Hi All,
Just sipping my tea while I read my RSS Feed Reader can make me excited. I just had to share this. I posted a comment on this ladies blog about how I make my non-dairy kefir and she ran with it! Aside from crediting me as “Karan” my method of feeding non-dairy kefir has now gone mainstream! I hope this gives vegans and people who can’t consume dairy for whatever reason hope that they, too, can eat this valuable food and gain the benefits 🙂
http://www.culturedfoodlife.com/non-dairy-kefir-wants-a-date/
And here is the original post that got me commenting and that spawned the post above. Narf7 IS that masked “Karan” 😉
http://www.culturedfoodlife.com/cashew-kefir/
Sorry to love you and leave you but I just had to share my brief brush with fame. The new Website (tenuously called “Seeking Sanctuary” but open to suggestions) is being formulated at the moment as we are both on holidays from TAFE and working hard to get our sites (Stevie-boy has one as well) up and running in the new school term on our own server. I really like my new site and hope that you will all like it as well and as soon as it is up and running and we are ready to transition “The Road to Serendipity” to it’s new home you will all be the very first to know :). Have a lovely day wherever you are and whatever you are doing today folks 🙂
theroadtoserendipity 
Apr 13, 2015 @ 04:39:59
It may be quite useful to have an alter ego… Karan can get up to all sorts of things and you can deny all responsibility!
Apr 13, 2015 @ 04:47:43
Good thinking Ms Snail…I have a conundrum. I made my squares but one of them is misbehaving and my squares are actually hexagon (or whatever a 6 sided square is these days). Are you OK to make them square? I might just send the naughty misbehaving component of the second square (the first one behaved impeccably 😉 ) and see what you can do with it as you might be able to spread the component over a couple of squares? Anyhoo…I will let you know when I send them 🙂
Apr 13, 2015 @ 05:38:54
I can turn any shape into a square, never fear!
Apr 14, 2015 @ 04:22:01
Good Oh! 🙂
Apr 13, 2015 @ 04:52:20
Arrgh FAME at last.. Well done you.. And love the snail of happiness response LOL.. Agreed.. enjoy creating your new site. 🙂 Hugs back
Apr 13, 2015 @ 05:28:54
Seeking Sanctuary…I like it! 🙂 Have fun this week as you bask in your fame. Love you and your quick check-ins. Big smiles here. Aloha!
Apr 13, 2015 @ 06:12:40
How on earth did she come up with Karan? Oh well, you know it’s you and we know it’s you… still, I’m kind of picky about the crediting issue. If you’ve achieved fame it should be done right? Right?
I am excited about the new website… get ‘er done! (as we say in Oklahoma!) 😀
Apr 14, 2015 @ 04:22:34
Almost done, just need to get ér up! 😉
Apr 13, 2015 @ 19:29:27
Congratulations – can I have your autograph please 😉
Apr 14, 2015 @ 04:23:41
You will have to go through my agent 😉
Apr 14, 2015 @ 00:03:30
congrats Fran!!! or tee hee–Karan:-) LOL
In my eyes you are already famous:-)
Can’t wait to see your new sites
know they will be great!
Apr 14, 2015 @ 00:05:30
Fran-she did change your name to fran-so you no longer are “karan”…..tee hee…great post she put up + nice post about your recipe!!!
Apr 14, 2015 @ 04:26:25
I didn’t mind, the point of it is that people who can’t have dairy for whatever reason can now make kefir without having to dunk the grains into cows milk on a regular basis. I don’t mind if I get called Methuselah so long as it helps someone out there and I don’t need credit, just knowing that someone thought that my idea was good enough to run with makes me feel chuffed 🙂
Apr 14, 2015 @ 01:34:13
I knew you were always destined for greatness! And to think, I can say that I knew you back in the early days as you began to cultivate your skills… Yes, pun intended. Just make sure you don’t forget about all the little people when you go on to achieve great riches with that fame of yours. 😉
Apr 14, 2015 @ 04:26:57
Lucky I am not counting on those royalties eh Ms Hannah? 😉
Apr 14, 2015 @ 10:14:21
Congratulations! That is so cool.
Apr 15, 2015 @ 03:50:53
Thank you Ms Alys. Did you have a lovely visit with Ms Pauline? 🙂
Apr 15, 2015 @ 09:36:02
Our visit was over the top incredible in every possible way. I adored Pauline before we met in person. Hard to imagine it even got better, but it did! Thanks for asking.
Apr 16, 2015 @ 03:58:45
You guys were all a mass tangle of gorgeousness in every image 🙂
Apr 16, 2015 @ 04:12:34
We’re a happy bunch, Fran and that shines through.
And yes, [she says modestly] aren’t we all to die for? 🙂
Apr 16, 2015 @ 05:27:52
LOL!
Apr 15, 2015 @ 07:51:55
Well, there goes your 15 minutes! lol. Look forward to seeing your new site Fran, I suspect it will be a goody! have a great day also.
Apr 16, 2015 @ 03:58:18
Cheers Wendy 🙂
Apr 15, 2015 @ 22:37:22
Congrats with your influence on others. i’m lactose intolerant, thus use almond milk for cereal. In terms of your upcoming new place, …. Sanctuary – the Narf Way. …. or … On the Road with Narf …… Narfing to Sanctuary
Apr 16, 2015 @ 04:02:13
I tried adding “narf” to the equation but always ended up feeling like I should perhaps reveal my inner narfism to those within my inner sanctum…those who can handle the truth, and let those casual visitors just gloss over the surface of the small patch of craziness knows as “Serendipity Farm” 😉
Apr 16, 2015 @ 04:17:46
That’s it … Serendipitous Narfisms … or Narfism Serenity
Apr 16, 2015 @ 05:31:06
How about “Suddenly Sanctuary” like I just found it after wandering in the wilderness for a L.O.N.G. time? Sounds more romantic than we cobbled it together out of old fish netting and logs we found on the property to stop the THEIVING possums and wallabies from scoffing all of our hard work now doesn’t it? After all, isn’t that what websites are all about? Enticing you in to see how “the other half lives”? If we actually showed how the other half lived (in our case) in the title of our websites they would have to be called something like “Couple huddle under the bed taking it in turns to breath into a paper bag in order to retain their sanity…” or “Dogs rule the roost on Serendipity Farm, pathetic owners tagged as “fat anchors” on early morning walks” or “DON’T DO IT!” or something along those lines, although they are sounding more like editorial headers than websites to me 😉
Apr 16, 2015 @ 05:50:54
Although no Narf/Narfing/Narfism/Narfinistic, “Suddenly Sanctuary” works …. the wandering idea would go well in a subtitle.
Apr 16, 2015 @ 05:53:38
How about “Narf wanders in the wilderness whilst the rats eat her tomatoes and walnuts” sounds like too much reality for the average reader methinks! 😉
Apr 16, 2015 @ 10:16:51
But, that could only be understand by your current readers
Apr 17, 2015 @ 04:48:37
I don’t expect many new people will fall into line to wander the annuls of Serendipity Farm to be honest 😉
Apr 19, 2015 @ 00:00:51
Is this entire blog (archives and all) transfer to the new location?
Apr 19, 2015 @ 03:09:32
As best we can, yes, we will be transferring everything over to the new site 🙂
Apr 16, 2015 @ 06:42:01
Congratulations on the fame. As long as you don’t let it go to head 🙂 Can’t wait to see the new site…don’t work too hard during the holidays!
Apr 17, 2015 @ 04:47:32
3 days to go till we finish these delicious holidays. Not sure how I am going to tear myself away from the wood stove to head back into the madding crowd to be honest! 😉
Apr 16, 2015 @ 23:45:00
Wow Fran! Famous for Kefir, what a beautiful thing. Can we claim it to be vegan? That is my quandary, some say yes and other, no……cashew kefir sounds absolutely delicious and I’d love to make my mind up soon. Can you help? Peace and Pickles, lee
Apr 17, 2015 @ 04:57:48
It IS vegan! It was my vegan invention in how to convert dairy kefir over to the non-dairy side using sesame milk and homemade date paste. My non dairy kefir thrives on the stuff and no longer needs to be dunked in cows milk any more. All I did was take dairy kefir grains initially, sent to me by a friend in a small jar in a little bit of water, and feed them up with milk for about a week then I dunked them into homemade sesame milk (you could use any non dairy milk) that I added homemade dates paste to. I figured that as it was the sugars in the milk that were feeding the grains (they are an interesting combo of yeast and probiotic bacteria), that they needed “sugar” so I tried them with date sugar and they loved it and thrived. They didn’t grow a lot like their dairy counterparts and if you leave the kefir for any length of time you end up with hooch but I was able to use my non-dairy kefir to culture other things like cultured veggies and made bread using it in an experiment with another fellow bread baking blogger who was using dairy kefir… http://zebbakes.com/2013/08/10/date-syrup-kefir-bread/ It doesn’t thicken up like cows milk kefir but it does have amazing probiotic goodness that you can then drink, or use to culture other things. I made amazing cultured hummus using it :). I can help if/when you want to make it. Just let me know 🙂
Apr 22, 2015 @ 07:10:35
hugs and kisses dear!!! we miss you!
Apr 22, 2015 @ 14:24:20
You’ll always be famous in our eyes (loyal readers that is) now hurry up with your new site please 🙂
Apr 22, 2015 @ 20:21:32
Famous! Well, you deserve it, and as much of it as you can stand . . . 😉
As always, love sharing in your adventures.
When you transition to the new site, I recommend leaving your original blog up for a while, just to make sure nothing is lost. Purely selfish of me; I still haven’t had time to read your initial posts (about a year’s worth, if I remember rightly), but I do intend to one day. I love knowing they await me . . . Warm hugs to you both. ~ Linne
Apr 24, 2015 @ 18:20:21
Big warm hugs right back atcha Linne 🙂
Apr 24, 2015 @ 06:43:23
Have a great weekend.. 🙂 Hugs and more hugs xxx
Apr 25, 2015 @ 13:02:35
I will read and reply in short order but had to let you know I received a package while I was away this week and wanted to let you know it arrived. I think it’s from you anyway. It’s a guessing game for me. 🙂 Let me know if I’ve completely lost my mind.
Apr 26, 2015 @ 05:13:43
We sent a package so hopefully it’s the one that we sent Marlene 🙂
Apr 26, 2015 @ 13:50:03
Lovely carved wooden spoons. All is well. Thank you. I’ll send a note soon.
Apr 27, 2015 @ 03:36:59
Glad you liked them Marlene. Steve made them out of native timbers from Tasmania 🙂
May 15, 2015 @ 00:20:10
I know your busy!!… and only paying a call as sometimes I never know if you have posted as my reader and emails don’t always show all posts..
Just know I was thinking about you all.. And hope all is going well..
Here the garden is getting lots of attention..made a whole lot of Jam from blackberries I froze this morning… we seem to have mountains of them .. So as people eat jam.. I can give plenty away.. 🙂
Sending along some Hugs.. Have a great weekend..
Sue xxx
May 15, 2015 @ 04:40:15
Hi Sue, Yeah, we are flat out at the moment. 11 assessment tasks due in by the end of June and we are flat out developing a gaming app for mobile phones, learning how to get better SEO for blogs and websites and all kinds of other things. Oh, I forgot, we also have to create a stack of objects in 3D and populate a gallery with our work and then animate it all into a moving story…busy might be too tame of a word!
Those blackberries sound lovely. You can make heaps of things out of them. If you have a stack have you tried using them to flavour vinegar? Big hugs back to you
Fran 🙂
May 15, 2015 @ 05:30:30
No I hadn’t thought of the vinegar.. Clever girl!!! .. And oh all that technical stuff you do would blow my mind LOL.. 🙂 But you know when you become rich and famous!!! you may put a whole new perspective on APPLE! in the gardening world.. 😉 😀 Hugs to you too Fran..