Tuesday Open Thread ~ I'll Take Potpourri for $100
“For a moment, I was safe, wrapped in a blue-hued embrace.”
~ Gina Marinello-Sweeney
The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
W.B. Yeats
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
”What keeps faith cheerful is the extreme persistence of gentleness and humor. Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music, and books, raising kids-all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people. Lacking any other purpose in life, it would be good enough to live for their sake.“ ~ Garrison Keillor
The Fifties
Barbara Crooker
on hot front porches, cutting paper dolls from Sears
catalogs, making up our own ideal families
complete with large appliances
and an all-occasion wardrobe with fold-down
paper tabs.
landing, just to watch them melt.
We followed the shade around the house.
Time was a jarful of pennies, too hot
to spend, stretching long and sticky,
a brick of Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy.
Tomorrow’d be more of the same,
ending with softball or kickball,
then hide and seek in the mosquitoey dark.
Fireflies, like connect-the-dots or find-the-hidden-
words, rose and glowed, winked on and off,
their cool fires coded signals
of longing and love
that we would one day
learn to speak.
Comments
Oops Anja, two OT's posted this morning
perhaps the second one slipped in by mistake?
Oh well, take your pick!
Double your fun?
Good morning QMS! I guess the double posting must’ve been fixed. I only see one OT this morning. (I’m assuming you saw two of my OT’s?)
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
So glad to "see" you!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hmm, I coulda sworn that—dunno, must be seeing double today… n/t
Hilking in Yosemite has danger from stupid people
I was able to obtain one of the passes to go into Yosemite NP and decided to go check it out. While the usual summer crowds are reduced considerably it's not good here.
There are only about 50% of hikers using face coverings when it's not possible to distance.
Those who are not covering their faces kind of ruin the experience.
Yesterday five miles into a six mile hike I was at a place called Taft Point that can be accessed via a one mile hike from a parking area.
It was around 80 degrees F at around 6000 feet with no shade and bright sun at mid day.
There was a large family gathering there who were all without face coverings.
"Grandma" was in trouble with signs of heat exhaustion. (vomiting and loss of balance)
I had to go around them by heading off the trail a bit.
No way I was going anywhere near that mess.
In true NY bastard fashion I remarked to one of the adults in the group as I passed them, "Grandma is having heat stroke and none of you have fucking masks. It's a mile uphill back to the cars. Way to Go!"
As we have learned the hard way in NY masks protect others around you!
If you are refusing to wear a mask, I feel that you don't respect my life.
Guess what it's mutual you fucker!
I noticed the trail head for the four mile trail was fairly empty yesterday.
I'll hike that one today leaving at first light will keep me isolated for the hike up.
The hike back down will be more crowded. That trail is fairly wide so you can distance in many places.
I can't believe they said "pushover"
yay that sacred place, do be careful out there with all that beauty such a gorgeous distraction. right on Forget those jerks. Say "hi" to those darn tootin' yellow-bellied varmints for me. pew pew!
Who writes the trail guides? This part made me chuckle:
© 2006+ Russ Cary. All Rights Reserved.
okaaaay
whole world
needs more
water and balance
poor granny
peace and love
Interesting play on words
Even if it was unintentional. Lol.
Some co-workers of mine go on an annual camping trip to Yosemite each August. The last time I’ve been there I was twelve years old. Definitely on my list of places to visit again. But not necessarily in a tent like my co-workers are going to do. That‘s a bit too much roughing it for me. A cabin would be more my style.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
some pushover photos I took at Taft Point in 2018
look at Taft Point this way.
Good news, bad news
People have made their opinion of "cancel culture" pretty clear...
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2020/07/23/cancel-cancel-culture...
...but who the hell are these "strong liberals" who think there's anything good about witch-hunts, guilt-presumption, groupthink, neo-Freudianism, and cliocide??? Why don't (what I could have sworn was) we hate it more than anyone else? We should; decades of sweat, tears, and Sisyphusian effort in gaining sterling karma and overcoming the kook-stigma and "both-sider" baloney, and this shit has guaranteed that tomorrow is going to look like the Reagan/Bush years all over again.
First the Obama Presidency proves itself a spectacular failure, now this; Yahweh must LOVE Rush Limbaugh.
Why are the very facts at the foundation of my existence being deemed definitively impossible??? I feel as if my very DNA were being ripped apart by the helices....
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Something’s wrong with that link …
This one works:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2020/07/23/cancel-cancel-culture...
Moonbat--
that's because it is.
The whole "left" that developed under the Obama presidency from about 2010 on, and that has bloomed into prominence from 2016 on, is a devilishly clever psy-op. I always knew the PTB had people as smart as me, or smarter, working on their whole culture-wrecking brain-destroying project.
They figured out how easy it was to claim that they were us--and get some of us on their side by doing it.
All you really have to do is find some members of an oppressed group--black people, Latino people, LGBTQ people; even white women will do--and get them out there attacking your enemies as racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, whatever. Meanwhile have those same people subtly or even obviously become a "firewall" around your preferred policies and leaders. Pretty soon those people will *be* the Left, because they will have convinced enough of the actual left that they are.
One way you know you're dealing with a movement run by political operatives from the top, rather than a movement run by suffering people who want a change from the bottom is that the former wants to forget history, and the latter rarely does, and even when it does, it's usually in a very specific and limited way. The former wants to forget all of history so that it can remake reality however it chooses to in the moment. For instance, Andrew Cuomo, who was a shithead traitor a while ago when he helped NY Republicans retain control of the NY Senate,
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/04/andrew-cuomo-minimum-wage-wfp-new-york/
is now a hero because he behave with some sanity under catastrophic conditions. We now listen to the ethics lawyer for the second Bush administration as he inveighs against how awful Trump is and how "we" would never have allowed such goings-on in the Bush administration; We're giving a great big hug to George himself because he told People magazine he doesn't like Trump or "the racism."
We rearrange who's the good guys and who's the bad guys in accordance with media reports and the actions and speeches of various high-profile Democrats.
If you see a movement trying to ignore or rewrite history, or one which gets offended or irritated when you bring history, especially recent history, up in discussion, that's a movement run from above, by operatives, and likely is a psy-op.
You and I should talk more about this, if you're willing.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Wow!
What a terrific comment. You are spot on. Sometimes it takes a while to figure this all out, but once you do, it becomes crystal clear.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Slow clap right here, girlfriend.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
MC Trebek for 1600
edit: delete silly video lyric, and I hope Alex is doing fine.
I am enjoying less stabby pains myself today, so feisty. dance worthy
?
happy tuesday
peace and love
Good morning...
I have the Wendell Berry poem on my wall by the desk...yes give me the peace of wild things.
Been to trade day, recycling, the bank, and the grocery today making my weekly run. I need to go back to town in the truck one day this week and get some wheat straw. I'm building a new compost pile and don't have enough leaves, but straw works well. Always something around the homestead. I'm behind on my mowing. Been using the box scrape to spread gravel. Swapped over to the back scoop to spread manure. Now I've got to change out for the bushog and get mowing. Not to mention harvesting and processing the summer produce. It is my busy season for sure.
I feel lucky to be occupied in food production as the social fabric unravels. Y'all take care and be happy while we can.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Postal potatoes
thanks, and thanks again. These beauties were delivered to my front door by my postal carrier with one hand, she is strong like a rock. Wore a mask all through the soylent air of kincade firestorm last year, pregnant. Was only gone a couple months, and came back like nothing just happened. amazes me
Alabama Sweet Potatoes
from Lookout
gonna bake some in my little toaster oven when the days aren't so hot
Meyers Lemons and a little squash
I traded with my neighbor who is care taking that great old lemon tree for the absentee owners as the house across the street sits empty for sale. A basil start and some magic beans for next year. I like how she looks out for everybody now, cameras and all. lol right on I am surrounded by surveillance cameras and people who call the cops all the time so I don't. lucky me
new social fabric
peace and love
Those are some pretty awesome potatoes
Thanks for the photo!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Would you believe
I thought of you when I read Wendell Berry’s poem? How funny is that?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Hey, Lookout,
Do you remember this one? It came out in The Last Whole Earth Catalog.
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion — put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Love every word of this
How soothing to know there are other souls out there who get it. What luck I happened to include the Berry poem. Serendipity is wonderful that way, isn’t it?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Isn't it awesome?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Indeed I do
I think Lottie worked on the "catalog". It was a resource as I began ag school. Used it to find the radical farmers books where I really learned my craft.
Thanks for the reminder!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It's cool she was involved with such a worthy endeavour.
I thought you might know that poem.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Fantastic poem. I especially liked 2 lines:
Anything random will do the trick, just doing one thing counter-predictive keeps the universe balanced. If "god does not throw dice", then we must.
This can be a most interesting and often enlightening pastime.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
All hail Discordia?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
My favorite lines:
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Now that’s a pledge of allegiance
I wouldn’t mind reciting every morning!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Hello, world...
Or more accurately, hello again. I participated here for a while under a too-easily-doxxed username back around the 2016 Kos purge, but ended up settling in more over on Reddit, first at K4S and then WayOfTheBern. Got chased out of a couple of usernames there before settling on this one, which I guess I'll keep for a while. I see lots of familiar faces from before, and have been watching the crossposts from here but only reading occasionally. Hope to participate a little bit, but am dialing my online activities *way* back until after the election. Was politically active for 2016 and the 2020 primaries, but have now seen the error of my ways. Looking forward to talking food and music again...
Garden is great, now putting up tomatos and tomatillos at a rate of knots, herbs have had their best year ever. Starting to think about starting our indoor winter garden again now- have to keep the cooking herbs going during the Denver winters.
Hope everyone is well, and hope to reconnect with some of the folks from before. Soon come!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I’ve been admiring the moderators’ work at Way of the Bern
It’s only been a few months since I started going over there, but have quickly come to value that Reddit sub community’s prevailing opinion, as explained and defended by, for example, the commenter “cloudy_skies547”.
https://www.reddit.com/user/cloudy_skies547/
They've got some very good people
running the show over there, by and large. I do appreciate their light touch, and the steady hand.
Right now, the signal-to-noise ratio is falling off dramatically between Covid-19 and the election looming, so they have their hands full...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Hello Usefewersyllables
Welcome to Tuesday’s Open Thread. Food and music are definitely good topics to talk about. Before COVID-19, I used to talk about food and wine. Specifically the brunches or dinners I used to host in my little garden, or the wine tastings we had for employees at Traders Joe’s. But now my focus is just staying sane. So I like to include poetry, artwork, personal stories, or fictional vignettes. Anything that isn’t about the news. I’m open to suggestions.
Glad you stopped by...
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Thanks for the kind words!
I remember enjoyable discussions of wine with you a few times, back before focusing on the whole Reddit thing. I believe that I'm ready to get back to a simpler (and somewhat less arch!) online style. I am absolutely on the page with you with the primary focus being staying sane.
I'm fortunate that I'm still employed somehow, amazingly am able to work from home, and have avoided the virus thus far (wood well and truly being knocked on). So sanity is the most pressing thing right now (well, that and finding dark rye flour, which is the sourdough starter's preferred food)...
The most accurate description I've heard for the current state of affairs in this household is "Now is not the time to judge us on the contents of our recycle bin". Good to talk to you again!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Back to Basics
Working at Trader Joe’s, I’ve seen lot of bread baking going on these days. But most beginners start with a simple white bread. In fact, Trader Joe’s came out with a white bread mix a few weeks ago when we kept running out of flour. That you like to do sourdough bread tells me right off the bat that you are most likely not a novice bread maker. So, if you ever wanted to include a bread recipe for beginners, I’m sure it would be most appreciated!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Breads...
We've been playing with sourdough for a few years now. We've had our current starter going for a little over 2 years (after an unfortunate gardening accident claimed the life of the previous one). My wife is the true sourdough whisperer- she does the cool rustic boules and the stuff that you'd ever let anyone else actually see. My specialty is sourdough pizza dough, crackers, and bagels- all the things you might do with the discarded portion of the starter after a feeding. I'll have to post the bagel recipe: compared to a boule, it is dead easy (which is just a way of saying that jeez, even *I* can freakin' do it).
We've just pretty much sailed right through the yeast shortage with this- at this point, everything we bake is sourdough-based. I'm glad we had that sorted before people went completely crazy with the hoarding thing...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Sourdough is the best!
I bake a couple of rustic loaves loaves at least once a week, and extras for family, friends and neighbors. First thing I did when I heard good bread flour was getting hard to come by was to pickup 200 lbs of Sir Lancelot at the King Arthur store. I wasn’t going to run out of good bread flour!
I’m no expert on sourdough, however. Having gotten into a wonderful groove with my boules I felt there was little reason to experiment with variations, but I would be interested in your recipes for sourdough pizza dough and bagels if you’d be willing to share what’s been working for you. I don’t generate any waste in my feed-bake cycle, everything gets baked or starts the next batch. Over the past two decades my starter has fully acclimated to my baking rhythms, and the amount I “hold out” sits patiently in the fridge waiting to repopulate my next dough with all of its bioactive magic.
Bread and water is all I really need. Everything else is optional.
Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
Awesome!
I tried my hand at little French rolls for a brunch I hosted on Sunday. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Knocked the socks off my guests when I told them I baked them myself! What fun! And is there anything more satisfying than watching those beautiful babies turn golden brown in the oven?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Senses
I would say that there is something more satisfying. Follow your nose....
Thanks for a wonderful OT, Anja.
Hi Traveler
You’re right about the aroma of bread baking. Or really, any kind of baking. I’m going to do some banana bread today and look forward to making the house smell good!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Flour in bulk is the only way...
We've pretty much settled on General Mills Harvest King Winter Wheat (the green bag stuff), which is pretty much an 00 flour in 50lb bags. There's only the two of us to eat it, and while we do give away a lot of bread, we haven't started hosting people again- we are still distancing. It is hard to use up all of our starter, so we do have discard.
Anyhoo, sourdough bagels:
200g starter, the bubblier the better.
315g water
30g maple syrup
750g flour
10g salt
Everything goes together in that order, let the mixer have at it with a dough hook on low for 7-10 mins. Pull the hook, rest for half an hour, then divide up into balls. I always get ~1300g of dough from that, so I split it up into 10 130g portions. Roll into balls, turning it inside out to stretch the outer surface to get that nice skin, and then pop the balls onto parchment paper on a sheet pan with a good powdering of semolina (if you're bougie) or corn meal (if you can't get semolina). Cover with some plastic or a towel and let the balls rest for another half hour to set the outside skin.
Then, the fun part: take your Mark 1 index finger, and poke each ball in the middle of the top, right through to the parchment. Pick the ball up on your finger, stick the other index finger in from the bottom side, and sort of stretch/roll the bagel to form the hole in the middle (like playing with a rubber band between your fingers: spin it around a few times).
Plop them back on the parchment, cover with plastic, and into the fridge overnight to proof and get happy. In the morning, preheat the oven to 450degF. Then set up a good sized pot with 2 tbsp of baking soda and 2 tbsp of maple syrup, get it to a boil, and boil each bagel for 30 seconds on each side, flipping them and fishing them out with a dumpling spider. Back onto the parchment (adding semolina or corn meal as needed to prevent sticking and give them that nice crunch on the bottom), and then straight into the 450degF oven. As soon as the door is closed, drop it to 400degF, and bake for 20-22 minutes until you like the color and smell.
Let them cool for as long as you can stand it, schmear and nosh. That's all there is to it. There have been times that we've set up a levain for a boule, and then couldn't get to it according to the bread schedule- so I'll just use it for the bagels instead. If the discard is a couple days old and acting flabby, I've been known to revive it a little with 50g flour/50g water the night before to let it speak again, and then simply make 11 bagels instead of 10.
This is probably the most forgiving form of sourdough: it is not really critical at all. The longer the dough thinks about what it has done while resting, the more sour it gets- and if it overproofs a little in that overnight fridge nap, that's just more room for the cream cheese. If you feel like throwing toppings on before baking, that works great, as does tossing whatever favoriteherbs into the mixer at the outset. Win-win...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Are there any possible substitutes for maple sytup? Perhaps
molasses or such?
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Sure. As long as the starter can eat it...
The original recipe actually called for malt syrup, which is hard to come by. My wife doesn't deal well with refined sugar, so we stay with what we know doesn't mess with her system for substitutes, and maple syrup is one of those items. One of these days when I'm feeling adventurous, I might try some of the other non-refined-sugar yeast food/sweeteners. That might just require changing the amounts a little bit to get the right result in terms of yeast farts, but it shouldn't be super-critical...
On edit: I also just realized that this is what we do at our altitude, which is ~6500 feet. Your hydration level, proofing time, and baking times may vary a bit as a result, if you are nearer sea level.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
The New Yorker in me
Loves that you included a bagel recipe. Nice memories.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
bagel bookmark
tanks
still a novice
Do you do anything special to store the bulk not-yet-used flour
to keep it from going bad?
There’s a bakery in Amsterdam that my blind Dutch friend and I always go to. Run by the Anthroposophists (Rudolf Steiner / Waldorf schools), they provide jobs to people with intellectual disabilities.
For years I especially liked this one kind of bread there, maisbrood / maize bread, made with corn flour. Then at my last visit, just before the Covid-19 occasioned general retail hiatus, they said they’d stopped making it. They said they didn’t sell as much of it as bread made with other grains and the corn flour in bulk, when kept around for a longer period of time, tended to get moldy.
https://www.raphaelstichting.org/iambe/
https://www.raphaelstichting.org/iambe/filmpjes/
Flour storage challenges
Not the one you asked, but we have found the best way to store bulk flour is to cheat. We have one restaurant-supply 25-quart plastic NSF bin with an airtight lid that is dedicated for the ready stores, and we work from that for daily use. What doesn't fit in there, we put into one or more of our 6-gallon wine fermenters with the trap plug sealed. We just have to make sure that we use up enough flour at the right time so that the fermenters are available for yeastifying grape juice for a few weeks at the appropriate moment in the fall. Then they can be used for flour the rest of the year. Why have 'em taking up space, right?
The other part of the cheat is that the humidity here runs somewhere between single digits and "what humidity?", so mold is usually more manageable here than it would be in humid climates. We typically restock in the super-dry dead of winter after we've racked the wine off, and once the flour goes into the sanitized and dried fermenters it stays sealed up and ultradry until we need it. Our *skin* falls off all winter, but the flour stays happy.
It all comes full circle. An initial ingredient for starting our sourdough starter was some of our local grape skins, since grapes and local yeast have such a marvelous natural symbiosis. The skins are long gone, but their initial contribution to the starter lives on.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Thanks for the flour storage insights!
Another interesting thing I learned today is that the King Arthur flour company is almost as old as the U.S. itself, having first opened its doors in 1790 (!).
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-06-16/how-king-arthur-dealt...
Milling about
Interesting story about King Arthur and how they've responded to the massive demand by consumers for flour. I used to live just a few miles from the New Cambria, Kansas, mill that is featured in the article. Also, I've been at the Milling Science school at Kansas State University mentioned in the article, although I think it's now a lot larger than the last time I was there.
Note: That article was behind a paywall for me. I had to do the old period-behind-the-com of dot-com trick to read it.
I usually buy 50 or 100 lbs
but that was when I was visiting regularly with friends who live near King Arthur store, but that was pre COVID. As a stand alone trip for flour 200# made more sense, assuming no spoilage.
I have an air tight food safe container that holds one 50 lb bag. The unopened bags are plastic coated paper and are a pretty good hermetic seal. They live in a temperature and humidity controlled basement area (where I do my woodworking). I normally use between 100 to 150 lbs a year, so my 200 lb hoard might be a bit of a stretch. I should know by the end of 2021 if it was a wise choice.
Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
Hello, and welcome back!
Whoever you are, cead mile failte.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hello world is supposed to be in quotes, n'est ce pas?
fprintf('Welcome Back'\n)
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
My gall-dang Aspie memory! — hears / sees “n’est-ce pas” and
what do I immediately think of? A nice afternoon at a Paris café? No, that stupid 2014 Cadillac commercial:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URDQWST4ARQ]
Never saw it, lucky me.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning Anja et al. Foggy misty mornings for about a
week now. We had to harvest our pears a little early to save them from whatever was knocking them all off the tree, but they are now ripening very well (good enough to eat one Saturday) and pretty much ready to can. Our bush beans haven't been nearly as productive as in prior years so far but our scrub jay has successfully planted two peanuts, though we have no idea as to the likelihood that they will successfully produce a crop in our local climate. Nonetheless, one has to admire his attempt to pay us back for all the ones we've fed him over the years.
We always have far more projects and chores than time, and the next few days look particularly busy which always raises the ironic question of how we managed to get along back when we worked? What did we leave out? I/We have barely dented that list of "I'll do that when I retire" stuff and we keep finding new stuff to do. All the same, I guess we're "meeting our objectives", so what the heck.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Canning Pears sounds lovely
But what about a nice flambé?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
The last time we tried to can a flambe' the jars all carcked.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
*snort*
Good one!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
FWIW, the flambe' burns off all of the alcohol, mo bettah
da kine "poached in wine sauce", especially if the wine is a nice tinta port.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Excellent point
You’ve got me thinking I might do this recipe: ”poached pears in wine“
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Beautiful. Like an oasis.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Thank you CStMS
At this point, I’m not sure if I’m doing these OT’s more for myself, or you guys. I just know losing myself in the poetry and artwork is almost therapeutic. Sharing is nice too
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
the drawing of the critters around the campfire reminds me...
I remember putting hot dogs on a stick and, not understanding the mechanics of cooking, placing them directly into the fire. Of course the skin immediately blistered. My young self considered that "done" and would then place the mostly raw hot dog into the bun and eat it. I thought it was yummy!
I did the same with a marshmallow and developed a lifelong aversion to them.
We’ve all burned marshmallows as a kid
You should definitely re-visit the roasting of marshmallows as an adult. But hot dogs? What were they thinking giving you a hot dog on a stick in front of a campfire? Lol. Can’t imagine any adult expecting a child to have the patience required to cook a hot dog all the way through.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
When the kids were small German friends used to make “Stockbrot”
around the campfire, to round out a barbecue in the family’s allotment garden, at the end of summer as the evenings start to get cooler …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_bread
Dough on a stick — I hadn’t even known this was a thing.
In Honolulu in some of the beach parks there are oleander bushes and boy, did they warn us as kids that if you take a stick from an oleander to roast anyt’ing over a fire and eat um, you goin’ mahke (die).
https://troop75.typepad.com/photos/common_poisonous_plants_o/be-still-tr...
Lovely OT and comments . . .
Thank you everyone!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Hi Marilyn
Glad to “see” you. Hope all is well with you and yours.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier