Join Cultures.Group a global collective of fermentation enthusiasts. In-depth video content from fermentation experts available through a growing catalog.

High quality, human verified closed captioning available for many videos. Closed captioning and transcripts can be translated into other languages.

Prioritizing language accessibility de-centers English so that specialized fermentation information can accessed and shared throughout the world.

We meet and connect through Zoom. Our meeting times consider global time zones so our friends from around the globe can join us!

The Fermentation School is a women-owned and women-led virtual education company that amplifies the voices of independent creators to empower learning and build culture. I am happy to be a part of @thefermentationschool creator community—uplifting and amplifying voices.

We believe that knowledge of and respect for the fermentation found in every level of the food system is key to people’s stewardship of earth, self, and community.

There are several courses, including some in Spanish, as well as a monthly memberships and virtual events.

Fees to buy, fees to sell, fees to access funds quick-quick, fees, fees, fees…and not one cent of that is doing anything in our communities.

We shop local but then swipe.

Cash is a personal exchange of money for goods or services and supports bringing buying local out of the swipe-swipe world full of meaningless transactions.

San-J x Kojicon was held in Richmond, VA (September 2024) and my talk was entitled Harvest to Jar: Fermenting the Seasons.

Kojicon 2024: Presence, Place, Possibility. My session was entitled Exploring Natto and Related Funky Beans. I shared my experience making natto (both using commercial spores and my personal favorite the wild type) as well as how we can enjoy natto and funky beans.

#kojibuildscommunity

Kojicon 2023: Preserving the Past, Fermenting the Future. My session was entitled Preserving Food with Koji at Home. I shared my technique and experience using a plant-based source of Aspergillus to make shoyu and miso.

I believe that it’s responsible and right to share that which we do not need. Sharing all of your excess—keep the things moving whether food or sundry items or clothing, equipment, tools, etc. Why let things rot? Why let things gather dust? Sharing begets sharing. Making a trip to drop off a tool you’re not using begets a trip to help you down the road.

From formalized buying groups to impromptu orders together—buying together builds community. There is a lot to know and learn with buying groups and there are many ways to start, organize, and maintain a healthy group!

One the of biggest challenges to buying groups is friction. In this era of add to cart and the items appear in your mailbox makes tough competition for buying groups. The communication, ordering, payment, and delivery process should be as smooth as possible. Big groups are fun (and a lot of work) but smaller groups can allow more flexibility that would be utter chaos with hundreds of buyers.

I like organizing buys for 10-25 people—it’s easy enough to manage and not take over my inbox and large enough to leverage money saving opportunities and/or shipping cost. I know everyone personally who is ordering and we can be more forgiving of each other. I’ve found that quarterly and less frequent are perfect but some groups order more frequently. Occasional buys allow folks to save up money to buy in bulk, use up their stores prior to buying more and it’s manageable for the buying group organizer.

Companies such as UNFI, Azure Standard, and Country Living Natural Foods may already have a drop location near you or you could start a drop yourself. These tend to be more formalized as ordering and delivery is on the usual route for the delivery trucks. There are many ways to organize these sorts of buys so spending some time learning and understanding the needs and challenges of your community will be essential. Companies like Frontier Co-op and Equal Exchange that can be terrific for community buys. Then there are all the companies and farms that you know and love—reach out to those companies and find out if/how they could support your group buy. There might be companies and farms that are in your region and orders can be picked up.