I have sauerkraut!

For over a month, a crock of chopped cabbage sat, covered, in a corner of my kitchen.  It was supposed to bubble, but I never saw it bubble.  I was supposed to skim off scum, but I never saw any scum.  I'm pretty sure I used too much salt, but my Russian friend said not to worry about the salt, just rinse the kraut before you cook it.  
I noticed last week when I lifted the towel covering it that it smelled like kraut.  
Really?  It didn't bubble, it didn't produce scum to skim.  
My German neighbor, Dianne, called to discuss gardening and I asked if she ever made sauerkraut.  
"Oh yes," she replied.
I told her I had a crock sitting in the corner, but I had never skimmed off any scum.  
"What?  We never skimmed ours!  We just put it in the basement in a crock, weighted it down, and covered it up.  Sometimes the kraut on top looked a little nasty and we just got rid of that, but it was fine."  
By the way, when I say my German neighbor, I mean her bloodlines are 100% German.  This is true of many people in my community.  They are 100% American, but all their ancestors came from Germany.
So I decided to give my crock of kraut a chance.  
Tonight I had Cliff lift the crock up on the kitchen table and I ladled out enough for the two of us.  I put it in a colander and rinsed it off like my Russian friend said to do.  Then I added a little brown sugar, half an apple chopped up, some kielbasa, and some caraway seeds.  
It was a thing of beauty.  
Tomorrow I will be canning my kraut.  
I have decided there is no way you can ruin sauerkraut.  I did everything wrong, but it turned out right.