I’m a firm believer in creationism. In my version of creationism, I am the god, and I create things, not people. This website is one of those things, so are my other websites and all the writing I’ve done. The sheer act of creation—those first few minutes of bringing something new into the world—is the only thing that keeps me going sometimes.

So it’s not surprising (at least to me) that when I learned my mom had moved out of the house and wanted a divorce from my dad, one of my first thoughts was “I have to make kombucha.”

Kombucha is, loosely, “fermented tea.” It has a sour, vinegar-like bite, and I love it. It got popular in the US (or at least accessible in New Orleans) at some point between 2008 and 2010, and I only started drinking it when I returned in June, 2010.

I brewed beer in college, but I’ve been living at home during grad school and haven’t really had the space to collect brewing equipment. Kombucha making, however, requires less equipment, less space, and less of a financial investment.

I went out to Target last week and bought two gallon-sized glass jars in which to grow a SCOBY, and I followed the directions on Total Kombucha to grow a SCOBY mushroom from two bottles of commercial grog.

So far, I have a wee little thing growing. At least I think it’s growing.

This has taught me another important lesson of creationism: While there is an initial high in those first minutes when the web is rent, the seed often requires time and fuel to grow.