Missing Willow Farm

We got away from the farm for a much needed vacation for a bit (hello, Bermuda!) and came home to a bounty of spring veggies ready to harvest.  We’re going to have the best garlic harvest ever.  This is just the start.  The shell peas are delicious in risotto and the carrots are fabulous roasted in olive oil and blood orange balsamic vinegar.  The shallot was just a test pull, the remainder of the bed will be harvested in a week or two.

And Bella, and Kat, and Savannah and four more of our sheep who were killed by three neighborhood dogs who crawled under our fence last night.  We caught one, the sheriff caught another and one got away.  We were within our rights to kill the dogs but decided to let the county euthanize them instead.  It’s a very sad day here.

I’m continuing to baby the sourdough starter I made in baking class.  I’m kind of amazed that we began with just flour, water and a little honey.  It’s picked up wild yeasts from the atmosphere.  I feed it twice a day with organic flour and well water.  Our chickens eat what we can’t use.  They love it!

I started an experimental batch of cocktail bitters this past weekend.  It’s got orange peel, dried cherries, cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean, cardamom pods and cloves steeping in vodka.  After a few weeks I’ll strain out the solids and add a little simple syrup.  Summer cocktail season is just around the corner.

A dove has built her nest in the eaves of our back porch cover just above where we have dinner every night.  She must have remembered the protected spot from last year.  We tried to discourage her but she’s very persistent, so we’ve decided she’s welcome to stay.

My latest obsession… pottery buttons.  The majority of the designs are from stamps hand carved by me.  These are typically purchased by both sewists and papercraft artists (who use them as embellishments in their art work).  They’re labor intensive to make but so much fun!

This is what I brought home from baking class last night, I still can’t believe I made these!

We started with flour, salt, water and some sourdough starter. It took a while to get the messy mixture to come together.

Our dough spent some time proofing while we started even more bread.

The finished dough spent some time overnight in the bakery’s fridge. Some of our loaves rested in round molds called bannetons. Right before they went into the oven, we slashed the tops to allow steam to release during baking.

Around 30 minutes later the loaves were removed from the oven.

We made so many different kinds of loaves!

Remember the miniature bakery I posted a few months ago?  https://missingwillowfarm.com/2016/02/17/a-miniature-actual-bakery/

I just got back from a two day sourdough bread class from the actual bakery (LaFarm Bakery in Cary, NC).  Chef Lionel Vatinet was a masterful teacher!  It was super fun and won’t be my last outing there for training.

Jack hides from our sheep behind the watering tub that’s the same color as he is.  Pretty tricky!  Lizzie keeps track of the action from her pasture.

Plowing our potato bed.  We mostly use the tractor to scrape our driveway and move large hay bales.  Once a year we’re happy not to have to turn our in-ground potato bed by hand.  Very happy.

We stopped buying compost a few years ago because we’re able to make our own.  We’ll use it to supplement all of our garden beds.  We use the tractor to scoop it into the back of the Mule, which has a lift gate on the back.   Anything to minimize shoveling by hand!