NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
A17
Dragons in the Wallowas announce new events
By Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa County Chieftain
Ellen Morris Bishop
Dragon Boats will take to Wallowa Lake again in late August 2019 with new events.
The 4th annual Wallowa Lake 7 Wonders Cup
dragon boat races are scheduled for August 24 &
25, 2019. The races will kickoff Friday, August
23, with an Awakening Ceremony and Party in
Joseph. Boat racing will be Saturday and Sunday
beginning with the pre-race meeting at 7:00 a.m.
on Saturday. Marshalling begins 7:30 a.m. and
racing at 8.00 a.m., August 24 through 25. Sat-
urday will include three heats of racing and two
timed slalom practices. Sunday will have four rac-
ing heats per team and an award party with live
music at the race beer garden.
The directors have added new races includ-
ing 10-paddler event for mixed-gender teams 14
years and older (fi ve men maximum), and 20-pad-
dler boat racing events. This year, visiting teams
can utilize expanded and economical tent camp-
ing options. The special camping area is located
within easy walking distance to the race team
staging area and showers. Camping sites will be
available to registered paddlers/racers at $10 per
night.
Contact Dragons in the Wallowas at 503-781-
4321 for further information.
Race Web site Wallowa7WondersCup.Com
Email info@dragonsinthewallowas.com
Meet Oregon’s fermented foods pioneers — the Shockeys
By Aaron Scott
Oregon Public Broadcasting
APPLEGATE VALLEY
— Do you ever dream of
moving to the country? You
know, grow your own food
in the garden, maybe raise a
few chickens and goats.
Kirsten and Christopher
Shockey moved to Southern
Oregon’s Applegate Valley
to do just that: they wanted
a humble homesteader life.
And along the way, they
became pioneers in a global
fermented foods movement,
with their newest book,
“Miso, Tempeh, Natto &
Other Tasty Ferments: A
Step-by-Step Guide to Fer-
menting Grains and Beans,”
due out Tuesday.
Like other homesteaders,
the Shockeys’ day generally
begins with a trip to their
garden, where every morn-
ing seems to deliver a deli-
cious surprise.
“Oh my gosh, so good,”
says Kirsten, popping a rad-
ish seed pod in her mouth
and handing several to
Christopher.
“They’re super peppery,”
he replies after trying one.
And then another. And then
another. “I’m going to have
to stop eating them.”
“Yeah, you are,” she
laughs.
While others might only
Kristen Henderson/East Oregonian
Kirsten and Christopher Shockey ferment basil, along with
everything else they can grow, in the test kitchen in their
home in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley.
harvest what they can eat
while it’s fresh, the Shock-
eys have another goal in
mind: fermentation. They
pick the pods and a basket
full of basil and head back
to the commercial kitchen
on the ground fl oor of their
house. Setting their haul
on the table, they break out
bowls and salt. Because fer-
mentation always begins
with salt.
“Give me a nice sprin-
kle,” says Christopher, as
Kirsten pours a quarter cup
or so of salt on the basil and
he starts to rub it in. “So this
is the magic. We’re going to
take a whole bowl of basil
and massage that salt in.
It’s pretty amazing: out of
basil you can get that much
brine coming out of there,”
he says, squeezing a handful
of leaves and watching the
green brine run through his
fi ngers.
They pack the basil and
brine into a jar and put it
in the pantry, where it joins
shelves and shelves of color-
ful, bubbling brews. Fennel,
leeks, rhubarb, rutabaga.
Chances are if it grows in a
garden, they’ve tried to fer-
ment it.
But what, exactly, is
fermentation?
It’s an ancient form of
pickling, where instead of
adding vinegar, you get
the microbes that naturally
occur on the veggies to do
the preservation work for
you. This is how Christo-
pher explains it in classes
for kids: “we’re going to
use microbes — little, teeny,
tiny guys; guys that you
can’t even see — and their
job is to eat the sugars, and
they’re going to make lactic
acid, which is that sour taste
that you taste, and they’re
going to fart CO2. And then
usually the kids are like,
‘Oh, my God, is it going be
smelly?’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s
microbe farts!’”
It might be smelly, but as
the Shockeys like to point
out, it’s also good for you.
Scientists are fi nding that
the microbes themselves,
called probiotics, are benefi -
cial, and as they break down
the food, they add extra vita-
mins. And, unlike freezing
or drying, fermenting pre-
serves the volatile oils that
hold in fl avor.
“So it’s like you’re taking
the smell on this harvest of
right now,” says Kirsten as
“Especially as the kids
were starting to grow, I
just wanted them to be
grounded,” Kirsten says. “I
wanted them to have a con-
nection with the land, and
I wanted them, more than
anything, to know where
their food came from.”
she points to the basil, “and
you’re going to capture it in
that jar.”
The Shockeys didn’t set
out to be mad culinary scien-
tists. They originally moved
from Corvallis to Oregon’s
Applegate Valley in 1998 in
search of a simpler life.
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