Books with author J.R. Zimmerman

A complete guide to using the best ingredients and minimal equipment to create fun and flavorful brews Ancient societies brewed flavorful and healing meads, ales, and wines for millennia using only intuition, storytelling, and knowledge passed down through generations―no fancy, expensive equipment or degrees in chemistry needed. In Make Mead Like a Viking, homesteader, fermentation enthusiast, and self-described “Appalachian Yeti Viking” Jereme Zimmerman summons the bryggjemann of the ancient Norse to demonstrate how homebrewing mead―arguably the world’s oldest fermented alcoholic beverage―can be not only uncomplicated but fun. Armed with wild-yeast-bearing totem sticks, readers will learn techniques for brewing sweet, semi-sweet, and dry meads, melomels (fruit meads), metheglins (spiced meads), Ethiopian t’ej, flower and herbal meads, braggots, honey beers, country wines, and even Viking grog, opening the Mead Hall doors to further experimentation in fermentation and flavor. In addition, aspiring Vikings will explore: • The importance of local and unpasteurized honey for both flavor and health benefits; • Why modern homebrewing practices, materials, and chemicals work but aren’t necessary; • How to grow and harvest herbs and collect wild botanicals for use in healing, nutritious, and magical meads, beers, and wines; • Hops’ recent monopoly as a primary brewing ingredient and how to use botanicals other than hops for flavoring and preserving mead, ancient ales, and gruits; • The rituals, mysticism, and communion with nature that were integral components of ancient brewing and can be for modern homebrewers, as well; • Recommendations for starting a mead circle to share your wild meads with other brewers as part of the growing mead-movement subculture; and more! Whether you’ve been intimidated by modern homebrewing’s cost or seeming complexity in the past―and its focus on the use of unnatural chemicals―or are boldly looking to expand your current brewing and fermentation practices, Zimmerman’s welcoming style and spirit will usher you into exciting new territory. Grounded in history and mythology, but―like Odin’s ever-seeking eye―focusing continually on the future of self-sufficient food culture, Make Mead Like a Viking is a practical and entertaining guide for the ages.

A complete guide to using the best ingredients and minimal equipment to create fun and flavorful brewsAncient societies brewed flavorful and healing meads, ales, and wines for millennia using only intuition, storytelling, and knowledge passed down through generations—no fancy, expensive equipment or degrees in chemistry needed. In Make Mead Like a Viking, homesteader, fermentation enthusiast, and self-described “Appalachian Yeti Viking” Jereme Zimmerman summons the bryggjemann of the ancient Norse to demonstrate how homebrewing mead—arguably the world’s oldest fermented alcoholic beverage—can be not only uncomplicated but fun. Armed with wild-yeast-bearing totem sticks, readers will learn techniques for brewing sweet, semi-sweet, and dry meads, melomels (fruit meads), metheglins (spiced meads), Ethiopian t’ej, flower and herbal meads, braggots, honey beers, country wines, and even Viking grog, opening the Mead Hall doors to further experimentation in fermentation and flavor. In addition, aspiring Vikings will explore: • The importance of local and unpasteurized honey for both flavor and health benefits; • Why modern homebrewing practices, materials, and chemicals work but aren’t necessary; • How to grow and harvest herbs and collect wild botanicals for use in healing, nutritious, and magical meads, beers, and wines; • Hops’ recent monopoly as a primary brewing ingredient and how to use botanicals other than hops for flavoring and preserving mead, ancient ales, and gruits; • The rituals, mysticism, and communion with nature that were integral components of ancient brewing and can be for modern homebrewers, as well; • Recommendations for starting a mead circle to share your wild meads with other brewers as part of the growing mead-movement subculture; and more! Whether you’ve been intimidated by modern homebrewing’s cost or seeming complexity in the past—and its focus on the use of unnatural chemicals—or are boldly looking to expand your current brewing and fermentation practices, Zimmerman’s welcoming style and spirit will usher you into exciting new territory. Grounded in history and mythology, but—like Odin’s ever-seeking eye—focusing continually on the future of self-sufficient food culture, Make Mead Like a Viking is a practical and entertaining guide for the ages.

There's been a break-in at Professor Purrington's laboratory and there's only one man...err boy, who can solve the case. Brinsley James, ace mystery investigator, criminal catcher and all around boy wonder is hot on the bad guy's trail. But just who is the bad guy and what does he or she want with Professor Purrington's latest experiment? It'll take every ounce of Brinsley James's five foot frame and all of his eleven years of life experience to crack this mystery. Reminiscent of the quirky tales of Roald Dahl, It’s a Mystery, Brinsley James is narrated in high style and features an eccentric cast of characters including a champion swimmer, a smart talking parakeet, and a licorice obsessed boy genius named The Egg who all aid Brinsley on his quest to discover the culprit behind the break-in at Professor Purrington’s laboratory.

Two weeks before St. Patrick's Day, a leprechaun magically appears in children's homes around the world. The Leprechaun tells his own story on how his job is to deliver mischief and fun. But, you have to find him before he can run! He is quite the prankster. At night while you are sleeping he darts all over your home, in the day time he watches to make sure fun and games are carried out. Build a trap and try to catch the little green elf on St. Patrick's Day. If you don't, he will be back to play on next year's green holiday. A charming tale for St. Patrick's Day. For added fun and St. Patrick's Day excitement, Each evening, hide a Leprechaun doll in your home and have your children search for the little green fellow in the morning!

Pluto has found it to be lonely living out at the far reaches of our solar system. It’s hard finding others to talk to when you’re a small rock orbiting through the vastness of space. So with great determination, he decides to leave his orbit and sets off on a journey towards the Sun in an attempt to find friends. Along the way, Pluto encounters various other planets, each with their own unique personalities and quirks. He quickly finds, however, that making new friends isn’t as easy as he thought it would be. It takes looking in an unexpected place to finally find what he’s searching for.

Jamie Hattori's alter ego, the masked hero Kensei, has been doing pretty well protecting her neighborhood from petty villains with her martial arts skills, her father's katana, and a little help from the local spirits. But things get rough when the spirits start flaking out, the Goddess of Discord throws a few cursed apples, and an online gossip site sics an angry football player on her. Then there's her slipping grades, the vampire owls, and the cute roller derby chick looking for romance. And even worse, Jamie's hero-hating mom is starting to get suspicious. Can Jamie defeat her mysterious nemesis without tearing her family apart? And more importantly, will she score her first kiss?

"With grace, humor, and sensitivity, Diana R. Zimmerman renders a traditional Mennonite farm family in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as seen through a child’s eyes and spoken in the hypnotic rhythms of a young girl’s voice. The spirited speaker develops a rich sense of herself and her community as she grows up in a conservative religious context where “help means spank,” and female children are reared for lives of obedience, modesty, and piety. This is a remarkably immediate work of memory and imagination—authentic, fair-minded, and unsentimental— suitable for readers of all ages."—Julia Spicher Kasdorf, author of Sleeping Preacher and The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life"Diana R. Zimmerman has written a great American memoir. I was reminded of Huck Finn and Harriet the Spy and Jo March as I chuckled and gasped and laughed out loud through this book. You will love this little Mennonite girl, and she will lead you back to your own inner child. You will also start seeing the world through her eyes. You won't want this story to end."—Shirley Hershey Showalter, author of Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World

Jamie Hattori can't get a break. As the superhero Kensei, she defeated the goddess Eris and figured her life could just get back to normal. Or, at least, as normal as things can be when you fight crime and can talk to the spirit world. But now her girlfriend is flaking out on her, her parents have separated, and a World War Two supervillain has come back from the dead with plots to kill Jamie. As if that wasn't bad enough, she has to deal with two of her least favorite people: her grandparents.

Jamie Hattori can't get a break. As the superhero Kensei, she defeated the goddess Eris and figured her life could just get back to normal. Or, at least, as normal as things can be when you fight crime and can talk to the spirit world. But now her girlfriend is flaking out on her, her parents have separated, and a World War Two supervillain has come back from the dead with plots to kill Jamie. As if that wasn't bad enough, she has to deal with two of her least favorite people: her grandparents.