Update

Planting garlic:

With the pocket of my hoody full of garlic bulbs I felt transported to a mystical world. Perhaps this is because, unlike tiny seeds, they are more substantial in size.   The weight of the bulbs transforming them into little magical beings.  I as guardian bestowed with the task of creating a safe little cavern in which each can sleep through the cold winds of winter.  Only as the sun travels higher in the sky and warms the soil will the transformation awaken in them.  Pushing out into the light among the first sprouts of spring to invigorate, thaw, and awaken my own enthusiasm for the world.  

Joanna Newsom:

Last night I drove up to athens to see Joanna Newsom at the 40 Watt club.  I realize now that I can’t remember ever having seen someone play the harp live before.  Her hands moving along that instrument with all its ornate archaic beauty.  Pulling and plucking the strings with such precision as she wove the songs.  The size of the instrument fitting in a bizarre way with the tiny woman in a bright pink dress decorated with folds of cloth like scallop shells across her chest.  Every part strange and ornate.  Her voice like no others escaping out of her tiny frame strong and wild through strange facial expressions.  Eyes gazing off into infinite distance.  Her lyrics only proceed to pull you deeper into the bizarre and magical world that her presence creates.  Gypsies traveling a road of infinite imagination.  Textures become emotions and words become a map.  

The Leonid meteor showers:

After the show I drove home.  It was around 2 am when I got back to my house.  Zoe and I put on our coats and headed out side.  I pulled a chair onto the porch facing the darkest part of the sky.    Laid a blanket down in front of the chair and wrapped zoe up in it.  Then I sat down and wrapped myself up in blankets.  With zoe at my feet, listening to the night, I looked skyward.  I couldn’t escape the light pollution of the city, but I did catch a glimpse of a a dozen or so meteors.  Mostly very faint, but one was a long very bright trail of light.  I sat outside for over an hour.  Eventually sleepiness took over and I headed in for bed.   

Ok Georgia

Ok Georgia you've just revealed to me some of your hidden beauty and simultaneously reveal my own blinders.  Perhaps it's because I was so accustom to the wildly overt grandeur of the southwestern landscape that captures your heart unfolding like an epic painting in front of you on the most mundane of errand to the supermarket.  Everyday engulfing you and not once letting you forget that you are very tiny in the scheme of things.  Or perhaps it was the fact that I grew up along the northeastern shores of the Atlantic. Even in winter it would beckon me down to it's edge to look out on the vast pallet of grey blues.  Endless expansive emptiness as far as the eye could see.  In these moments I felt more alive.  Here in Atlanta I have found small moments like this.  Often in my garden.  A microcosm.  I would get lost in the pedals of an Iris in full bloom or the intricate folds of a rose.  I've often felt trapped here.  The deciduous trees heavy with kudzu looming overhead, the horizon full with buildings and people everywhere.  I gave up.  I thought that there couldn't possibly be anything here or within a short drive that could compare to the sensation of those aforementioned places.  It turns out I wasn't trying hard enough.

     When I found a little wild wren that had gotten into the house.  Injured it had been hiding behind a pile of books all night.  I place the small bird into a box and drove to a rehabilitation center.  By the time I had reached the center the bird had died.  I was upset and drove home to bury the bird in the yard.  As I was leaving I noticed the signs for trails.  So today I decided to try and explore the trails.  I put zoe in the car and we somehow found our way back to that same dirt parking lot.  I really didn't know what to expect.  I guess I was expecting some dirt trails in a forest.  That would have been nice, but would not have stirred my heart the way this has.  As we came around the first grouping of trees there was this expanse of granite.  Smooth, rolling, worn the way large slabs are along the ocean.  With pits full of water like tidal pools.  I was so surprised and intrigued.  As we kept walking the landscape was climbing higher.  All of the sudden we were on this bare rock above the trees.  From that vantage I could see the forest unfolding for miles.  It felt so good to stretch my eyes to the horizon.  I have been blind to the hidden beauty in my own backyard.

Sourdough Bread Day 4 and 5

     At this point the sourdough had doubled.  Then in the bowl of my kitchenaid I put 1 and 1/4 cups bread flour.  With the bread hook attachment I set the speed on 2.  I slowly added 2/3 cup of bottled water.  Just bringing the dough together.  I ended up having a little bit of water left in the measuring cup.  I kneaded the dough for 3 min at this speed.  Then removed the dough ball from the mixer and set it aside to rest for 20 min.  

     I had to do this six times because of my initial decision to use as much of the starter as possible.  I figured the more bread the better.  I can always freeze some.  Next time though I might just take her advice and throw some of the starter out as I go.  If it were not for my Kitchen Aid I would be very tired at this point.  I never knew it was possible to love an inanimate object so much.  

     After 20 min rest.  I returned the dough ball to the mixer.  Then I pulled the sourdough starter out of the jar.  Removing 2/3 cup and tossing the extra.  Then I tore the sourdough into equal pieces and added it to the bowl of the mixer.  On a low speed I kneaded the dough for 2 min.  At this point you add 1 teaspoon of salt.  Then continue to knead the dough for another min.  The dough was very smooth and elastic.  Removing it from the mixer I placed it into an oiled container.  

     As you can see from this picture I had six batches of dough.  So the above instruction were repeated six times.  The tuperware containers would be the best, but I only had two available so I used some regular bowls.  At this stage the dough must rise for an hour or so.

     After an hour I removed the dough from the container and place it onto a floured board.  Pushing the dough out I did what Rose Levy Beranbaum calls a business letter turn two times.  When I first started using this book for what ever reason this concept or her description would not form in my mind.  So for those of you who need pictures like I do I am including a step by step of the business letter turn. 

     After doing that I actually placed the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper.  She suggests placing back into an oiled container, but I didn't have anymore containers and the ones that I had just used were very sticky with some of the dough that had clung to the sides.  So to save time I just used a sheet of parchment and covered all the dough with a kitchen towel.  After one hour I did exactly the same thing again.  Two business letter turns later I returned the dough to the parchment.  Covered it again for another hour.  After this hour I then carefully took the dough and shaped it into a round loaf.  Trying not to deflate it at all.  She suggests placing the dough into a rising basket,  which I guess is a basket with a floured piece of cloth inside of it.  I didn't have anything like this so I just decided to place the formed loaves onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.  I then covered the loaves with a towel and let them rise again for another couple of hours.  

     She asks you to preheat the oven to 350 for an hour before baking.  She also wants you to use a stone baking sheet and preheat the stone.  I don't have one of those although I really wish I did.  So I just used a metal baking sheet.  I did not preheat the baking sheet.  I had already let the loaves rise on the parchment lined baking sheet so I just place the sheet in the oven on the lowest rack.  I did however place a small metal pan in the bottom of the oven before preheating.  So when I put the loaves in the oven I took a 1/2 cup of ice and threw it onto the metal pan and shut the oven door very quickly.  This creates steam in the oven and helps to create a nice crispy crust. 

The end result.  Very very tasty bread.  It had all the subtle flavor that sourdough bread should.  Warm out of the oven.  Crispy, sweet, tangy, and some what addictive!  Added bonus my house smells amazing right now.  Cool fall air coming in from the open windows met with the warm fresh baked bread smell.  A fresh cup of coffee.  This is a joyful morning!  An ode to fall and the shifting of seasons.  

Sometimes it's good to indulge :)

This my friends is a beautiful thing.  What do I do when I am to achy to build chicken coops, rollerskate or garden... well I create magnificently tasty loaves of bread.  For a while now I have been thinking "wouldn't it be tasty to combine challah bread and cinnamon swirl bread"  The answer is yes!  

I made the basic dough for a Challah.  The recipe I use creates a lot of dough.  I usually will split the dough in half and create two loaves.  So I took half the dough and split that into three equal pieces.  This is the point in the bread making process where you would normally just stretch the dough out into ropes and then braid the ropes.  What I did for the cinnamon loaf was to take each piece and sort of pat it out into a rectangle.  Then with a rolling pin I rolled the dough out into a long rectangle.  I should have taken a picture, but I was too wrapped up in the process.  I would estimate that the dimensions were something like 4x11 inches.  Then I spread melted butter on the dough leaving a little bit of a non-buttered edge around the entire perimeter.  I then took some cinnamon and sugar I had mixed up and sprinkled this on the butter.  I rubbed it together with the back of a spoon so that the sugar and butter were more of a paste.  Then I rolled the dough on it's long side creating a rope.  Inside was a spiral of cinnamon sugar.  I did this with all three piece of dough.  When I had three equal ropes I then braided the ropes together as I would have for a regular challah.  Placing the loaf onto a parchment lined baking sheet I painted the surface of the loaf with an egg wash.  Into the oven.  The finished product was awesome on it's own, warm, doughy, gooey, sweet like a giant cinnamon bun, but I thought what could make this even better?

Making it into french toast!  After the bread had cooled I sliced a couple of thick pieces from the loaf.  I whipped up a little egg, cream, and a touch of vanilla.  Soaking the slices in the mixture and then frying them up.  The only thing that could have possibly made this any better in my mind would have been to add perhaps some fresh berries or maybe a fresh whipped goat cream cheese.  Something tart and fresh to balance the sweet.  It wasn't too sweet on it's own, it actually has a perfect sweetness, saltiness, and bitterness of the caramelized sugar, but I just think maybe a balance could enhance the flavors.

I will definitely be making this again.  Hopefully next time I can share it wish friends.  Not that the three animals sitting far to close and trying to sneak tastes while I wasn't looking were not good company, but this seems like the kind of meal that should be enjoyed with friends.

This is the other half of the dough.  A regular Challah.  Very tasty, but not quite as exotic.  

Sourdough Bread Day 3

Sourdough Bread Day 3: when I woke up this morning the dough had doubled.  The lid to each jar popped off as the sour sweet smell of the gases created by the yeast escaped.  When the pressure released from the jars the starter sank down slightly deflating.  The dough at this point was very sticky. 

The recipe asks you to keep 1/4 cup of the starter and discard the rest.  Using a measuring cup I scooped 1/4 cup of starter from the jar.  Add to this 2/3 cup of bread flour and 3 1/2 Tablespoons of bottled water.  You then mix this together with a spoon first and then your hands.  Kneading it into a stiff dough ball.  Then return the dough ball to an oiled jar.  This should double in the next 6 hours.  

Sourdough Bread Day 2

Yesterday I left off with placing the starter in the fridge over night.  So this morning I woke up not feeling too hot.  Some sort of bug I sort of knew I was fighting off all week has caught up with me.  Ears are blocked, throat sore, all my muscles and skin ache and I feel like I am walking through water.  After sleeping the morning away and a nice hot bath I was feeling more energized.  So I pulled the starter out of the fridge and let it come to room temp.  About an hour or so.  Then the recipe call for you to remove roughly two tablespoons of the dough and place it in a bowl.  She then tells you to get rid of the rest.  It felt too wasteful for me to discard all that great starter.  So I worked it all two tablespoons at a time.  You add 1/3 cup of bread flour and 1 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of bottled water.  I mixed this together by hand into a stiff dough and then kneaded it for a minute or so.  Forming a nice smooth ball.  

I then oil a few jars and pressed the dough balls into the bottom of each jar.  I marked where they came to on the jar so that I will know when the dough has doubled.  She predicts around 6 to 8 hours.  I am guessing I will just come back to this in the morning.

In other news I planted the garden for fall a few weeks ago.  All the little sprouts are coming up now.  I might be a little behind on some things such as the two types of kale I planted, but I think I am right on track with the rest of the greens.  Arugula, three different types of lettuce, beet greens, radishes, sorrel and peas.  

I planted some peas for the peas themselves, but I also planted a whole row just to eat the tendrils.  I didn't know you could eat the entire plant until while visiting my mom this past summer she bought some from an Asian farm stand at the farmers market and we added them into a salad.  They have all the sweet freshness of spring peas from the garden.  I fell in love with the flavor.  So I am excited to see that they are pushing out of the ground happy and strong.  Everything else I have planted is just starting to show.  The peas are the proudest and fastest growers so far from this fall garden.  Although I did happen to find some volunteer arugula hiding in with some weed the other day.  I will be eating some very tasty salads soon.  For tonight I will stick with soup and pull some of the leeks to add to the pot.  

Sourdough Bread

I think we have reached day 8 of the sourdoughs life.  The starter is now smelling very strong.  Sweet, tangy, musty, sourdough smell.  So I figured I would try making a loaf and see how it tastes.  The thing about sourdough is that you are basically capturing and cultivating wild yeast.  Wild yeast are not predictable like the tame thoroughbred yeasts that you buy at the supermarket.  Wild yeasts take more time grazing and wandering.  Like most wild foods the end product although slow in the making offers up a much richer fuller taste.  So like gardening heirlooms patients is key.  

The first step was removing about a 1/4 cup of the starter from the main batch.  I then fed the main batch by adding a 1/2 cup of bread flour and a 1/4 cup of water.  Back to the 1/4 we removed.  I then added 1/3 cup of bread flour and 2 teaspoons of water.  Mixing together to form a stiff dough.  I kneaded this into a ball form and then placed it into an oiled jar.  I am going to let this sit for two hours and then refrigerate it over night.  I will pick up here tomorrow on the process of the bread making. 

Also I am calling for suggestions for naming the starter.  I think it deserves a name as it is a collective of living creatures.  Anyone have any good ideas? 

Women Who Run With The Wolves

Yesterday I took Audible.com up on it's offer of a free download.  I chose Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarrissa Pinkola Estes.  I am really excited about this woman right now.  She is a very inspiring story teller.

The way she narrates the book it feels like you are sitting around a fire listening to an old friend giving you advice on life.  Standing back and looking through the ages at these tales that speak to us now even though our lives are so different.  She tells a story that illustrates an archetype and then with little effort transition from tale to real life learned advice.  We relate because in reality the emotions are the same.  The metaphors transcend time.

I highly recommend checking this book out.  Now I really want to get my hands on The Dangerous Old Woman.    

The Faithful Gardener

So with all of my new found free time and energy I have been devouring books.  I finally got a library card in GA and picked up a few books I have been wanting to read.  Yesterday I read The Faithful Gardener, A Wise Tale About That Which Can Never Die written by Clarrissa Pinkola Estes.  I had heard her speak on a podcast called Sounds True.  (She is the author of Women Who Run With Wolves.  Next on my list to read.) In the podcast she was talking about her journey in writing The Dangerous Old Woman.  I really recommend listening to this podcast.  She is a wonderful story teller and draws you in with lots of colorful imagery.  It is a two part podcast and I have linked to the first part above so here is the second half.  Any way back to the The Faithful Gardener it is a short book that tells the story of her uncle.  A man who is a Hungarian refuge after the war.  Estes' is a master story teller.  She weaves a magical quality into every description and a mystical reverence for the stories that impart us with ancient wisdom.

A few lines I loved from the book:

"New seed is faithful.  It roots deepest in the places that are most empty."

"Like gypsies, when the caravan begins to sway forward, even though one is leaving one place known, for another place unknown, no one is ever sad."

"Refuse to fall down.

If you cannot refuse to fall down,

refuse to stay down.

If you cannot refuse to stay down,

lift your heart toward heaven,

and like a hungry beggar,

ask that it be filled,

and it will be filled.

You may be pushed down.

You may be kept from rising.

But no one can keep you

from lifting your heart

toward heaven-

only you.

It is in the middle of misery

that so much becomes clear.

The one who says nothing good

came of this,

is not yet listening."        

Chickens

I guess chickens like aloe. I had a small aloe plant next to their crate and last night they somehow reached up and pulled it down onto the cage and ate as much as they could reach :) pretty funny.

Sourdough Day 4

Sourdough Day 4:

The dough has started to take on that sweet fermented smell with the addition of some more bubbles!  Very exciting!  Today's feeding was exactly the same as yesterdays.  Remove half the dough and toss it out.  Add 1/2 Cup bread flour and 1/4 Cup bottled water.  Mix and cover.  The picture here is an image of the dough at day 4 before feeding.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

Well maybe it's alive :) Sourdough starter at day 3.  

Bubbles are a good sign of life.  

Now to feed my creation:

Scooped the dough out of the jar and split it in half.  

Sadly the directions call to throw half the dough out. 

Seems a waste, but I did it anyway.  

Then I added 1/2 a cup of bread flour and 

a 1/4 cup of bottled water to the half I saved.  

Below is a picture after feeding.  

Chicken Update

Henrietta

Fox

Rosie

Betty

Sourdough

Decided to start some sour dough yesterday.  Here is a picture of sourdough starter on day 2.  It basically looks the same as it did on day 1.  I am using a recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible.  I have never tried her method before so we will see how this one develops.

In a clean bowl mix:
1 cup organic rye or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bottled water

This forms a stiff dough which you then place in a 4 cup glass container of some sort.  I chose this jar.  She recommends covering it with plastic wrap, but I didn't have any so I just used the jars existing lid.  I will try and post as the process develops

Pickled Tomatoes

In clearing the garden, in prep for the fall planting, I harvested the last of the tomatoes from the bushes before pulling them.  I came up with an assorted collection of roma, cherry, and brandy wine.  Mostly green and very small.  So I thought I would give pickling a try.  I'm not sure what possessed me to just make up a recipe for this, but I did.  From the smell in the house it might be a little vinegary, but I will probably like them.  My one complaint with my cucumber pickles was the lack of vinegar taste.  Something I like more than most.  So here is my recipe and I will report back with the out come on taste in a few days.

I washed the tomatoes and added a variety of shapes and sizes to each jar.  I also added a few garlic cloves and some sliced red onion to each jar.

In a big pot I put:
1 Quart White Vinegar
1 Quart Water
2 Cups Kosher Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tblsp Black Peppercorns
1 Sprig oregano
2 Sprigs basil
3 Sage leaves

Brought all that to a boil.  Then poured the mixture into the jars over the tomatoes, garlic, and onion.  I will report back on taste as soon as they have a few days to sit.

Chicks VS Watermelon Video

Watermelon!

The little ladies are doing great!   I started giving them other types of food.  They weren't really that into the lettuce, but when I gave them a slice of a watermelon I grew in my garden, they loved it!  I came in this morning and they had cleaned it to the rind so I just added a fresh slice.  They were so excited about!

Video of chicks

Video of chicks

Chickens!!!

Chicks to be exact.  Four extremely cute little tiny chicks.  I took this picture yesterday when I brought them home.  They were very tired and are all asleep or in the process of falling asleep.  Who knew narcoleptic little chickens could be so entertaining! I will need to check back with smack about exactly what breeds of chicken they will be.  There were so many names thrown around while I was choosing them that it was difficult to remember what we had been talking about.  I know that the yellowish one is a Buff Orpington and the redish brown one against the wall is a Rhode Island Red, but the other two are questionable.  So we will have to wait to find out.  Today is day two with me and day three I think since hatching.  They are already starting to get more feathers.  I am so excited to see what they will grow to be.  I have cleared out a room for them so that they are safely away from all the prying eyes of the other animals in the house.  The cats are extremely curious as to what exactly is in that room.  They like to sit near the door and just stare.  My plan is to keep posting day by day the progress and growth of the chicks.