I have a jar of marbles in my kitchen, right beside the jar of buttons that I inherited from my Nana. They remind me to keep things simple and when I see them, I think of my grandparents who knew the value or a dollar and inspired my self sufficiency journey.

I keep them side by side - buttons are practical, expensive and necessary and the marbles, well they're jut for fun right? Well... yes, but they've been put to work too.

I always have loads of ferments bubbling away in my kitchen and in desperation to find more weights to hold my ferments under their brine I looked to my jar of marbles. I place a very clean plastic bag into the opening of the ferment jar, fill it with the appropriate amount of marbles, seal and push under the brine. Hallelujah it works! - and as every jar is a different size, the amount varies. After each ferment, they are carefully cleaned and placed back in their resting place where I can see them every day.

My Nana would have been absolutely delighted to see them being used this way. She was always checking in on what I was up to in the kitchen, revelling in the new flavours, spices and aromas that had not been easily available to her when she was young.

Isn't it wonderful that such simple items that take time to use, sewing a button or playing with marbles with friends, can remind me to take my time and work purposefully and properly. Of course little did my Nana know that being a fermenting goddess is a life long journey with endless culinary delights and the occasional lip puckering when tasting new flavours and trying new recipes - all in the search of the bubbling fermenting goodness!