I’d be happy to share what I do, but I don’t think it would help you all that much. It’s a quite particular method that works well for me at the moment in my current, extremely unusual, circumstances (being practically bedbound and having all the time in the world but very little energy). In the past I’ve taught friends to make yoghurt successfully using a variety of methods and I’ve also used several different methods myself as my circumstances have changed. What they have in common is that they’re all based on using some technical knowledge of how milk turns into yoghurt to figure out a method that suits a particular person and their particular circumstances. That’s why I offered to trouble-shoot what @Amanda R is already doing rather than give her my current method (which happens to be based around using Easiyo’s special yoghurt-making thermos).

That said, your question prompted me to finally write up what I know about how to keep yoghurt cultures alive. I’m a trained scientist (in chemistry, with a bit of microbiology along the way) and I think a lot of people’s troubles in making yoghurt are because they don’t understand just how easily other bacteria can end up in their yoghurt. If any other bugs get in your yoghurt then your culture will quickly weaken and become useless. I guess that in the ‘old days’ people figured out what worked by trial and error and then made sure that their offspring stuck very closely to what everyone knew worked. If you happened to contaminate your culture or kill it by overheating then I guess you asked the neighbours for some of theirs to replace it. These days, though, we know a bit more about what’s going on so we can make lots of methods work. I hope that my blog post will spread some of that knowledge a bit more widely. It’s available here and I’m happy to answer any questions about it either there or here. Hopefully it will help you figure out a method that will suit you well.

Hope that helps,

–Heather :-)

Would you care to share with all of us what your method is?? We would love to know what is giving you success!

- Fonda, I’ll let you know how the frozen yogurt cubes work out; I didn’t make any more yogurt this month.

- Heather, I’m going to email you as well on the yogurt process – I’d love to know what I could do differently to keep the culture alive longer!

- Beth, you did tell me about the cloth dry cleaning bag; I’ve asked the cleaners here if they would use an alternative, or if they could just leave the clothes out of the bag, and they just looked confused – they send the cleaning out to be done, so don’t seem to think it would be possible. They’re the cheaper of the two less-toxic dry cleaners in town, so for the moment I’m resigned.

Also, love the idea of a bread box; a French friend I lived with for a while had a “bread bag” that I found rather cunning – it just hung off of a door knob in our kitchen, and seemed to keep the bread fresh for a while. My issue however is that I can never eat a whole loaf that fast, so I’m looking for freezer-friendly options. Lately, I’ve just taken to foil without the bag, and that seems to be working fine.

- all, thanks for tips on spice jars; none of mine are in plastic containers, I’ve just filled up all my jars. At the moment, I’ve got a collection of little wax paper bags, which is what I use at the bulk bins to buy new spices, but I know they aren’t air-tight so the quality of the spices is going to deteriorate fast. I’ve searched quite a bit online but no luck so far; perhaps I will post a request to freecyle and see what pops up!

–Heather :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28759017@N08/4523196745/in/photostream/

Obviously, you can use any small jar. I have also used tomato paste jars. Though they don’t fit in my drawer standing up.

If you don’t have any glass jars that you can reuse…. just google small glass spice jars and you’ll find what you need :)

I personally think since you’re using the whole chicken… you’re being very resourceful by not wasting a thing. There was awhile when a lot of these challenge posts all had “stock” containers as part of their plastic waste. Maybe there’s a local farmer that you can talk to and get your chicken from them? Have you checked out Local Harvest?

OH… and high 5 to no trash bags!!! Composting is so rewarding!!

Did I ever mention Clothesnik to you? I feel like I have, but I’ll mention it again. Would your dry cleaner be willing to use this?

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/03/clothesnik-saves-plastic-if-only-dry/

Yay for no trash bags!

Have you thought about getting a bread box? I have this one, and it works great. No plastic necessary.

http://www.target.com/Bread-Box/dp/B0014ZR0W6/ref=sc_qi_detaillink

And congrats on no trash bags this month!!