Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Spring is a weird time for me. I have sleep problems, tend to get a lot more creative and a fair bit more reclusive. My mood gets off. In an ideal world, I could go out to a little house in the woods and be alone for a few days here and there in the season to write and cook and go on long walks and take naps and read and generally unplug. It's not an ideal world. I steal my moments where I can and resist the temptation to throw the breakers and plunge the house into something requiring quiet conversation, candlelight, and peace.

I have been baking bread. My God and I had an interesting conversation a little while back about what He might like for offerings. He was excited about my kitchen skills, saying that it seemed like nobody really makes the simple things that nourish and sustain anymore. So here I am, learning to get the basics of bread down so that I can venture into the specific kinds of things requested of me. It's pretty wonderful to have fresh breads around, to be able to turn out such good things with my own hands and a few simple ingredients (and about three hours to sit around the house). I am glad that He is patient, because this is harder than I had expected. Let's hope the mead I made mellows out soon since that's on the request list, too. So much of the mead I've had hasn't been very good that I'm not sure if mine is ok or not, or if maybe it just needs more time.


It rains here almost daily, and there is clover almost up to my knees and wildflowers everywhere. The dogs literally leap about in front of the door like baby goats before they go outside to play chase and hide and go seek out back. When they come in, their paws are stained green from the clover. We go on long walks at night, walking up our little country road listening to the frogs and toads, dogs and coyotes, and sometimes the small sounds of people inside their houses. It's a time for physically draining days and afternoon naps with the dogs where the breeze can wash over us.

Perhaps this week it will not rain so much, and the ground won't be too much of a bog for walks out into the fields to gather up plantain and thistles and dandelions and such. The herbs in my garden are rejoicing - exploding, practically! I hope I can get the seedlings to be as successful. The tobacco plants I picked up to make my own sacred smoke seem to be coming along steadily. The plan is to find a spot for them this weekend because they're outgrowing their containers...

2 comments:

  1. Bread making is wonderful. Do you knead by hand or use a machine? I knead by hand, it's great stress relief. Also having to wait between stages means I get to practice improving my patience and do a bit of reading. My favourite book on bread making is this one: http://amzn.com/158008186X, it really helped explain what happens to the dough and how best to knead it.

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    1. I do a bit of both. Hand kneading is my favorite, but I love having a machine I can dump everything into and walk away from for plain old sandwich bread. I appreciate the book recommendation! It's been added to my list. It would be great to understand what's happening and be able to achieve more consistent results.

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