Oh, the life I lead now!
Lots of food! I live in a life of frugal plenty.
Which reminded me of a story:
When I was a young solo mum with too many children and not enough money; I stole toilet paper.
TOILET PAPER!!! 💀😂
Unashamedly!! (But only if there was more than one spare roll. And only if it was the kind with the cute wrapper. Plus I never stole one ply. I mean, a girl has her pride).
And mostly my loo rolls came from the local community college where I worked as a life drawing model once a week. They paid me to sleep, naked of course, and I was always hungry in those days so I had ‘good bones’! Anyway it was a great job for a young solo mum with too many children and not enough money!
And yet I stole their toilet paper any chance I got!
I carried a huge handbag then – still do actually!
GREEN SOUP
Any greens. I had kale and spinach, red stemmed silver beet still loitering in the garden. Pick a big bowl of them. Chop and char the edges in a dry cast iron pan.
Caramalised onions. Two.
Garlic chopped and charred. ( the charring adds an extra round of nuttiness to an otherwise quite bland soup. But don’t go crazy:
Cover in good chicken stock. Simmer for at least an hour.
Season and blend – I use a stick blender.
Then while I am waiting to serve the soup I drop a whole halved and charred lemon to raise that taste profile another step.
And a whisper of freshly grated nutmeg.
BAGUETTES
There are four stages to my baguettes.
1. The first evening:
1/3 cup Red Fife flour . A tiny bit less than 1/3 cup water . Pinch of yeast. Stir up, place a plate on top of the bowl and leave on the counter overnight. This is the sponge.
2. The second day around noon:
Mix all the bubbly sponge with about one and a half cups of water and 1/4 tsp yeast. Give it a minute then add 1cup of Red Fife flour and 2 cups of a High Protein Bread Flour. Lastly: 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.
Mix.
Stretch and fold three times over the next hour.
Set aside to rise for 3-4 hours.
3. That same evening:
Cut the dough into three. Pat into ovals. Roll up twice and gently roll out into fat sausages to construct the baguettes.
Allow to sit overnight, on a tray, in the fridge, under a damp cotton towel. I have a heavy linen cloth that I flour and roll between each baguette to keep the shape.
4. On the second morning:
Allow the baguettes to rise on the counter, as the oven heats to 450f . Slash.
Bake in a steamy oven for 25 minutes.
You know how I hate writing out my recipes – so adapt as you see fit.
Ducks are more fun! The ducks are going back into their duck house at night. Very obediently I might add.
I am still catching the odd hen and putting her in the henhouse and hauling all these big roosters out. I love rooster catching nights. They are big strong fierce birds and it gives me great pleasure to get them off the backs of those girls.
I have rooster catching gloves!
Now: How about a cow! Such matronly ankles!
Think like a cow.
Sunset over a field of wheat.
Did you see this?
Too funny!!
Cecilia
☀️Live simply so the planet can live Large
🦋Be the Butterfly
The Kitchen's Garden 
25 responses to “GREEN SOUP AND RED FIFE BAGUETTES”
That last video: #lifegoal
I am so sorry – I did not see this comment until now – you were sent to comment purgatory! Pop in again! Hope you got some baking done!
Your photos are so beautiful and your little movies are so much fun! And your words are so wise! Have a lovely day!
I am enjoying baking the little movies!! They are my new thing!
I love it… frugal plenty. Cucina povera in Italian… I recently read a great article asking can you garden your way out of poverty. There’s a link in my November blog post. Enjoying our frugal and fabulous meals we often say “imagine how much this would cost in a cafe/restaurant”. Your soup and baguette would be a hot seller.
Yes! I seldom go out to eat over here. The food is just so much better in my own kitchen!
Ah – soup and baguette- perfect meal
It is Beth! So wholesome.
ROFL – I love the parade! I bet those baguettes taste good, along with the soup.
Always a parade! Every day!
Fantastic!
Yummy sounding soup! I’m going to try.
Lovely pics and videos. I have missed your farm friends.
I think they missed us too! Being able to work remotely is such a bonus!
That delightful video reminded me of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn! That BEAUTIFUL cow, somehow l didn’t think you had any cows now. Lovely food stories! I too remember being a single mum of lots of children and so identify with your loo rolls story! We are so lucky now!😊
We have two cows.just for beef but this white cow is quite the stunner.
So Sorry C, but I lost all interest in the delicious food when I saw the animals, especially that last video!
– isn’t it a trick? It even makes me laugh!
You are obviously the food service girl. Everyone looks to be ready for their meal.
The power of the bucket!
I would be dropping a handful of barley into that soup for rib-sticking. The Husband takes home made soup to work every day, and it’s either barley, lentils, chickpeas or brown rice in the mix, but for this beautiful green soup I’d have chose the nuttiness of barley. Beautiful, Miss C!
Ce, your animals love you and follow you like your students 🥹💛
Life is hars as a single Mum with heaps of children. I am trying to generate other steams of income. Inland revenue is not cool tho
Love reading your updates! You are the sweetest writer 💛
Just loving having you back on the farm again! The parade video of feeding time is fabulous!!! 🙂
It is a lark!
My garden was my salvation when I was a young single mom with two kids and not enough money!
Oh yes! Absolutely! We grew a ton of food in with the flowers!!