a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • 75% Is the Answer

    FreshBreadA

    I’ve been experimenting with the optimal flour to water ratio in the loaves of whole wheat bread I make, trying a little more, a little less, over the last few months. 80% water to whole wheat flour is a bit too much. 70% is not enough. 75% seems to be the optimal ratio.

    The other important thing is to let it ferment sufficiently. After mixing the flour and water and a pinch of yeast, let the yeast and other bacteria feed on it for a day, gently folding the dough occasionally. After twenty fours, add some salt, knead it in gently, and let the microbes gorge on the dough for another day, gently folding it occasionally.

    On the third day, with the dough fluffy from all the farting the microbes have done the last two days, bake it. The crust is crunchy, the inside fluffy with a nice chew, and the microbes have performed a miracle, converting the flour into heaven you can taste.

    FreshBreadB

  • And the Oscar Goes To …

    SalmonBerryA

    And the Oscar goes to … is it SalmonBerry in “Vermillion and Yellow”, Pepper in “Pepper Lays an Egg”, the Pear Buds in “Like Peas in a Pod”, the Daffodils in “Dancing Lemons”, the Plum Blossoms in “Fifty Shades of Pink”, or the Lilac Buds in “Together for Now”? Envelope please!

    PepperLaysAnEgg
    PearBudCluster
    MiniDaffodils
    PlumBlossoms
    LilacBuds

  • Ten Days

    ArugulaSprouts

    Ten days and the arugula seeds have sprouted and are sticking their first leaves above the soft earth. What do leaves feel when they first poke out of the earth, breathe the air, and feel the sun’s rays? Is it as momentous as a baby’s first breathe, a chick’s first peep?

    In about ten days the cherry buds will open and fill the air with their powder fresh fragrance. The quiet tree will buzz with thousands of bees. That’s momentous.

    CherryBuds

    The United Nations Environment Programme reported on February 26 that 40% of invertebrate pollinators such as bees and butterflies were in danger of going instinct. It’s so sad what we humans are doing to this amazing world. We are so incredibly lucky to have an earth so full of life. Every species, no matter how small or insignificant they seem to us, is precious, an important thread in the fabric of life so complex we can’t begin to fathom. We keep plucking these threads of life and throwing them aside, unaware that at some point, the web of life we depend on will be too fragile to keep us alive.

  • In the Hunting Stream

    InTheStream

    Special is being courted, but she’s far more interested in seeing what juicy morsels she can dig up in the stream than she is by the young rooster’s performance. Chickens enjoy hunting in streams. It’s not something you read about in books about chickens is it? “Be sure and provide chickens with a hunting stream.” Have you ever read that? Actually, you rarely read that chickens are adept hunters. I’m glad they are small birds. We’d be on their menu if they were giants.

    FreshlyCutWood

    Bit by bit, we’re preparing for next winter. There is a slow, steady beauty to cutting wood and stacking it. You spend all spring and summer cutting and stacking it, only to slowly tear down the stacks through fall and winter.

    NorthwesternSalamander

    We had a surprise this afternoon when we accidentally uncovered a wintering northwestern salamander. Before covering it up again, I took a picture. With the pond and woods, there seem to be plenty of these salamanders around. It’s always a joy to see one.

  • Pushing It

    PlumBlossomsA

    So many of the fruits we love to eat are so beautiful long before they become fruits. The plum branches we pruned bloomed when we brought them indoors. Soon they will be blooming outdoors too.

    PlumBlossomsB
    KohlrabiPlanting

    I’m pushing it, planting vegetables already. But in the garden I see the new leaves of last year’s vegetables which seeded: baby leaves of ruby streaks and kale poking out of the ground. If those seeds are sprouting, with luck the rows of kohlrabi I planted this afternoon will sprout too.

    The earth is alive with worms, bugs, and tiny winged things. Under the microscope this afternoon I saw a million creatures in a drop of soil: bacteria, fungi, amoebae, and nematodes. I’ve got to figure out how to hover over the delicate soil so I can weed and plant without compressing it. It is so full of life, that I take one step and a million creatures gasp under the weight of my foot, “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Helium wings? Zip lines strung a few feet above the earth so I can fly over it without putting any weight on the soft earth? Tilling is madness when your soil is alive. The earthworms, and bugs, and fungi, and bacteria, and nematodes, and micro arthropods fluff the soil with all their burrowing and scurrying about and chasing after each other, that the soil is airier and lighter than any tilling could possibly accomplish.