We lit the fire.
I have bits of half eaten pizza all over the counter after the family took their bites and left but the bread dough is still proofing. I have this theory about extending the period between adding the levain ( or yeast) and adding the salt. The autolyse becomes a pre-ferment then becomes a dough. Two hours between each step. So dough laying about on the counter is a given on the weekend.
There is a wind flying about the house today! It is colder but not yet cold. John lit the fire and the house is full of the scents of fireplace and roasting pumpkin and garlic, with murmurings of rosemary, that will all become a soup later with Pizza Bianca on the side.
The chooks are laying less now with winter approaching. But the ducks are suddenly laying more – sometimes the barn yard makes no sense.
The pigs and chickens are all getting extra straw in their beds this weekend. I have been bringing home shredded paper from work for the chooks but the wind sucked it back out of their house yesterday and is still hurling it about. That wind. So I made a bit of a mess. Nothing I can do about that now, except wish paper did not have to be bleached quite this white. At least it is biodegradable. I hope.
WaiWai has incorporated his blankets INTO his bed. He is determined to show me that he does not need Tima to keep him warm.
The cows are loving their extended fields and laying in some winter fat on all the late clover.
They are a bunch of fatties – high on clover!
Take care now.
Celi
38 Comments on “We lit the fire.”
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Reading your blog is like reading a poem. You feel the words. Winter is whispering here too. One minute it’s too warm and then we are looking for extra layers to keep warm. We are all over the map. Paper almost needs to be covered to keep it in place unlike straw. A fire sounds so cozy. I did have to turn on our furnace one night so far. Really glad I don’t have to sleep in the barn though I have been adding on layers of fat to get me through the winter. 🙂 That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Keep taking care of yourself.
Good morning lovely. I think a woman of a certain age does well with a few extra layers. Keeps us looking young!
You do make me laugh. You wisp of a woman with the strength of steel. I’ll get there again. 🙂
Mmmm your day smells so good. I love the cooler weather’s fragrances. We’ve packed our woodfire up for the year. I have a foccacia in the oven, I split the dough and add tea-soaked then drained dried fruit mix to half but both halves are baked in the same pan so the fruit and plain melds together in the middle… a grind of smoked sea salt unifies it. Smells good. We have company joining us for Sunday lunch so I roasted a couple of chorizo, have some cheeses out and a few jars of things in the fridge. Recent spring weather has been hot but there’s rain forecast this afternoon. We need it.
Oh – a good chorizo is brilliant did lunch with friends. I hope you got your shower of rain!
We did… 4 ml and raining again now ☺
Yay!
I am always happy to hear about you getting rain.
So nice to read your blog and catch up!
Good morning Kerry!
Yup, leave the salt out as long as you want; it’s there to strengthen the gluten in the end. I’m about to move my trailer onto my property, then things get real. If you’re interested follow my haphazard videos 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv6hqUcjUhZgeXcgl1Rfuzg?view_as=subscriber
Doesn’t life just keep barreling along! I am excited for you – and mostly looking forward to you starting to bake again!
Here it is Saturday night and a blog entry from the kitchen’s garden! Such a shiny beautiful face. This truly is the most intense time of year. I am reading a book for the second time called « Women Rowing North » how to navigate life into old age. One thing I want to learn from this book is how to RESPOND,NOT REACT. I’d love to be able to do that.
Respond not react. I like that – I will look for this book. Enjoy your Sunday!
It was 0 Celsius here this morning so a fire sounds lovely! Winter is on its way.
0 is a nice frosty morning. Are your geese back yet?
Our geese are here filling their bellies and getting ready to head south.
Yes I awoke to snow on the ground on Friday. Nothing serious. Just a reminder that winter is on the way. I love the science you’ve set with the family visiting and the warmth and smells in the house. All the animals are getting prepared. We can learn a lot if we watch them. The ducks? Well that’s a mystery. Thank you for letting us visit.
Those ducks are a mystery! Such a happy bunch – they do not like the wind I guess and spent most of the day under the truck.
Hello! I’ve loved reading everyone’s comments as well as the post itself. It’s almost as if the cool air, the scents of the season, the hunkering down and the will to meet what comes with grace are threads binding a blanket around us all.
It’s true. I think it is the scents.
How strange to be imagining the scents of winter when I am in the heat and humidity of the tropics. We’re on holiday up in FNQ and I opened and read your post to experience almost a real chill, and a wish for socks and soup. Roasting vegetables and baking bread, compared with the scent of jasmine and frangipani. I wish you a kind winter, Miss C. Not mild, but not brutal. Cold is bracing, it sharpens the brain, and I miss it sometimes in this languid climate.
Jasmine and frangipani together is a mix I have never experienced. It sounds sumptuous. Have a lovely time!
Such lovely images in your words! The house sounds wonderfully cozy. I hope you have a good winter.
So do I. But I dread it. Usually I go to NZ for a few weeks of the winter so it is a double edged sword this year.
It must be hard to miss going to NZ. I hope you can get there next year
I am always anxious because of that ban.
Your kitchen must be so warm and welcoming with all those wonderful smells. It’s getting colder here too, the last few years October here has been incredibly mild, this one seems different in more ways than one.
Often we have snow on Halloween but we are not nearly that cold yet.
Wai may come to like Tima yet!
I’m making ginger wine and I’m amazed by how much sugar the yeast devours – it tasted like Christmas cake to start with but after a week it it was like a much drier, yeasty ginger beer – 6 to 8 weeks left to go. I hope it’ll be good, it’s a fantastic winter warmer
Ginger wine! Will it be fizzy like ginger beer?
No it’s supposed to be flat. It’s an old fashioned drink, quite popular here mixed 2 or 3 to 1 with whisky (called a Whiskey Mac), to warm you up in the winter. My favourite brand is Stones of Finsbury, which dates back to 1740.
fat cows! What a disgrace! What will the neighbors say?
I know. Appalling really.
so much beauty……thank you for sharing.
My husband couldn’t wait to get our big brute of a woodstove going for the season, and since we had a spell of quite cold weather, it felt good. But of course, the last few days have been very mild (needless to say it’s a pain to let that stove go out totally, so I have had to be creative with window openings…). And so it goes. Great to see your fat cows, they actually don’t look fat to me, just sleek and healthy! Give WaiWai some good scratches for me.
Thank you for the beautiful description of the fire and around the far. It sounds so soothing. https://www.wisdomforpennies.com is my little blog.
I will! Love to you all too!
Hello,
I can relate to the girls (cows) that is and winter is not here yet.