A rustic bread, what am I reading and Dorochia update

Homesteading and winter give me visions of warm crusty bread.   Aprons on and hands dusted with flour with kitchen islands cleared off and made welcome for bowls of rising dough.

There are two recipes I am thinking of … one is of 90 min dinner rolls. I used to make these a lot when I had hungry boys to feed.  Now they are all grown and with families of their own I haven't made them much. Snow is due again this weekend and the crockpot will be full of pork to be converted to barbeque pulled pork.  Buns will be needed to hug these little delights. These will be made tomorrow.

But first  a rustic no knead bread made in a Dutch oven. I love my Dutch oven. This is where I started this morning.  It is easy and quick prep but needs 3 hours to rise.  I found a quick video HERE and thought I would give it a try.

Was it easy and did it work?  The simple answer is yes and yes.  I think mine would have risen higher if it was such a cold day and since I went out to run a lot of errands I didn't have the wood stove continuously going.  Other than that I love the way it turned out.

I will make this bread again... and again... and again. 

What are we "reading" ?

Listening to while making bread...

Here's a Dorochia update...

peace 

Growing in small places, birthdays, what am I reading, crafts

It is winter but that doesn't mean I stop growing plants.  I love them and need to be surrounded by them. 

My indoor basil continues to grow, ever so slowly. 

These wily plants get a shower once a week and squeal with delight so loudly even I , a mere mortal, can almost hear them. 

They work hard all day purifying  our dry and dusty  air. 

The trees are working hard to grow and doing well. 

Out in the greenhouse the garlic thinks it is spring. Either that or they are darn determined to grow not taking notice of the season we are in. 

I offered and gave the wee carrots, lettuce and spinach a drink of water.

We got up to almost 50* F. 

Hello my wooly friend. 

Birthdays and cards 

I wanted to get a proper start to the year and organize all the birthdays.  Years ago I rescued this birthday organizer from the trash when I was working.  I put it to work today... finally.

You can tell it is old but it works.  I couldn't put very many cards in each pocket so I think I may make a new one from a binder. 

Here is how I organize birthdays at a year's glance.  It is posted inside a kitchen cabinet so I know right where it is. 

 My cards are ready for January and two sent out today . 

Books

I decided to branch out on my reading. I usually only like to read nonfiction and educational books. Last year I joined a book club to expand my reading to fiction. Here is my challenge for the beginning of this year. 

Here is where I am beginning....

Listening to... Travels with Charley in Search of America

My historical mystery is this one … A Curious Beginning.

Creating

I began a couple of new projects. This one I have seen for a few years and always wanted to try. It is a temperature afghan.  I am crocheting one row for whatever the temperature was that day.  Remember, I am trying to only use what I have so the colors may be a bit off. I love that it is only a row a day.

Here are the first two days... paddy green and light periwinkle. 

Then I saw that my friend Kelly Ann put out a wool challenge of doing one penny hexie a day. I have only ever worked with wool , as in fabric, once and jumped at the chance to improve. 

Now don't judge... smile... this is my first attempt.

Again, I love that it is only one a day.

Then the quilt along I am following is this one. I am way behind since I am only beginning but I can't wait to dig in! 

That's it.  I need to see to my  crazy dog. He is doing his best Snoopy imitation. 

peace 

Day 10 of the Jesse Tree (sorta)

Most of the day was spent spreading Christmas Cheer delivering food and giving rides to appointments. They gave us great cheer and love. 

In one of the hospital waiting rooms... not sure why they have a Sleepy Time tree.  hmmm....

I so busy and on the road, so, when I needed to think of what ornament to make for our Jesse Tree, I called my sister while I was out being a Christmas Elf ...for what was the symbol of the day. She told me the lamp. I asked, are you sure? I thought it was the ten commandments.  She even said, let me check, yep the lamp. 
Well, I got home late and started making one for the lamp. Now , I am posting and looking for the reading ...and ... it ... is ... for the ten commandments. ugh but I am way too tired , sooo I am posting for Dec 15, the lamp.   smile. Stuff happens, no biggy. 

Today is really December 10 - Israelites: Exodus 20:1-17 Symbol: Ten Commandments  and I will think of something tomorrow but let's pretend it's the 15th... 

December 15 - Samuel: 1 Samuel 3:1-18 Symbol: lamp 

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

² One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Our tree is beginning to fill up. 

Time to relax. I got a bunch of Christmas books during the summer when the library was giving away books. 

I got this one in the mail...

This will be my spot for the next hour or so. 

Yes, this cup will soon be full of chamomile tea. 

peace 

Tuesday - coop cleaning, garlic planting, quick crochet and what am I reading

Yesterday we took a day off to get away and road to the mountains.  It was a gorgeous warm day... 70's on the plains and upper 40's F in the mountains.  Snow is due this weekend but for now, it is beautiful. 

We drove up to Breckenridge, Colorado. 

 It was a wonderful day together. 

We will be taking the Georgetown Loop Train sometime in the near future and stopped to get inspired. 

Today I went to the grocery store... well, a big box warehouse to get big stuff like laundry soap, softener, cheese, salt(which I found out they didn't have), coffee, and water. Dude went to return the plywood we just bought... wrong size. 

Later I got garlic ready for Dude to plant (he wants straight rows, I roll my eyes). Dude planted 66 cloves of garlic today.

We giggle because when I got home Norman only uses his dog door to see who is here. 

Next up I need to clean the three bird houses.  We have 30 hens right now.  While I opened up the coop to clean the boxes and living area they girls decided it was a good time to go exploring. 

The cats thought it was a purrrrfect day to sun themselves.

I kept cleaning.  They will begin laying any day now. 

All  the manure goes to the compost pile. We had two wheelbarrows full. 

Ahhh sooo clean. 

Next the bird house... nice and fresh. 

They love to come in to inspect and toss the chips around where they would like them to go. 

Ready for egg laying. 

The hens see their coop is all clean and off they go to arrange the chips and inspect my work. 

Made some fall dish cloths.

What I am reading. 

Time to frost and decorate CAKE! 

peace