L Anderson

PS, regarding the titles, I like the last photo.

And yes - I will definitely be backing the kickstarter.

Ohhh - reading the list of recipes — I’m already in love.

Regarding the photos: I like all the breads - any one of them would be great.
I also like the photo of the buns. They are beautiful and just begging to be eaten.
As are the pancakes. I really really like that one. To me, it shows something really different. Something you eat with a knife and fork, not your hands. Something you can build a delicious meal around without too much trouble. Something you can’t just pick up at the bakery, or even a restaurant. Something that isn’t often found in sourdough books.

In summary, my vote: 3 items (everything comes in 3s, right?):
Bread of your choice, sandwich buns, and pancakes.

Am I correct that there will be other recipes using sourdough in addition to loaves of bread?
If that’s so, perhaps if that was conveyed on the cover it might inspire more interest. Even if another “product” was included in the existing bread photo.

PS I like using einkorn too (but I do like a crunchy crust ). There’s not a lot of guidance out there. I’ve tried it in a variety of recipes, some written for einkorn, others not, and some work, others don’t.  I guess the lower gluten content makes it a wild card. Frequently I just substitute a portion of other  flours with einkorn. Usually that turn out ok, but not always. Perhaps it’s differences in hydration?
It might not be something you want to tackle in your book.
But if anyone has any tips I’d be happy to know them.

Paul Fookes wrote:We have an older cat that chews and scratches until the skin is weaping and then develops scabs that she licks.  We put some diatoaceous earth on her coat and it healed up everything very well.  It is safe to eat so no problems and adds to their calcium intake. Our method is to dip the fingers in the packet and use what sticks to rub in.  No tools, no problems.  Around the tail and front is very important.  If there are microscopic mites or secondary bacterial infections which are undetected, it will kill them and prevent reinfection.

I did that with a pygora goat. Worked great!

We had a Papillon that scratched like crazy. (Gus. Augustus T. Coltrane. Aka Gusseroni Pupperoni. May he rest in peace.)

It all started when we took the dogs with us to central Florida on a duty visit. Once we got into town we made a beeline to a vet office to get the pill for Florida dogs (sand fleas and something else that I can’t remember).

About 5 days in he was scratching like crazy. His belly was bright red. We tried many things, to no avail.
(Note - as we were packing up to leave, we found a half melted pill. He had held it in his cheek for at least an hour, including a second car ride, and eventually spit it out. The other 2 dogs swallowed their pills and were fine.)

Over the next few years he had scratchy trouble on and off. Miserable. Nothing worked. We lived in central California then.

Subsequently we moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon (shout out for the  best vets ever).
They suggested we try an injection. I wish I could tell you what it was. I just remember it was something “natural” that “sometimes works.”

Well it worked! That poor boy got relief. About 3 times a year he would start scratching again.  Another shot. Relief.

If anyone wants to know about this shot, do a post and I’ll call the vet to see what it was.

Hello:
I would love to be a tester or a reader or both.
(Good) bread is the one food I never get tired of eating.

I have experience making my own (wild) sourdough using regular wheat flours as well as rye.
For the baking, of course I have experience regular wheat flours. But over the last few years I’m more interested in flours that, with the exception of organic whole wheat, are not stocked in my local grocery stores.

I just did a purge of flours of doubtful freshness.  So at the moment, my flours on hand include standard unbleached bread flour and sprouted whole wheat (and oats of course), as well as dark rye, einkorn, quinoa, and chickpea flours.  I am enthusiastic about branching out into other heirloom grains/cereals, wheat and otherwise.

I would love to have an excuse to experiment with more varieties of heirloom flours of any sort. I’ve been in a bit of a baking rut and just reading about your project has got my pulse racing. I’m always up for bread, but am also enthusiastic about doing more experimenting with other sourdough recipes.

I don’t mind at all buying ingredients.  If I can’t find locally (I’m in Oregon, south of Portland), I’m would order them online.  That’s actually a plus when it comes to being able to buy a wider variety heirloom/heritage flours sourced from smaller producers.

Unfortunately I don’t have an interesting  oven. I don’t enough have space outdoors to devote some to a Cobb or rocket oven.  So I just have a regular electric range and a toaster oven that does convection. Oh, and a regular wood burning fireplace.

As I said, if you can use me, I could be a tester, or reader, or both. I have a good deal of experience writing for wide audiences.  Never about food, but more often  the subjects were on the technical side, usually research oriented.  Over the years I have received good feedback from all sorts of groups who were pleased with their ability to understand complex subject matter after reading my written (or oral) presentations.

I’ll stop there.
If  you don’t need me, I’ll just buy your book.
(But of course it would be more fun to work through the process.)

I LOVE  what you wrote for the back cover.

And I loved your Landrace book.

I’m excited about the new edition.

Just a couple of observations about things that have occupied my friends and me lately:

Someone said something about community - it made me think of community gardens. All different people planting all different things using all different methods. Is this an opportunity or a challenge (or both) when what other people do affects one’s own plot by virtue of such close proximity? Having found myself living in town and wishing for more growing space I am pondering joining a community garden, if I can find one. They are amazingly scarce around here.  But if I do, I will be wondering about that.

And of course climate goes without saying.  But it’s feeling like it’s more complex than just changes in precipitation and temperature.  For example, last  week there was quite a discussion around the table amongst our weekly knitting group. People were noticing their gardens seem to need more water than the “new” normal has begun to require -  even when the temperatures are not much higher.  We came away wondering if the air moving through our valley from elsewhere (Willamette, about 20 miles south of Portland) is simply drier now, independently of what’s happening on the ground, so to speak? Drier air that is absorbing our water on the ground at a faster rate, holding temperature constant.  Or maybe it’s just breezier now?

And what is rapid weather change doing to the soil critters and pollinators and small animals on which we depend? Will some multiply like crazy while others retreat? Regardless of what  we plant or how we treat our soil? We’re  already changing our choices of plants, especially perennials of all sorts, in response to weather changes. But while we can ensure that we provide them with food and water and shelter, we really don’t have a clue whether there are other new things we might be thinking about in response to these rapid changes that we’re not already doing.

Just some new to us thoughts.  We knitters are all in observation mode now. And some of us are focusing on experimentation. Any advice for guiding us toward the known and unknown future would be most welcome.  

Note: just a little bit of a rant, a good time to stop reading if you’re in a hurry. It’s not aimed at your work, or anybody on permies that might be reading this, but rather a note regarding the relative dearth in “the literature” in general, which is why I’m always hopeful when a permie is doing the writing.

We are women in our 60s, though our experience is most definitely not limited to our age group. But I will talk abut me and my ilk (people I know).

Most of us have lived on acreage during our lives and a very few still do, but most of us now live in town.  We very much appreciate gardening/climate/saving the world in our backyard strategies that can actually be implemented in our backyards- usually a quarter acre or less, including house and garage and paved driveway and mandated setbacks. There are thousands upon thousands of acres “spent” on these types of households, but very little literature focused on how to improve our ecological footprints, help to feed ourselves, and foster natural diversity, in a systematic way (systematic is Key).   There’s a lot we can do, but there’s simply not much good guidance aimed at this demographic, regardless of age group. We do read material whose target audiences are those with more resources (land, mostly) and then work to figure out what we can generalize to our smaller scale, and more importantly, how to do it so that the impact is worthwhile. But it’s a slog.

In other words - lots of us on small lots are not dreaming of the award winning bug free flower garden and two perfect tomato plants surrounded by a chemically manicured lawn trimmed weekly by a nice man with loud gas powered tools and a backpack sprayer. But we do live amongst them. I do my best to lead by example. So, I’m always in the market for more examples. Of the systematic sort. As well as ways for me to do more with the efforts I expend.

Sorry. I know I’m preaching to the choir. But sometimes I just gotta let it out.

Mike Barkley wrote:https://permies.com/t/169305/a/160206/h-bee-blueberries.jpg

The tree directly behind the truck with another visible to the left side are blueberry trees. Not just blueberry trees but 20 foot tall blueberry trees. There are 20 or 30 more next to the truck but not visible in this poor picture. They were planted right after WW2 by a veteran who lived deep in that forest. He was a hermit there until he died many years later. He determined that blueberries would grow well in that area so he ordered a few & planted those 20-30 original plants. There were no other blueberries grown in that state at the time. They did so well he started propagating them from cuttings & from the suckers that form. Spreading them to farmers & ranchers all across that area. Suckers seem to be the most reliable method. One of the neighbors ultimately developed 300 acres of them & created a commercial blueberry business. We also had 3 more orchards of about fifty 8 foot tall bushes each. The point is suckers seem to work better than moving an entire bush or tree. I sure miss those huge blueberry trees. I think a road trip is in order soon. Almost harvest time!!!

WOW!

I was moving. I had 2 blueberries (and 2 thornless raspberries) that I had put in the ground 2 years prior. The blueberries were initially purchased in 5 gallon pots (the raspberries, 1 gallon).

In only two years they were bearing more than I expected, and the fruit was delicious. So when I found I was able to move (again) to a more suitable place, I decided I would try bringing them along. One complication was that I didn’t know exactly when the move would happen, but I did know that I didn’t want to be digging them up in the middle of summer. .

So I cadged some really big pots from a friend, and dug up the plants in very early spring, before they showed signs of life. I dug them so that I could move them with  as much of the soil they were growing in as possible, since I didn’t know how long they would be sitting in those pots. As it turned out, they were in them for a couple of months. They had all started putting out leaves and flowers by the time moving day arrived in the middle of May. There were even berries beginning to appear on the blueberries.  

Once moved I got them into the ground pretty much immediately (before even all my belongings were moved).  I assumed I would lose the berries for that season, but I didn’t! Nice surprise. They didn’t set additional berries, so my crop was tiny, but I sure enjoyed them. The plants stayed healthy and grew through the season. I am very glad I brought so much soil from their previous home, because the soil here is solid clay (well, with a fair smattering of river rock) that the developers piled here in 1992 and had never been improved. I also planted a comfrey slip next to each from a big plant that I also dug up and moved - I figured they could use any help they could get.

Anyway, as we approach the end of our first year post-move, they are all budding out beautifully.  . I’m pretty amazed at how successful it was.  So my advice? Go for it.

Oh - a note in the 2 raspberries: I ran out of steam, and only one got planted. The other stayed in its moving pot until a month or so ago. I’d had a lot to get into the ground (I even moved a small plum tree), and digging into hard, compacted clay, and having to make holes extra big so I could include amendments purported to help break up clay without creating cement, was  quite a project for an old bat - especially since I was simultaneously moving, managing repairs and upgrades, etc.  But guess what? Both lived.. They didn’t give me berries last year, but the are already leafing out this year - and the one that lived in the pot for almost a year is doing just as well as the one that got planted quickly.


So again, I totally think it’s worth going for it. You might lose production for a season (but maybe not, if you can get it done before the new growth starts, and it’s not 90 degrees in the shade when you are transplanting). But regardless, you still end up with a more mature plant than if you bought replacement, which also wouldn’t give much the first season. And, you already know you like the berries they give. And of course, it certainly saves $$$!

Regardless, I see no harm in putting it outside rather than in a landfill or ocean or an incinerator.  Even if it did break down more quickly, the average person likely doesn’t have enough spare hair to generate much fertilizer anyway.
But it’s been a fun discussion and I’ve enjoyed it. And, anytime I can put something outside, whether in the compost, to the worm bin, or as mulch, I’m happy to keep it out of the garbage. Every little bit helps.