It's bread time

The last couple of weeks have found us out in the garden doing a lot of maintenance. There hasn't been much in the way of harvesting, except another ginormous Zucchinni and a whole mess of beans. The potatoes got done and dried in the sun for a few days befoe going into the cellar. This week or next we'll be ready to harvest the Brussels Sprouts. In the front yard, our rainbow chard and winter harvest broccoli are coming in like mad.

Next week we're building two or three hoops for the front beds and planting winter spinach, carrots and lettuce. Now is a great time to plant carrots. They'll begin to grow and while they're still baby, the frost will come and they'll go dormant and stay preserved in the soil until spring. As soon as the temps begin to rise next year, the carrots will grow again and you'll be the first to have wonderful fresh carrots ready for harvest in your garden.

Last night I baked my first loaf of bread. I've added ingredients to a bread machine and pushed go before, but I'd never before made my own from scratch. It was very fun and very rewarding. The loaf came out superb, if I do say so myself. I substituted about 35% of the white bread flour with whole grain Emmer wheat flour. Emmer is an old red wheat. It grows very well in WA. I buy Emmer grain from Bluebird Grain Farms in Winthrop, WA. They mill their flour about 1 week or less before taking it to market.

I also harvested pickle cucumbers and made our own pickles. I hope in three months they are as yummy as I expect them to be. I used a white wine vinegar and added some spices and a sweet bell pepper and a jalapeno pepper from our backyard. So they should be tasty and a wee bit spicy.

Yesterday we bought a gallon of dairy milk that will be used for cheese. FINALLY. The cheese kits came last week a day or so after my birthday and I've finally read a few chapters in the cheese making book and have everything ready to start. I think Thursday or Friday we'll start making cheese. Everything I've read says to start with soft cheese before trying the more difficult hard cheeses so this week we'll focus on Mozzarella and Ricotta. After I've mastered those I'll try a Gouda, then a cheddar, then maybe something even more intense...

Well, that's all for now.

Mike

A special loaf of bread

Michael decided that tonight was the night to make a loaf of bread with the duck eggs that we bought from the Ballard Farmer's Market. . . . Unfortunately, bread requires more than eggs and flour. Minutes into Michael's baking adventure, he discovered that we were without milk. The creative fella that he is, he improvised with some dehydrated milk that just happened to be in our pantry. (I have no idea why we have a box of dehydrated milk. Who uses dehydrated milk? Weird.)

Then just after preparing the milk, Michael remembered that we were out of butter. At this point, I would have given up. (Actually, I probably would have given up when I realized we were out of milk.) Michael, however, was not ready to quit. He was sure that spreadable margarine would do the trick. This should make for an interesting loaf of bread! I'll let you know how it turns out. -Trisa