Flat

On By CarynIn Bread

I made two loaves of sourdough this past week. The first came out just as it was supposed to, with a good rise and nice texture. The second did not rise. To save the bake I cut it into thin slices and toasted the slices to make a kind of breadstick (which worked great). As I sliced the bread, it made a face at me.

Photo description: slice of flat sourdough with a jack-o-lantern like face made by random air pockets

Hm. I suspect that I didn’t give the sourdough starter enough time to recover from the first bake and subsequent feeding. I should have left it on the counter rather than put it back in the fridge if I was going to bake again so soon. And the outside temperature dropped between the first and second bake, and the second bake obviously needed more rise time, but making a face at me was really uncalled for.

Throwback Thursday: coop

On By CarynIn Coop

At the beginning of January 2019 my husband was building me the Fort Knox of chicken coops in our meadow beside the house.

Photo description: framing for the coop up at the edge of a meadow

From trail cam footage we knew we had raccoons, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and skunks in the area, as well as roaming neighborhood cats and dogs, so to keep the future chickens protected, he built a large shed, then later framed out the run area and covered it with hardware cloth (metal mesh). All around this future coop we buried more hardware cloth (not poultry wire, that isn’t strong enough), to prevent animals digging into the coop and runs.

January 2019 was also the month I started this blog. Hard to believe that has been over seven years, rapidly heading to eight.

Growing season 2

On By CarynIn Garden

I planted some turnip seeds at the end of summer to see if I can make use of Texas’ second growing season. The seeds have at least sprouted!

Photo description: turnip seedlings

If the seedlings continue to do well I’ll have to thin them, as turnip seeds are very small and I had trouble distributing them evenly. I’m a little worried that I waited too long, but it has been so blazing hot I was afraid seedlings would just cook in the heat.

Caught my eye

On By CarynIn art

Well done to the person who placed the stickers on this work vehicle.

Photo description: back door of a work van with a Discover, Mastercard, Visa, BBB, and two circular marine stickers
Photo description: same photo but I’ve drawn lines showing how the stickers were lined up

I appreciate a sense of detail. That said, my photo was taken at a stop light with my phone through a dirty windshield. Sigh.

That’s it

On By CarynIn Garden

My pumpkin vines have been merrily growing and spreading all summer. There was a setback in August with the high temperatures, but the vines persisted and continued to send out new trailers, but there has been no other production. No pumpkins. I get the start of a pumpkin, then it goes away.

Photo description: pumpkin leaves with one small globe forming on the vine

I don’t think the patch gets enough sunlight for pumpkins. My basil is happy, there, though.