Thanks Alex!!! New York State was so gorgeous!!!! I had no idea :P It's ridiculously pretty. I think they'll be some sourdough posts at some point. The general strategy is.....drumroll.....decentralization!!!! I keep one or even two 'storage' jars of sourdough culture in my fridge. (1 in the garage, 1 in the house right now).
Those I make sure and put extra water into them, so as the dough settles, it's covered by a layer of water, which will prevent mold. The water will eventually turn black, and that's okay, it becomes pretty alcoholic. You can drink it if you like, I haven't gotten sick from it yet. These storage jars, only get fed when I think about it, like once every 3-10 months. They need to be revived before using, but are fine otherwise.
The main culture I keep in a small 4L cambro tub on the counter, and depending on your elevation/temp needs to be composted and then fed about every 1-3 days. It can survive being neglected for about a week, but requires some 'reviving' afterwards, and usually scrubbing out the cambro which will get a bit moldy on the edges.
The next great piece of this strategy is FRIENDS!!! I give sourdough to just about anyone I can :P If something happens (and it has), then hopefully one of your buddy's can hook you back up with your culture.
If you happen to be interested, shoot me an email with your address and I'll mail you some.
thanks Jared for the great response! you actually got me watching a bunch of YouTube videos by stevethebreadguy on making and baking sourdough bread! ironic that the key to preserving it is keeping it "distributed" (maybe we can start a SourYeastCoin) lol
appreciate the offer to send some, may take you up on it at some point. seems I may already have some of my own I can play around with first, just wasn't sure it was "edible"! but if you're drinking off the black fermented water on top, well, might be just fine.
also kind of excited to try making sourdough pizzas too!
hey man!! you hit any sourdough pizza crust yet? I'm interested to hear about it, I've been thinking I want to do it soon too