being yeast.

If you thrown in sunlight (i.e. UV radiation) then you create chemical processes that make products you really don’t want through photochemistry (i.e. chemistry caused by light). Primarily, light might burn the yeast and kill it. It can also create vinegar, or even worse, something toxic. (see below)

It’s really important to keep your beer away from things that can interfere with the brewing process. Store your brewing beer at room temperature, away from direct sunlight. And make sure to sterilize your equipment before you use it so that you don’t get bacteria or toxins in your beer that produce chemicals you don’t want!

Q: What chemicals does brewing produce?

A: Yeast (a single-celled animal) eats sugars (glucose) and secretes (yeah, I meant that) ethyl alcohol (also known as grain alcohol) and CO2 (carbonation).

Q: Is that all that yeast can produce?

A: No, different kinds of yeast can produce different alcohols - ethyl, or grain, alcohol is the only kind of alcohol you should ingest. As the name indicates, it’s derived from fermented grain. Yeast can also produce acetic acid, ethyl acetate and acetaldehyde.

Q: WTF are those last ones?

A1: Acetic acid is an acid - and when in a 2-3% solution (i.e. 2-3% acetic acid, 97-98% water) is known as vinegar.