a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Month: January 2017

  • Spring in January

    springinjanuarya

    Ha! Hardly. It’s still cold, but spring is just around the corner, the daffodils pushing out of the frozen soil are counting on it. The deep freeze that started on New Year’s Eve still has the ground as hard as cement, but that isn’t holding back the daffodil shoots. A sunny day with above freezing temperatures in the afternoon draws Hazel and the other hens all the way around the pond to look for good things to eat in the sunny brush. After tonight, freezing temperatures will be a thing of the past for a spell. That should thaw the frozen soil and bring things to life.

    springinjanuaryb

  • The Joys of Having a Personal Roaster

    maebmarket

    A pleasant five mile bicycle ride north live Bill and Gilda Gorr, coffee roasters who roast coffee one pound at a time. When it became no longer practical to keep ordering our favorite coffee from Seattle, I took them some of the coffee beans we like, and asked, “Can you roast something similar?” They came up with a Sidamo bean roasted to our liking. Now, whenever we get low on coffee beans, all I have to do is call Gilda and say, “We’d like more beans.”

    Do you have a coffee roaster you could take beans to and ask them to roast something similar? This is what is so nice about this special community. Instead of having the same Starbucks on every corner, I think people would be much happier having a local coffee roaster or two in their neighborhood who would roast coffee beans a pound or two at at time, and with whom they could have a nice chat when they went to pick up their beans.

    hazelonnest

    While gathering eggs this morning, I heard a sing-songy cackle, and found Hazel sitting on a nest. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Hazel sitting on a nest. Not too far away, I spotted Niji-hime 虹姫 and Betty in deep conversation. Hmm, they shut up when I approached. They aren’t discussing how to join the Women’s March on Washington next week, are they? Whatever it was, it seemed serious.

    conspiracy

  • Ice Art

    frozenintimea

    The warmer weather and sunny skies have melted all the snow and ice out in the open. Yet, deep in the forest, where the sun rays barely tickle, the ice still rules. Buttercups are encased in solid glass, frozen bubbles float like jelly fish over the frozen forest floor. It’s an otherworldly spectacle to be enjoyed today. By next week, the ice art will be gone.

    frozenintimeb
    frozenintimec

  • Sojourn to the Arctic is Over

    20170110b

    Our eight day sojourn to the arctic is over. Yesterday morning we woke up and all the snow and ice were gone. Just a few dying wisps of snow remained in the shadows, and a few remaining shards of grand icebergs wept themselves away in the bright sun.

    20170110bb
    20170110a

    Day lily shoots stayed green, waiting for enough warm sunshine to send their shoots high into the spring air … next month perhaps? Onion shoots and kale greens, the week plus long freeze didn’t damage them at all.

    20170110c
    20170110d

    Hazel and her sisters are back out in the garden, greeting me when I come outside from making tofu, bearing gifts of okara for them. Okara are the mashed soybean solids that are left over when you make tofu. Chickens will mob you if they see you carrying okara, just warning you if have chickens and decide to make tofu one day. Though, think hard about it, because if you do it once, they will expect it often, and will look funny at you when you visit them empty handed.

    20170110e

    When I think about it, okara resembles the manna from heaven I heard about as a child. Maybe Yahweh was making tofu up there and tossed his okara down for the sojourners in the desert who were complaining about not having enough to eat. I think a lot of believers are in for a big surprise when they walk through the pearly white gates and find out that all Yahweh makes is tofu. If you want to be happy in heaven, eat tofu every day.

  • Close to Perfect

    closetoperfect

    I had a feeling this loaf was going to be good. Relaxation is the main ingredient for making bread. After mixing flour from Skagit grown wheat with water and salt, I let the dough relax for twelve hours, folding it a few times as the wheat flour relaxed. After adding my levain, I let it relax another twelve hours, again folding it a few times to see how the dough was rising.

    There’s not a lot to making good bread. Most of the time the dough is just relaxing, and I am off doing my own thing. After relaxing for so long, the dough pretty much shapes itself. There is no need to knead, no need to fuss. When it feels like a soft, baby’s butt, the dough is ready to bake. A light coating of olive oil once it comes out of the oven keeps the crust soft enough to cut easily, and yet still crisp and flaky.

    I baked a close to perfect loaf of bread today. Our cat, Rusty, had a close to perfect nap.

    rusty