Catchin' your own sourdough

"It's alive!  It's alive!"  That quote comes from the 1931 version of "Frankenstein."  And for you book readers, it's NOT in the book! 

What's alive?  This sourdough starter sitting on my kitchen counter!

O.K.  Maybe the thought of Frankenstein creeps you out.  So how about a nice exchange from Laura Ingalls Wilder's book By the Shores of Silver Lake:

"But how do you make the sour dough?" Mrs. Boast asked.
"You start it," said Ma, "by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand till it sours."
"Then when you use it, always leave a little," said Laura.  "And put in the scraps of biscuit dough, like this, and more warm water," Laura put in the warm water, "and cover it," she put the clean cloth and the plate on the jar, "and just set it in a warm place," she set it in its place on the shelf by the stove.  "And it's always ready to use, whenever you want it."

I love sourdough bread, sourdough biscuits, sourdough crackers, sourdough cinnamon rolls, etc. etc.!  These things are all easy to bake but they all require a sourdough starter.  You can buy one or you can catch your own.

Did you know you have wild yeast and bacteria floating around in the air around you?  You can't see these little critters in the air, but they are there!  And they're just what you need to make your own starter.  Since in the past few months I have given away several jars of my sourdough starter, I thought I'd share how you can easily get your own.  All in the comfort and privacy of your own home!


All you need is a jar or crock, 2/3 cup of flour, and 1/2 cup of water.  Mix the flour and water and if it doesn't look very thick, add a little more flour.  (You can use whatever flour you want.  But some are a bit easier to start with, such as soft winter wheat.)  Now stick the jar on your counter and tell it "I'll be back." 

The next day, you need to feed it.  Add 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water.  The next day after that you will hopefully see some bubbles.  If you don't you may want to move it to a different location.  Keep feeding it every 12-24 hours.  Once you see some nice bubbles at the top, you can begin baking with it.

 

Or if you don't want to bake yet, just cover it - loosely! - and stick it in your refrigerator.  When it's in there you only need to feed it once or twice a month.  Get it out the day before you want to bake with it, and feed it.

I keep mine on my counter, so that it's ready to use at any time.  You'll see in the top photo that I cover mine when a little towel and rubber band.  You do not need to.  I started doing that this summer after a swarm of fruit flies decided the starter was yummy and tried to move in.  If you leave your starter out, you need to feed it once a day or every other day.

Sourdoughs taste different depending on where you live.  Think of San Francisco sourdough!  Yum!  I think that is my favorite tasting one. 

One last thing, since your starter is a living thing, you just may want to name it.  (Yes people really do that.)  When my friend C visited last month, she took some sourdough starter home with her.  She was so surprised that mine did not have a name.  She pointed out that Tabby and I are always naming things.  (For example, if anyone gives us a plant - that plant will be named after that person.)  I responded lamely that I hadn't thought of a good name that stuck.  She laughed and said she was going to name her starter "Big Bertha."  "Bertha!" I responded in amusement.  She said I could call my starter the "Mother of Big Bertha."  Oh goodness no!  That name was just not pretty to me at all.  I finally decided "Bertie" would work though.  So now there are two batches of sourdough starter out there, that are relatives, named "Bertha" and "Bertie."  Ha!  

Assigning one of your children the job of feeding your sourdough starter "pet" can be fun.  Hunter enjoys feeding Bertie for me.  :)

A good book on sourdough is The Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread by Jessie Hawkins.  Also there is an excellent e-book called Sourdough from A to Z by GNOWFGLINS.  Finally, here is my very favorite sourdough biscuit recipe:  http://ruralspin.com/2012/04/12/wild-yeast-sourdough-biscuits/

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”- Matthew 4:4

Now.  What post would be complete without a picture of one of the growing puppies?  

Tabby took this adorable photo.  One of her assignments for school tomorrow is to do a photo session with all the puppies.  I can't wait to see the results!  (She took a bunch of really fantastic chicken pictures today.  I bet she posts a bunch on her Goat Chick blog tomorrow.)

Bread and puppies.  Sigh.  I love writing but I miss having a specific topic to stick to.  Like Lilly.  But maybe someone out there will find this post of interest.

A new "Lilly chocolate" fan

If Lilly were still with us, she would be 3 years and 7 months old today.  I don't know why but I'm missing her extra extra hard today.  The boys and I decorated her memorial tree for the month.  Hearts.  Solomon enjoyed trying to hang ornaments.

One thing Solomon has learned about his sister Lilly is that she got to eat special extra healthy chocolate.  He likes to eat a piece occasionally in her honor.  He points at the cabinet where I keep them and signs the word for "more."

"Wanna a chocolate kiss?"

The puppies now all have their eyes open.  I looked out at them a few minutes ago and they looked like five fat little sausages all lined up.  Sort of like this picture I took the other day:

Even though we can't keep all the puppies, they have been named:  Sherlock, Watson, Houdini, Bongle, and Exhaust-Pipe.  Hmmm ... can you guess who named "Exhaust-Pipe?!"

What a year this has been.  We are still getting over the flu and Frank has walking pneumonia.  Hunter has set up what he calls "Kleenex stations" all over the house.  Makes me extra grateful we are rarely sick.

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

Puppies from the past

The other day, I received several pictures in the mail from my mom, of me as a toddler with our family dog Barney Beagle.  In spite of the name Barney, the dog was a girl and she had puppies.  I do not remember the dog or puppies except through photos. 

I showed one of the photos to Hunter:

 

The conversation went like this:

me - "Do you know who this little girl is?"

H - "Hey - look at that electrical box on the house in the background!"

me - "Do you see the dog?"

H - "Is that a lantern by the steps?"

me - "This is me when I was little with our dog Barney Beagle!"

H - "Wow - there are TWO drain spouts on that house!"

me - put the photo down and sigh and think "Engineer mind!"

Back to the current batch of puppies, here are some photos from earlier last week.  We were so excited the puppies were old enough for us to hold!

 As a mom, it's been interesting watching this first time mom - of five!

The evening after the puppies were born, I heard a lot of loud whimpering and looked out the window onto our enclosed porch where Dixie and her pups are.  I saw Dixie standing by the slightly propped door, obviously needing to go out.  The puppies were all making frantic noises and crawling all over each other trying to find their mama.  Dixie stood there a moment watching them and I could see the struggle on her face.  Finally she dropped her head and came back to her puppies and laid down with them.  I thought "Ha!  Just like me when I was a first time mom and found out that I couldn't just go to the bathroom whenever I wanted anymore."

I few days later when I peeked out, Dixie was hiding under a shelf.  The puppies were sleeping peacefully and she was watching them, but she was several feet away.  I knew what that felt like too!  Sometimes you just need some physical space and don't want anyone touching you for awhile!

Other times I glance out another window and see Dixie running at high speed through the yard.  A minute later she'll be back with the pups, looking completely refreshed.  You know this one - sometimes you just need to step away and getting a little exercise and then you feel ready to tackle anything again!

There's more "mama dog observations" I've had but I'm out of time because one of my own little "puppies" needs his mama.  :)

"As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you . . ." - Isaiah 66:13

Snow!

It began snowing last night and this morning we were greeted by a beautiful white wonderland.  This is the most snow we've had since Lilly was alive.

The timing seemed rather unfortunate to us because we're all sick.  Fevers and coughs.  But still, we couldn't waste the opportunity to take Solomon out into his first real snow!

Solomon enjoyed walking on the road and singing a little song:

 
The chickens refused to come out of the coop today.  But the goats seemed to enjoy the snow:

Dixie kept her puppies warm with the help of a heat lamp:

Within a few minutes of coming inside, Hunter was asleep in front of the fire:

 

Lord willing, we will all be feeling back to normal soon.  

How much is that doggie in the window?

For whatever reason, both of my boys have loved the song "How Much is that Doggie in the Window."  They liked to help make the animal noises in the song and it was fun.  Little kids making animal noises is too cute!  Solomon likes making the cow's "moooo" noise whenever he sees a cow and he likes other people to make cow noises.  Which is ironic because when Hunter was a baby, if someone (Frank!) made a cow noise - he would always cry.

Anyway, I am getting off topic here.  The point of this post is to share some pictures of Dixie's puppies and let you know that if you have been thinking about getting a puppy - we will be giving her's away for FREE!  (No coupons required!)

Awwwww ... just look at these sweet furry little pups!

Dixie  is a German Shepherd - collie mix.  We are not positive about the father, but the only dog we see running the neighborhood is a big black dog that looks like a lab - pit bull mix.  The dog has come on our property a number of times, but never bothered us.  I'm not totally positive about what kind he is. 

If you know a lot about dogs, and think you can identify what kind of puppies these are (other than the German Shepherd/collie part, I'd love to hear from you.

We are thinking we may keep 2 of the puppies.  But we need to see how they are with the chickens before we decide for sure.  So that means we'll have at least 3 puppies that need a home.

In other news, we are still waiting for our appointment with the lead detection guy.  Frank is still waiting for the kidney stone(s) to pass.  Thankfully though, the pain has not increased. 

I found some bird pictures Tabby took on my camera this morning.  This tufted titmouse made me laugh:

Just what do you think you're lookin' at!

"Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name." - Psalm 97:12

Welcome quintuplets!

Yesterday we welcomed 4 little puppies into our life.  This morning there was another one.  Dixie is the proud - and very tired looking - mama of FIVE puppies!  Three black and 2 brown.

No names for the puppies yet, though one of the black is trying hard for Houdini as it escaped a few times.

Yesterday Tabby told me Dixie was panting and shaking hard.  We watched her - completely clueless as to what was going on.  (Remember we had just found out Monday she was pregnant.)  I googled it and learned that she was in labor!   Goodness!  We weren't used to the idea of Dixie even being pregnant!  And now the puppies were coming?!

Of all days, Tabby had piano lesson in town yesterday afternoon.  I felt funny cancelling the lesson at the last minute so we went.  Before we left there was one little black puppy.

 When we came home there were 3 more.  And this morning there was another one, bringing the grand total to 5.

I will try to get some good photos today. 

Silver in the eyes

In my last post I mentioned that Solomon was still sick and had "goopy eyes" so I was going to take him to the doctor.  Well his eyes are almost completely better - thanks to a suggestion from my friend C from Haven Enterprises.  She told me to try putting a little collodial silver in his eyes.  I posted recently that we use silver as a natural antibiotic during sickness.  But I had never thought of putting it in our eyes!  But I gave it a try and his eyes looked better after just one application - of a few drops on eyes he was squeezing shut as hard as he could!  Amazing!  So no doctor visit needed.  Plus he's all better except for a lingering cough.

the blue munchkin

oh yeah - a front end loader!

 Frank is still battling his kidney stone(s) but we think he may be winning!  He still has some pain but not as bad as it was.  We are following suggestions to dissolve the stone and help it pass from a book called Be Your Own "Doctor": An Informative Guide to Herbal Home Health Care by Rachel Weaver M.H.  This book has been invaluable to us and the section on kidney stones is proving to be also.  We followed the directions for dissolving the stones and used water, limes, and alfalfa tablets the first day.  Then the next 2 days Frank drank apple cider vinegar and honey in water, and took alfalfa tablets.  He noticed improvement but still felt them.  So now we're using the book's suggestion to use Herb Pharm Stone Breaker compound three times a day, along with the alfalfa tablets and a banaba leaf supplement.  (The book suggested banaba leaf tea but I couldn't find that readily.)  The compound is 3x a day.  In the evening I give him apple cider vinegar with lemon juice and olive oil.  (Yuck!  Apple cider vinegar helps dissolve stones and relax the urinary tract.)  I'm going to keep him on this until he's better.  I have ordered a kidney cleanse and kidney cleanse + function tea from Supplement Warehouse, but am still waiting for those.  Finally, the book suggested having a bottle of lobelia on hand.  (I've also ordered that from Supplement Warehouse.)  The book's author said she was having terrible pain from a stone and took 2 droppers of the lobelia by mouth and then rubbed lobelia liberally onto her kidney stone area.  Within 5 minutes she was off the floor and sitting in a chair.  Lord willing Frank won't get to that point, but I thought we better be ready.  Finally, I decided that he will do a kidney cleanse twice a year from now on, as a preventative. 

So there's my crash course on trying to get rid of kidney stones naturally.  Hopefully that will help someone else!

If you saw Tabby's blog earlier this week, you know we were surprised to see that the goats aren't the  only furry creatures around here that are pregnant:

On Monday Frank and Tabby both realized that Dixie was "with puppy"!

Dixie trying to look innocent - "Who me sneak off?"

As part of Tabby's schoolwork today, she's going to write up a report on dog pregnancies so we're fully informed on the whole process.  I'm looking forward to puppies - I've never seen newborn puppies.  (Or any newborn animal except baby birds.)

This made me laugh the other day - Solomon was pushing Hunter around in an old baby doll stroller that was Tabby's.  Push hard Solomon!

And speaking of Tabby, she has been enjoying taking the goats for a walk.  On a leash!

 

 "This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24