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Bread
It is early morning as I write. The oven is on and the bread-dough is out of the fridge resting on the counter, after its overnight retard and today I begin work on ‘Neighborhood Loaves’. So many people in this neighbourhood have been so kind to us - I want to be able to thank them properly.
Often.
Plus I bake way too much bread to eat!
The Neighbourhood Loaves will be smaller - more of a gift size. Big batards would be too much bread for a person living alone whose wheelbarrow I borrowed. But I will bake the small loaves together in the big Dutch Oven to help the loaves rise higher and softer and hopefully create a natural division.
The Dutch Oven I have here in Melbourne is so large. Too large really.
I am on the look out for smaller cast iron or enamel baking vessels with lids, to bake small loaves. Creating a new collection of pots will take time (especially as they all have to be second hand) but I had to leave my old collection of cast iron behind in Illinois. Just imagine trying to fly with those heavy pots!
The Compact Kitchens Garden. The city garden with the country heart.
The first garden is developing fast. The soil is still too soft so I am planting out seedlings I found on special and sowing a few annual greens. Later I will bring in a few perennials like blue berries and rhubarb.
What is all the litter across this garden about, I hear you say?
Firstly these seedlings will wilt or get burnt in strong sunlight after being inside at the plant shops - they need hardening off, so I cover them with whatever I have handy and give them limited exposure for a few days. Boxes work well.
Secondly: I am discouraging cats. This is beautiful soft silky soil. A cat magnet! So until my seeds are sprouted and strong - or I am IN the garden- the bits of timber and cardboard remain. To keep cats off my big beautiful litter box!
The cut offs of timber also divide the sowings. I sow in blocks - not lines. Dense plantings deter weeds - as we discussed the other day - nature abhors a vacuum.
There is a tiny coolness in the air in the burbs this morning.
A wee respite from the heat of the last few weeks.
I always start my day with a cup of tea and writing to you here and on alternate days writing to my people on my old blog.
Imagine being old enough to still have a blog - even admitting I have a blog feels so old fashioned. The kitchens garden blog is my mother ship. Some of my readers there have been with me since 2011. It is where my online writing began. It is where years and years of documentation of the struggle and learning to live self-sufficiently on a little farm in Central Illinois is stored.
Self-sufficiency and sustainably and eco-friendly. Those words go nowhere far enough to describe my vision. Life is a swirl of ideas.
Bread. Just out of the oven.
See how I can break it into two halves. A work in progress.
Have a gorgeous day.
Celi
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