Drop Dead Cute

Crusty Fresh Bread

I have had the book, The Best Bread Ever, by Charles Van Over, on my shelf for years collecting dust. I have been wanting to learn how to make really great bread forever but all my attempts have been sadly disappointing...until now. I had one of those out of the blue I need to make bread NOW moments. I blame it on being pregnant. I made his basic recipe and added chopped dried figs, apricots, sour cherries and raisins. And then I figured while I was at it I'd make a loaf with chopped dried apples and pears. They turned out not only beautiful but tasty as well with a wonderful crust and it was ridiculously easy. He uses a food processor which not only does all the kneading for you in 45 seconds but keeps the mess down to a minimum. My next experiment will be using his recipe and varying the retardation period to see how it affects the flavor and texture. And then maybe I'll awaken my starter and have a go at a sourdough rye.

I normally would write out the recipe I followed but it's necessary to read the chapter on his basic recipe and technique. It's easy but more info than I can write here. Maybe borrow it from the library or a friend if you don't want to buy the book. As badly as I've been wanting to make great bread I've put it off for so long because it seemed so daunting, time consuming and messy. His method makes great homemade bread realistic.

Farm Day

Last weekend was Loudoun County's Farm Tour. We had so much fun last year we were counting down the days for this years. Jack had a blast with the chickens...all 600 of them! We got to collect eggs, feed the chickens, have a picnic lunch, pet farm puppies and horses, see chicks, turkeys, ducks, sheep, a rabbit, lamas, alpacas, pigs, and goats, eat homemade ice cream, buy some plants and have an all around great time. There were a lot of wineries on the tour as well but that wouldn't have been much fun being preggers and having a toddler. Maybe in a few years. I highly recommend going on the farm tour or checking out to see if there's a local one near you.

Sent from my iPhone

A Bed of Cucs and Peppers

Once again here I am. Wondering where I've been? In the yard. My days are filled with dirt, worms, and plants and I'm enjoying every minute. I'm not at all impressed with typepads app but I don't have the time to get out the camera, take pretty photos, download them, edit them, write something, add all the hyperlinks, etc. So fast and sloppy is going to be my method, for a while at least.

My sweet hubby built me two garden boxes this spring and today I finally got to transplant my lovely seedlings that I've been babying in my basement under lights for the last month or so.

One of my neighbors has a bamboo forest and happily let's us take what we need. I've been making trelliss like crazy - more on those another day. Today I threw a simple one together for the cucumbers at the end of the box. A wonderful way to save room and keep your veggies from pests and rotting.

I like to cut up plastic bottles and use them as collars around some of my plants as you see in the photo. Again, helps keep pests away. Nothing worse than waking up to find cut worms have found your delicate new plants. Also, I discovered that they saved my plants from the torrential downpour we had last night. Somehow saved them from being plastered to the dirt like my squashes.