I chopped 19lbs of cabbage today | sauerkraut recipe included

It's always a joy to work with fresh vegetables. Cabbage, in its lovely melody, has a spirit to it I love especially.  The job was very satisfying— despite having spent too much consecutive time standing on my recovering foot.  

Cabbage is a slippery thing to slice due to its loose outer layers. Please, be careful for anyone trying at home, my chef blade was freshly sharpened and moved through the leaves like butter— a delight as it cleanly chopped cabbage halves into quarters once I had cored the "heart."  I rarely have an accident in the kitchen; however, I did catch my fingertip with the unfamiliar task at hand.  I used six cabbages.

The recipe claimed the most digestible sauerkraut is prepared the day after the full moon.  December’s full moon fell on the 4th; today is the 7th. By some practices, the three days before and after a moon phase is still in that energetic domain. 

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SAUERKRAUT

"To get the sweetest and most digestible sauerkraut, it should be made the day after full moon," says the Pennsylvania Dutch student of moon lore.  

Select mature firm heads of cabbage, preferably white. Re-move outer leaves and wash them. Weigh the cabbage in 5-pound lots and shred. For each 5 pounds use 3 tablespoons salt. Mix the salt thoroughly with the shredded cabbage. Pack in layers in a clean stone crock, pressing down firmly with a wooden stumper or potato masher. Brine should rise as each layer is stumped down. When crock is nearly full, or all of cabbage is used, cover with washed outer leaves. Cover these with a piece of clean cloth and a plate. Weight it down with a big stone. Tie muslin over the crock and store in a cool place, 60° to 70°. Every other day remove scum which forms. Each time remove the cloth, wipe the sides of the crock, and wash the plate. Re-place, using a clean cloth. (Wash and boil the one removed to use the next time). In about three weeks the kraut is cured. Either cover with paraffin or pack in jars and process in boiling water for 30 minutes. 

—Edna Eby Heller, The Art of Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking [Copyright 1968]