Month: November 2025

Unplugged Moments, What I Learned Between Brews and Glitches

Today, I wrote an entire post, about all the loose ends in my learning project that I may have left everyone hanging with. Classically, I had not saved and my daughter was making an automatic cat feeder out of cardboard. She unplugged the computer to plug in her glue gun and alas! everything was lost. I could cry. (Why is there not an autosave version history to go back on like I have to utilize for my Grade 5 students when they accidentally erase their entire assignment.) So here is the Coles Notes version.

  1. What happened to the SCOBY I was growing?
  2. Did I ever hear back from the woman on Facebook who was going to offer me a SCOBY?
  3. What did you think of the course I paid for versus open education?
  4. Did I ever receive the Hoochy Booch Kombucha Kit?
  5. How did the Kiwi and Lime second ferment trial turn out?

Trial, Error, and a Little Research

A SCOBY that has been grown from scratch is being held over a bowl of starter tea. In the background is a jar.As you may recall I watched a TikTok video that was shared to YouTube. This video in a few short moments gave me the inspiration that I could grow my own SCOBY. What I failed to account for was that she set up the initial steps but did not provide the process or results. As a result I questioned whether my SCOBY was viable. It looked terrible, smelled and tasted like apple cider vinegar. After watching another TikTok, that unfortunately I can no longer locate, I decided to compost my SCOBY. This week, I went on a quest to learn what I had done wrong, and this video linked below actually confirmed that I was going in the right direction. Do you want to see me grow another SCOBY from scratch?

Community, Curiosity, and Kombucha Connections

Two flip top bottles of raspberry kombucha sit on a counter next to a gallon jar of kombucha that is brewing.Initially I set out with the intent to find a SCOBY by reaching out on Facebook to find one locally. I was able to connect with a colleague, Madison who generously shared her knowledge with me. The SCOBY she shared looks the healthiest. This week I went over to her house to return a flip top bottle she had loaned me when I tried the second ferment that she had prepared. She also shared some tips this week that if I wanted to increase fermentation I could also decrease the amount of space in the top of the flip top bottle. I was curious if she burped her kombucha and she said that initially she had but did not anymore. Pictured here are two bottles I brewed of the second ferment last week from her starter tea/SCOBY. I was a little concerned that a new SCOBY was forming on the top of my second ferment, however an email newsletter from Revolution Fermentation link to this post confirmed that in fact that means that the brew is strong and healthy. You may have recalled that another woman, a registered nurse, in the city was referred to me on Facebook; her SCOBY had not been ready at the time. I followed up with her this week to acknowledge her offer of a SCOBY and to let her know that I would no longer need one. I also inquired whether she would be willing to share the health benefits of kombucha and how drinking kombucha has improved her health. I am waiting to hear. If any readers have experienced health benefits do share in there comments, as I am curious to learn more about how probiotics and fermentation affect our health.

Paywalls, Podcasts, and Paths to Learning

From the Revolution Fermentation website, I paid for an online class with Sebastien Bureau. This week I rewatched it to see if perhaps I had missed some content. I am proud to report that I better understand the process more and am able to take the content and see how I might be able to refine my process from ratios of sugar to water, to grams of loose leaf tea to water. Previously I had been using tea bags so I want to try loose leaf teas. A take away from rewatching this course was that green tea pairs better with herbs and black tea pairs better with fruit. In reflecting on this course, shared as a video on Vimeo that is less than 12 minutes long, I feel as though the content is readily available online. The video is professionally filmed and edited and is an enjoyable view however I feel as though there are many content creators that share similar content for free. For instance, here is a video series from Bon Appetite featuring Brad Leone that is fun to watch and you can easily spend an entire evening as I have watching him chop fruit and brew up some interesting concoctions. I would have liked to have seen a second video in the course from Revolution Fermentation that takes us beyond ground zero of start-up and offers what comes next. That is where my questions really began. If you enjoy podcasts here is a podcast I listened to this week, featuring Sebastien Bureau, from Montreal, who takes some wonderful tangents including picking mushrooms.

When Learning Arrives By Mail

A photograph of a kombucha kit from Hoochy Bosch. There is a box, bags of cane sugar, a jar, a SCOBY in a bag and a leaflet of instructions.I had almost given up on ever receiving the Hoochy Booch kit. With the postal strike I had not been regularly checking my mail. But then why would I when I had confirmed that I paid $17.15 for express shipping  on  September 21st. On October 19th after visiting the mail a few times in the days before I found a parcel key in my mail box and there was the Hoochy Booch Kit. I brewed it up and today marks 14 days since I made the first brew so I should actually start the second ferment. The pH strip also says 3.0 so it is ready. The kit is cute. A final criticism I have of this company however is that there are several mentions to remember to open my follow up emails. There are none.

Tasting What I’ve Learned

Last week, we scaled back flavours to the kiwi and lime after watching a YouTube video where the creator tested various variables in an attempt to increase carbonation. I used the lime recipe from this video, waited the seven days to ferment. I also did some calculations last week to control the amount of sugar in the kiwi kombucha to match the sugar grams in the lime. While I tried to reduce the amount of pulp in the kiwi by straining it I still managed to include some pulp. Watch the video vlog below, we made this morning, to see how this second ferment went.

Open Education a Culture of Sharing

Open Education is a Mindset

A hand-drawn digital illustration explaining Open Educational Resources (OER). The title "Open Educational Resources" is illustrated in large blue letters, surrounded by illustrations of textbooks, videos, courses, modules, software, tests, which are all considered techniques, materials, and tools. Text describes OER as materials used for teaching, learning, and research, shared under a public domain or open license for reuse, with a "Creative Commons" logo at the bottom. The right side highlights "Education is Sharing" with a hand signifying that. It illustrates the five R’s of OER: Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute, depicted with arrows and stick figures to connect them. In an illustrated graph, it suggests that OER improves access and affordability, and transforms learning for students to perform the same or better. The figure is accompanied by a figure holding a heart in their arms, smiling
“OER is sharing” by Guilia Forsythe, via Flickr, CC1.0 Universal (Public Domain Deduction).

This past week Alan Levine joined our class leading a discussion on Open Education.  Alan Levine is the Director of Community Engagement for Open Education Global. He also actively shares and reflects on online creative technologies on CogDogBlog. After Levine’s talk I visited the blog.  In addition to his posts on open education, and web tools, his value of regular creative habits comes through in many of the posts I read including photos shared to a daily photo challenge that he has contributed to for 18 years on Flickr, and ds106 Daily Create an open digital storytelling course. He also shares serendipitous stories that have happened to people from sharing openly online and invites contribution to this collection of over 131 stories.

We all start out our educational careers (meaning when we were in kindergarten) intrinsically knowing the value of sharing. Somewhere between there and graduate school we loose track of this simple concept, be it worrying about the intellectual property rights, fearing theft, or just questioning the value of what we do.

The value of sharing underpins Levine’s commitment to Open Education. He reflects on openness in one blog post, “Openness- goes beyond the sky roof of courses, open resources, licenses, etc. … Even more than an attitude, it’s a mindset, it’s a way of being without having to think about it.” Levine candidly talks about openness in a YouTube video shared by Martin Weller. For someone to rationally understand openness he relates they need to make a personal connection to openness. Perhaps this is why in class Levine asked us what associations we make with Open Education and where we find our resources. Experiencing the value of sharing is so much more powerful than just knowing about the importance of sharing.

Removing Barriers

A drawing of a book selecting files from a file box labelled CC.
Photo by manfredsteger on Pixabay

I appreciate the work Levine and others are doing to promote Open Education. The video Why Open Education Matters explains the value of online resources that are open; they are free, able to be shared, made by respected institutions ensuring their quality, can be edited to ensure they are current and may  be adapted to meet the needs of different audiences. I took the time to explore Open Education Resources (Pressbooks from post-secondary institutions in Saskatchewan.) A link from Saskatchewan Polytechnic took me to the Pressbooks Directory.

A drawing of pixel cells in a social network borrowing files from one another suggesting open education and teamwork.
Photo by manfredsteger on Pixabay

I was impressed that over 8,000 open access texts exist from institutions. I can recall spending thousands on textbooks earlier in my education career for textbooks. I largely financed my education with student loans, and even though I recognize my privilege, at that time, it was difficult, and in many instances, avoiding the cost of texts I would need to visit the library to borrow the textbook copy on reserve. Cited reasons for using OER by ecampusontario echo alleviating financial barriers especially for students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

Learning is Participatory: From Inspiration to Innovation

The social online platform Medium identifies how Gen Z is redefining the digital landscape. “Gen Z has never known a world without the internet, which makes them digital natives who are comfortable creating, consuming and sharing content.” The Ted Talk Laws that Choke Creativity by Larry Lessing, founder of Creative Commons also highlights that the current generation are not passive consumers. Rather they are taking user-generated content and remixing it “to say things differently.” Lessing advocates for artists and creators to embrace this shift.

Ze Frank, in the Ted Talk My Web Playroom invites participation in various projects emphasizing that adaptation leads to new understandings and connections.

Youngme/Nowme two black and white photos side by side. The younger version of a child holding a book on the left and an older version of the same person holding a book. Both are similarly dressed.
“YoungMe/NowMe” by Hanna Nikkanen, via Flickr, licensed under CC by 2.0

One project, I have seen is the Young Me Now Me project shared in various forms on social media where people shared a childhood photograph of themselves and restaged it as an adult.

“Angrigami dove 2” by Clint Gardner, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Another project was Angrigami where people took hate comments and made them into something beautiful. This project turned criticism into something meaningful. The final project he shared moved me. In this project a woman emailed him about feeling anxious. He gathered recordings and made a compilation of all of the voices. He shares, “when you put them together, something magical happens, something absolutely incredible happens, and all of sudden I get a chorus around the world.” By individuals sharing and these voices being remixed something new was created. If it had just been Ze Frank’s voice it would not have been as powerful.

Reflecting & Application to My Own Personal/Professional Context

Levine explores openness as mindset of sharing, and remixing to connect with others. I align with this mindset; sharing ideas, creativity and stories online has been a way for me to connect with others. I am impressed at the creative habits that Alan Levine has cultivated. After visiting Levine’s Flickr account I checked to see if the Flickr account I started in 2010 was still there, and it was! I imagine if I had been committed to a daily practice of photography I would have grown in these skills. As I reflect on my life and how I have dabbled in many interests, while I feel a little disappointed at my lack of focus, I can see how I have made connections that I may have missed if I stayed in one lane. A passion for art, for instance, may influence how I teach math, or an interest in narrative may shape how I communicate ideas. Cross-pollination is where creativity thrives. In my teaching career and with my work in arts and culture I have experienced how building community and working collaboratively creates opportunities, and fosters a sense of belonging and shared purpose. I have experimented with ideas, and new ways of thinking through connecting with others.