Sourdough Side Quest

A few weeks ago I was tasked with baking bread for a large family gathering. I had not fed the sourdough starter for many months, and after its first meal, it gave a decidedly understated one-bubble burp. So I was forced to look up a bread machine recipe that would allow for discard starter while rehabilitating. 

I ended up using THIS recipe and immediately started experimenting. I used one cup of whole wheat and two cups of white flour. The bread turned out well. The second time I used one cup of white, one cup of whole wheat, and one cup of rye flour and also added sunflower and flax seeds when the knead cycle beeped. It turns out I flew too close to the sun. The bread was very dense and moist. Still edible, just not my favorite. The third version I made, I put all of the ingredients except the yeast and salt into the baking pan and stirred it to combine. Then I let the dough rest overnight before adding the last two ingredients and starting the bread maker. The loaf turned out tall and fluffy, but with plenty of structure to handle cold butter. Now, I’ll just see if I can add more whole wheat and some seeds. That loaf is pictured below in the bottom left corner. I also think THIS bread recipe might have some merit as it uses more sourdough starter. 

 

After the starter had refreshed itself, the fourth discard was ready to be used in my mom’s famous recipe. It was the first time I tried making bread with my new KitchenAid, and the size of the bowl was perfect for handling the half recipe. I can use the paddle for the first stirring since it is a very wet dough, and then the dough hook for the second knead. Because I was able to use the machine, the dough was able to “show” me that I needed to add another half cup of flour. I usually bake a very dense and moist loaf using this bread recipe, and this time it turned out much better. After trying the overnight sourdough resting with the bread machine dough, I think I will try the same with this recipe and see if there is a lighter texture as a result. The three loaves were delightful!

Finally, since this is an early spring, I just want to mark the dates the crocus and daffodils first bloomed: March 1 and March 19 respectively. It’s a gorgeous day today, so I’m off into the yard to get some gardening started!

Valentine

We don’t really do anything special for Valentines Day, but every once in a while there is a surprise. A few weeks ago Peggy Orenstein wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times that was shared with me, and I told The Farmer I would like to read her book. 

And here it is! Listening is my love language. I appreciate when someone hears my request and acts on the information. Hope your day was just as great! Love, peace, and knitting to all of you. 

Maybe Not

My knitting year has had more fits than starts so far. I bought what I thought was a gorgeous combination of yarns last summer, but they don’t want to cooperate in the shawl I selected for them. I still love the yarns, but this is definitely not the shawl I was envisioning. This is the start of Shawl B by Letes Knits.

After I hated the brown/cream speckle combo, I tried out the orange/cream speckle and the brown/orange to see which one was the best. 

Orange and cream speckle won and look much more appealing, but then the next section is brown in lace and it is a hard no for me. It looks so dingy.

Back to the drawing board for me. Perhaps the yarn will look better in The Frank Shawl? Time will tell. Enjoy the knitting season!

Here a Sheep, There a Sheep

Here's circling back to my Coast to Coast Walk for a few posts as the year ends! Old Mac Donald was most likely a sheep farmer, from what I could tell. The abundance of sheep on this trip was a constant delight to encounter. On the train, so many sheep on pastures the further north we rode. Sheep in St. Bees on the way to the hotel.

Sheep on the beach and sheep with the best views of the land and sea. The animals seem very engrossed in their non-stop meals, I'm not sure they are noticing. 

I personally noticed that very few sheep had been sheared so far. Our alpacas need to be sheared by early June if you don't want to deal with animal heat stroke, but northern England is indeed much further north than central Indiana and still quite chilly. Shearing usually happens in July up here. It was super windy on top of that plateau and I was glad I had my jacket on to keep from freezing despite the mild day. 

I loved how many sheep breeds we passed. The brown and grey ones below are particularly interesting and adorable. They are Herdwick, and they can survive the fell landscape by only eating forage without other food supplements. The brown animals are lambs or very young sheep while the grey ones are a few years old. They turn from brown-black to grey as they mature. Beatrix Potter had a flock of Herdwicks on her many farms and was instrumental in helping the breed survive.

Sheep enjoyed the landscape around abandoned monasteries...

The barren landscape and lack of trees (partly a side-effect of grazing sheep) makes it necessary to build fences with stones. These stone fences were everywhere, well-maintained, and thick. There were often stone barns and shelters as well. 

Oooops, these aren't sheep; they're alpacas! But since they were the only ones I saw during the entire trip, I decided to give them some room on the blog!

These guys really wanted to get out, or get our attention, or both. Lots of noise from this crew are we passed by!

The other sheep breed that was prolific was Swaledale, where the adult animals have beautiful round horns. The town of Swaledale was also near the walk. Above is a great example of the many stone fences that divide the landscape into pastures. 

Finally, this sheep seems to know that there are no real lions who live in the English mountains or on the moors, so might as well catch a snack on the hotel lawn. The employees were half-heartedly trying to get this sheep to leave, but it was quite happy and persistent. 

I hope you enjoyed looking at a few of the hundreds of sheep that I saw! I decided to spare you the knick knack collections that these animals inspired. There was endless kitsch in every little tourist shop. 

 

Alpaca Sundries

Let’s be honest: I am posting tonight so I don’t lose my monthly posting streak. But aside from that, it has been a fun month for the alpacas. Mostly great weather has resulted in additional late-season pasture snacks. 

A special visitor stopped by to dispense some grain goodness. The visitor was adamant about fairness as you can see by the cane holding off the greedy one! Moonstar is getting more aggressive in her old age.

We enjoyed the first snow on The Farmer’s birthday. Several inches accumulated and stayed on the ground, meaning that we can start eating baked apples. It’s an old family tradition.

Finally, we’re excited to donate two skeins of yarn to our local youth orchestra for their silent auction on December 11th! Message me for details.

Here’s wishing all of you a joyous holiday season. Lots of concerts for me, followed by some time with family. Till soon!

 

Shady Grove Crochet

A few years ago, my husband’s colleague inquired about our Shady Grove Alpaca yarn. As she crochets, I really wanted to gift her some yarn to see how it works up. I had no samples and no idea what it would look like. But I procrastinated the gift until I saw her at a fiber fair this past spring. She was so delighted to try it and crocheted up this beautiful cowl.

The pattern is the free Seaside Continuous Scarf by Souma Crochet, and it sure makes the yarn show off! The yarn weight is DK in Bella (Brown) and Moonstar (cream). I might want to learn how to crochet now as I think the look is stunning! 

Thanks for a great partnership! And Happy Crocheting!!

 

Reason to Finish

In Fall 2019, arguably one of the busiest in my life, I ran to the yarn store with the false hope that I would have time to knit three children a sweater for Christmas. I did make a good start, but alas, none of the sweaters made it to the finish line before the holiday. The first vest was finished in June of 2020 and barely fit its recipient. By that time, it was obvious to me that this sweater was also going to be too small for the next intended boy. So I let the WIP molder in the closet.

Fast forward to this past summer, when the same family announced the arrival of yet another boy, Nephew #10. The sweater was finished in two afternoons of excitement! He was born on September 21, and should be getting his sweater today, just in time to dress up as a cosy little pumpkin!

And I am quite aware that I still owe Nephew #9 AND Niece #8 a little sweater. They will be a medium sized sweaters by the time I finish…

The pattern is Story Time Scholar by Lisa Cheney. Here is the ravelry link.

Enjoy Fall and stay toasty!