My friend Celia, from Fig Lime and Cordial, sent me a sourdough starter from Australia a while ago that has been languishing in the belly of the fridge until I ceased my globe trotting.. (not quite ceased but never mind). Yesterday, stuck inside with snowstorm outside, I started the starter up. Her name is Priscilla and Celia has asked all the recipients of her sourdough to rename their sourdough starters with a reference to the mother – Priscilla so I called mine Bob – Bobsilla (kind of like Priscilla do you think?). She has very generously sent these starters out all over the world. 
Anyway young Bob is now wildly busy and active so last night I began to make some bread.(The black dress diet is officially over “Thanks Gods” as my German Godmother would say). As a great kindness to me and my other sourdoughly challenged friends – Celia posted the simplest of bread recipes on her site – with pictures, I have always had trouble with my sourdough breads sadly resembling depressed hard cowpats. It took the chickens DAYS to even peck through the crust. I could have used them as water bowls. I needed pictures. So this morning I am in the last stages of making a good loaf of bread.
Yesterday it gently snowed all day. Big wet benevolent flakes.
Soft and still, the wet heavy snow slowly built up to about six inches, it was above freezing most of the day so there were incidents of whole avalanches of wet snow sliding off the roof with solid Thwumps which set Ton to barking thinking we were being gently bombed by an apologetic army on the roof.
Being Sunday, and The Matriarch’s day to cook lunch, we drove into town, very slowly. Here is the drive. 
Our lane. 
The closed ashphalt plant.
I love this beautiful old broken down service station that was a restaurant about 70 years ago. I really want to buy this place. Really. Really. It is called Three Mile Corner being three miles out of town. I know I need to save for a truck first. Though I have a feeling this plot might be cheaper.
Local farms all tucked in on a sluchy snowy salty day. The roads are salted frequently so that they do not ice up.
Not much traffic.
And into town.
Later, back at the farmy, just about chores time, of course, the wind wooshed around to the North, the temperature plummeted as the wind picked up and the snow became Driven. Driven snow in the eyes hurts. The temperature continued to drop so fast my ears were popping.
The barn suddenly became noisier, manic. Early to bed tonight, I said to the pigs. No walkies. Poppy and Sheila were fighting, after being inside all day, scrapping like naughty children. At one point I got so sick of Poppy screeching that I used my teachers stern voice, raised it above the clamour and told her – “Stop that Immediately, Poppy, I cannot hear myself THINK. Share your hay!.” Mid battle both pigs went silent and slowly turned their great piggie heads towards me in surprise. Blinking. I heard the kunes wheel and scuttle quickly, on short legs, bottoms wagging, towards their own pen.
Hmm, I thought.
Thank you, I said.
I turned back to making their dinners. Chopped vegetables, fruit, eggs, yoghurt, warm soaked alfafa cubes. Godot flew down from his three story perch, landing behind me. Silent. A good boy.
Dinner? He breathed.
Of course, Godot, I said, I have been waiting for you.
Sheila snorted in a most unladylike fashion.
Good morning. Today I am going to order the next aquisition in my chicken enterprise- an incubator for hens and peacocks eggs. (I will grow all the chickens for my own freezers and hatch the next laying flock from the farm this year) You will remember that we have these two big beautiful new roosters. I have never had an incubator before so if you know anything about them I would be grateful for the information. I will be getting one that I manually turn, the mechanised ones are astronomically expensive.
When the sun rises it will be interesting to see what this wind did to all that snow.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
88 responses to “Sourdough and Snow”
I hope you have great success with the sourdough and hatching chicks is easy – you won’t have any trouble 🙂
Glad you didn’t get buried in feet of snow! mind you the wind can make some impressive drifts when it gets going! turned my calendar over to February yesterday and there I saw a lovely picture of a sheep leaning against a tree as if listening to it. Of course my brain had to add a bubble with the words “I can hear you breathing” LOL,
Must get some sough dough started and start making bread again. Have held off for a while as my kitchen is so cold in the winter i have trouble getting anything to rise.
It looks like it was a good sourdough day. We had tons of snow and then freezing rain on top. Now waiting for the temps to plummet. A baking day sounds good! Great photos!
Those photos are quite simply gorgeous. Stay warm, love, and greetings to the farmy.
Thank you. https://selmasiri.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/a-cold-confidence/
Brrr, but beautiful. Good luck with your bread project. Good to know the teacher voice is still in good shape. Piggies falling silent. That’s some voice! The wind is blowing today with a chilly breeze, but no precipitation. Have a good day, Celi.
The morning snow description was beautifully calm, while the evening description sounded evil. Good luck with the sourdough.
Love, ViV
Great set of pics….like a Coen brothers movie!
I love that the snow photos look like black and white, with accents of color added in, like the stop sign. Sheila and Poppy startled into silence with your Teacher Voice. Funny! Keep that one in you sleeve! I can smell the bread from here! We’re getting another 16″ today on top of the 29. Sheesh!
it is quite mad isn’t it, I call it my sepia world..
ISo fun to go on a drive with you.
I envy your sourdough. I’ve never been able to achieve success with my gluten free flours and a sourdough starter. It smells so brilliant. I love the sight of the farmy and surrounding countryside tucked up under a fluffy white blanket. All is hushed, even the pale light is filtered and muted. Everyone has retreated into their warm homes. That’s the time I used to love to go out and make big footprints. Not any more!
Stay warm—I know all your animals are happy you are home even if it is cold and snowy out. I find it difficult to believe that you can not make sourdough bread! I think that must be a fluke — you are such a wonderful cook and baker from all you share here.
I make good Kefir bread. Have just got the sourdoughs out of the oven and they are VERY good.. I am excited.. c
I love my havo bator incubator. You can check it out here. http://muckingmoms.com/2014/05/13/chicks-in-my-future/ Raising chicks is lots of fun!
thank you buffy, I am looking forward to it, particularly the roosters for my chicken stock.. I can never get enough of that.. roosters are the tastiest!
I have a few extra roosters that are going to be stock too! Too bad they are so pretty! I steamed my fresh eggs yesterday! Thank you so much for that tip! It worked great!
it is easy isn’t, I have not boiled eggs in years.. thank you buffy.. c
As you know, we incubate all our own eggs, manually, and it’s pretty easy. Particularly hen eggs. Two points; always turn your eggs an odd number of times each day, so that they never rest overnight on the same side. Also, if your incubator doesn’t have a humidity guage , then buy one to stick in there as humidity is important, especially for the last three days when it needs to increase. If it’s too low, the chicks may be unable to hatch as they are too dry and become ‘stuck in shell’. Good luck!
Christine
thank you christine, excellent tips.. stuck in the shell sounds quite nasty!.. c
As you know, we incubate all our own eggs, manually, and it’s pretty easy. Particularly hen eggs. Two points; always turn your eggs an odd number of times each day, so that they never rest overnight on the same side. Also, if your incubator doesn’t have a humidity guage , then buy one to stick in there as humidity is important, especially for the last three days when it needs to increase. If it’s too low, the chicks may be unable to hatch as they are too dry and become ‘stuck in shell’. Good luck!
Christine
I didn’t know your grandmother was German. We have to get together to make potato pancakes. My Norwegian grandmother neglected to teach me her German recipe and I have been searching for years on how to get it right. Ya know I thought about buying that place on the corner toward C town too.
Godmother.. she is a great cook though, I can ask her if you like!
My mom made potato pancakes all the time. We would eat them for lunch ( which was our dinner ) with apple sauce. My friend in Germany also makes them with a quark cheese sauce . I don’t have my mom’s recipe but I think I can duplicate it. If your interested let me know. I could even post it on my blog.
have emailed you!.. c