SourDough Revisited

I have noticed that my hobbies and interests run in cycles. It is now June. The garden is all planted and I am not having a new baby; so we are back to sourdough.


See - garden all planted.

See - Caden is still little enough that I do not need a new baby, but big enough to play with the big kids. Perfect.
Time to move on to sourdough.


I have attempted sourdough in June 2004, June 2005, and June 2006. It has never worked. At least it has never worked very well. However, this is my year. I'm sure of it.

Why am I so sure, two reasons.

Reason #1 - This year I actually bought sour dough culture. Yes, I did. I know that Caroline Ingalls can capture her own yeasts and bacteria "by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand until it sours", but I have given up on being Ma. (I wonder how different those stories would have been if Ma had been the mother of boys instead of girls.)
Anyway, this year I bought culture from Sourdough International and I've got their phone number if I have questions.


Here is the Tasmanian Devil Sourdough Culture in a wide mouth canning jar mixed with 3/4 cup spelt flour and 1 cup water. Tasmanian Devil culture is supposed to be good with spelt, which is my grain of choice.

Reason #2 - Today I constructed me a "proof box." On our field trips to Fuddruckers and to Krispy Kreme Donuts, I took special note of their proofing cabinets. A proof box is the difference between professional and amateur. Of course, their proofing "boxes" are a bit large for my needs and quite a bit fancier than I need, but the science is the same.
Even temperature is essential to success. Critical to success. It is, shall we say, highly important! This year, I will have even temperature!

TA DA!

Classy, huh! I know you all want one for your kitchen counter. Don't worry, you too can build one. Oh, and also don't worry because my hobbies go through cycles - remember. Next month it will be moved to the garage and replaced with canning jars.

Here is the inside view.



There are some directions to building a proof box in the book that came with my culture which I modified slightly to come up with my own creation.

Items used:
Simple styrofoam cooler ($1.98 from Walmart)
cleaned up "chicken light" with a 25 watt bulb
dimmer switch for lamps (Lowes about $11)
probe thermometer with alarm feature to alert me if the temperature gets to high.

How does it work? Simple. The cooler is placed upside down over the jar. The light is turned on. The light produces heat. The heat is retained by the styrofoam of the cooler. The probe thermometer is inserted through the styrofoam to monitor the amount of heat produced. I use the dimmer switch to adjust the amount of light/heat given off by the light bulb to maintain the temperature between 85 - 90 degrees. The alarm is set to go off at 90 degrees to alert me to adjust the switch to avoid killing the culture. Fabulous! I love it!

I can think of a million uses for my new creation - raising my bread dough in it, keeping Randy's dinner warm on days he works late, maybe trying my hand at incubating ducks again.... The possibilities are endless! Happy Days!

If it works out, I'll keep you posted. If it doesn't work out, forget that I brought it up. Okay?

Contest Video

Here is some video of Colin and Robyn playing at the contest.
Colin is playing Florida Blues.
Robyn is playing Margarette's Waltz.
Have I mentioned how much fun it is to be their Mommy?! Gads, I love these kiddos!

A Mom's Gotta Brag!

Colin and Robyn played in their first fiddle contest today. They did AWESOME! I was so proud to be their Mommy!

They both played in the Small Fry Beginner Division.
Robyn scored 738 points out of 900. She played Liverpool Hornpipe, Margarette's Waltz, and 4-String Polka.
Colin got 778 points playing Woodchopper's Reel, Edelweiss, and Florida Blues. (I love Florida Blues - you can't help but dance when he plays it.) 778 was enough to send him on to round 2 this evening where he played Camptown Races. He ended up getting fourth place and a big trophy. How exciting!

I gave them each $5 to tip their accompanists, Scott and Skylar. When the kids tried to give them the money, they refused to take it and told the kids to keep it.
Colin said, "But my Mom gave it to me to give to you."
Scott told him, "Well, you get to keep it then. You earned it."
They took him at his word and kept the money.


It was a long day that started early and ended late. We got home just before 11:00 PM - the poor kids were all fiddled out!

Reading and Writing

We like to start young at our house. :)

Views from the Kitchen

As the mother of all these children, I spend excessive amounts of time in my kitchen dirtying dishes and then cleaning those dishes. I thought I'd let you into my life to check out the view from where I stand. It's a beautiful sight.

Not all Work

Spring time is not all work. We also are loving playing outside. We pretended we were camping this weekend. I cooked outside in the dutch ovens and Randy slept in the tent with Colin, Robyn, and Grace. Caden was kinda grumpy over his newest tooth so he and I slept in the house.

Spring Time!

I love spring time! This year is even better than last year - the kids are actually getting helpful! Fabulous!
The kids each have their own gardens this year. Colin planted strawberries and celery. Robyn planted corn and beans. And Grace planted every seed packet she could get a hold of. At least we squared her garden before she started planting so it is a little bit organized. She has a few squares of onions, some of carrots, some of radishes, a pumpkin, some beets, and several squares of lettuce. She has a LOT of thinning to do, but planting sure was fun! Randy is growing the tomatoes and peppers this year and I am growing broccoli, cabbage, peas, cucumbers, sunflowers, herbs, and potatoes.
The trees are doing well. We have tons of almonds, peaches, nectarines, plums, and a few cherries, apples, and pears. The grapes are growing like crazy and the strawberries are looking good. Hopefully the raspberries grow berries this year. I think I over fertilized them last year so all we got was leaves.

My Baby?

Do you see this boy?!!
He is walking all over the place just like a real kid. Today he decided to kick it up a notch and carry the broom all over the house.
Luckily the broom is big and not so easily lost as the other things he likes to carry all over the house, such as - the toothpaste, my deodorant, hair combs, the recorder.... He sure makes life exciting. :)

Painting

We are going to have to rethink how we do things around here now that Caden is a "big Boy."

Sand Dunes

Last week my Mom surprised us with a visit. We had a blast playing with Grandma. We took her to the sand dunes one day and to the park the next.
These are pictures we took at the sand dunes.