December 2025 – GRATITUDE

Laure of Nature
Dec 8
7 min read

Inspirations:

I woke up on the Full Moon in Gemini, the 4th of December, sensing a feeling to reflect on the past year and the moments that have filled me with gratitude. As I tuned into what I wanted to shared this month, gratitude kept popping up — not as a concept, but as a living, breathing thread woven through every experience of this year.

One of the deepest sources of my gratitude continues to be the path of fermentation.

Since 2015, when I began my studies with the School of Naturopathic Nutrition (SNN), fermentation has become more than a skill — it has become a teacher, a companion, and a doorway back to something ancient within us. Every year, I feel a new layer of growth as I connect with more people who are awakening, or re-awakening, to these timeless traditions.

Fermentation reconnects us — to nature, to Mother Earth, to our environments, to our ancestors, and to our own bodies. By feeding and diversifying our inner microbiome, we strengthen our vibration, our intuition, and the way we show up in the world. It is preservation not only of vegetables, but of humanity. It reminds us of a way of living that values community over consumption, connection over convenience, and stewardship over extraction. It invites us to slow down, to get our hands into the soil, and to co-create with the microbes that have walked this planet long before we did.

This year has been rich with experiences that deepened this connection even further. We have been so fortunate in having travelled to Brazil (& the Amazon) earlier in 2025, then to France several times, and more recently to Lithuania for a weekend. Each place offered a glimpse into its own traditions, its own flavours, its own stories of preservation. Traveling only reinforced how vital it is to protect and pass on these practices — not only for our health, but for the health of our ecosystems and cultures. Most of my family in France are now making water kefir, adding their own roots and practices to the mix. Even those who have always lived close to the land are finding joy in rediscovering what was once forgotten.

This year, our workshops have been such a source of joy — from our general gut health gatherings to more specialised sessions on the gut–brain axis and immunity, to wild sodas in the summer, sauerkraut and kvass in autumn, and our most recent Festive Fermentation workshop. Each one has been buzzing with curiosity, enthusiasm, and community spirit. I am truly grateful to everyone who attended, shared, tasted, experimented, and spread the magic.

The Fermentation Club at Bacareto started this summer and has been a beautiful success. It has broadened our taste buds and our perspective, bringing in experts who continue to inspire us and deepen our understanding of this craft.

We are still dreaming of hosting another big event — something like our Great Gut Gathering in November 2024 at Coed Hills Rural Artspace — but first, we feel our production location needs to shift and evolve. We are hoping that 2026 will bring some new and exciting developments.

Finally, I am so grateful to be part of The Fermenters Guild and last weekend, we were lucky to be able to attend the The Fermenters Guild AGM at Silo, Hackney, London — a trailblazing zero-waste restaurant that champions sustainability, creativity, and circular food systems. The space itself feels like a fermentation temple: experimental, earthy, and alive with ideas.

We always come home from the AGM full of fermentation wisdom, inspiration, and a recipes to play with. This year, it inspired me to dive deeper into kimchi — and honestly, the kimchi variations I’ve made for workshops have been some of my favourites yet. One of the latest batches included green tomatoes, apples, and sweetcorn — a surprisingly delicious combination that became the star ingredient in this recipe I’m sharing below.

10-Minute Miso Peanut Butter Kimchi Noodles

(Lush, quick, warming, and probiotic — my new favourite winter recipe!)

This dish is basically a probiotic stir fry and is perfect for cold evenings when you want something deeply satisfying but quick.

Ingredients

Onions or leeks
Peppers (sliced)
Carrots (thinly sliced)
Greens of your choice (chard, spinach, cavolo nero)
Noodles of your choice

Sauce (mix in a bowl):

1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp red miso
½ tsp honey or maple syrup
1 tsp gochugaru
1 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp kimchi + a spoonful of its brine

Method

Fry the onions/leeks with the peppers and carrots until softening.
Add your greens and continue to cook for a minute or two.
Cook the noodles separately.
Add the sauce to the vegetables at the last minute, along with the cooked noodles.
Use a splash of noodle water to loosen the sauce if needed.
Garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds.
Enjoy the warm hug of umami, spice, and probiotic goodness.

And yes… the green-tomato–apple–sweetcorn kimchi works beautifully in this.

As we close out this year, I find myself grateful not only for the high moments but also for the quiet ones — the spaces that asked for patience, balance, or transformation. Gratitude softens the edges of stress, boredom, or uncertainty. It brings us back to centre, reminding us that even the challenges are part of the journey.

Here’s to a year of fermentation, connection, exploration, and community. And here’s to stepping into the new year with a grateful heart, full of trust in what wants to be created next.

For seasonal tips, you can refer back to our December 2024 newsletter (link)!

My mantra for this month:

I honour what I've lived

I am whole

I am ready

Upcoming Markets

Our Calendar:

Roath Market: 2nd Saturday of the Month.
Wenvoe: 2nd Sunday of each month.
Usk Market: 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month, keep an eye on the calendar. *Unfortunately, we can't be there on the 20th of Dec.
Kenfig Market: 3rd Sunday of the Month.

Christmas updates:

We have vouchers available for Fermentation classes to use in 2026, these are a great gift idea!

We will be closed from 23.12.2025 back for deliveries from Monday 5th of January.

Join the South Wales Fermentation Revolution

Would you like to join our WhatsApp group for fermentation enthusiasts? If you are keen to give-it-a-go, learn and share your fermentation experiences, kindly provide your phone number to join us! (07515493402). This group is open to those residing in the South to West Wales region.

Promoting Wellness and Bringing Communities Together

Our mission centres on sharing the enchantment of fermentation with the widest audience possible. This age-old craft is both nourishing and a potent means of uniting communities. If you know of individuals, groups, or organizations interested in fermentation, we’d love to connect with them. We provide engaging talks, hands-on demonstrations, inspiring workshops, and, naturally, delicious tastings! Whether it's for a community group, workplace wellness event, or local gathering, we're committed to making fermentation enjoyable and accessible.

Let’s spread the joy of fermentation—together. Click here to get a glimpse!

The Fermentation Club at Bacareto: Winter Season

Our third gut gathering will take place on Wednesday 21st of January 2026 and will celebrate the theme of Fermented Grains, Flakes and Flours: Breads, porridges and drinks. The evening will be a delicious blend of tasting, sharing and learning, in a relaxed, community-centred atmosphere.

We’re honoured to welcome our special guest speaker, Mark Stevens, Founder of the Cardiff-based bakery Riverside Sourdough. With years of experience making sourdough breads, Mark will give us a great insight into the art of making traditional sourdough breads and present a 'getting-started' demo.

Bring a small pot or jar if you'd like to take some 'sourdough starter' to take away. There will be time for a Q&A too!

Drinking Water Kefir for Better Health

If you wish to drink our Water Kefir regularly to support your health, there are two money-saving options available.

Join our subscription scheme by filling in this document and emailing it back to us at absorbhealth@outlook.com.
Learn how to make it yourself by attending one of our workshops, or we can sell you some grains, provide a recipe, and teach you all you need to know!

We deliver all around Cardiff and the surrounding area—and further afield too!

Grouped Deliveries Outside of Cardiff

We have two separate delivery runs each month that go East of Cardiff one week and West of Cardiff the next. Please get in touch if you live in or around the areas detailed below and want a Water Kefir delivery:

Gower, Mumbles, Swansea, Swansea Valleys, Pontardawe, and Ystradgynlais: Next runs are Thursday 4.12 & 15.01.2026
Newport, Monmouthshire, and Bristol: Thursday 18.12 & 29.01.26

Workshops and Talks on Fermentation and Digestive Health

Here are our workshops for the first quarter of 2026...

St Peters Community Center, Fairwater - Saturdays: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM:

- Sat 24.01.25: Lacto fermentation, make your own kraut, gut health and immunity.

- Sat 28.02.25: On Gut-Brain Axis

- Sat 21.03.25: TBC

Gift vouchers are now available to redeem against a Fermentation Workshop and a complementary bottle of Kefir on the chosen day - £30.

Please check out our linktree or my calendar for the latest updates on which markets I’ll be attending in the coming months, along with links to workshops, festivals, and gatherings.

Give Us a Review!

Whether you love our products or have enjoyed one of our workshops, we would be so grateful if you could write a review here so we can spread the word about all the benefits of consuming Water Kefir and learning about fermented food and drinks!

Water Kefir Flavour of the Month

Our festive and warming Spiced Apple and Blackberry is still in stock and will also be available at our local shops! It's is such a great addition to your festive table!

Do your bit for the environment and remember to return your empty bottles and sauerkraut jars—reusing is much better than recycling!

Happy Solstice season! Thank you for following Absorb!