Bread and Gardening

My focus lately has been on baking and gardening. This blog will serve sometimes as a diary of those endeavors.

The latest bread baking was last Monday. This was the most successful bread baking yet because the bread rose well, and was big enough to be considered "sandwich bread".

It has a very good texture, and tastes subtly sweet. We still have some on the shelf, and it makes good toast, too.

The Swiss chard in the garden is looking really good. It is "Bright Lights", a multi-colored chard, that was started from seed in indoor pots on April 2nd.

I planted 3 type of lettuce from seed, also on April 2nd, and the most impressive of the 3 has been the Prizehead lettuce. It has big red and green leaves, and looks full and healthy. I have already been picking some leaves off some of the heads for salad. It has a mild, and appealing taste as well.

The zucchini is doing well, I have 3 plants and they are still small, but are already budding. So I will have to watch them carefully to make sure the zucchini doesn't get too big.

The other squashes I have planted are butternut and buttercup. The buttercup was ready to transplant first and is doing well. It is bigger than the butternut.

Veggies are growing

This past weekend of sun really made the veggies in our garden happy. I was concerned that I had put the seedlings out too early...some say they are just putting out their seedlings now, some already have...wasn't sure if I had really goofed this up. But, they are looking pretty good. Here is the Swiss Chard, Brussel Sprouts, and Red Leaf Lettuce, getting bigger every day. We had lots of rain, and then it warmed up. That really made it nice for these little plants.

Tonight it is raining again. Warmer, but wet. Good.

And tonights news says there is a bear in Shoreline, last seen less than a mile from our house at Twin Ponds Park! How exciting! I am making sure the cat is inside tonight before I go to bed.

When baking bread is more than it seems

I am thinking that perhaps baking bread is somewhat theraputic, in that it is a simple basic task that one can do, be successful and feel satisfied. It is creating something, fulfilling a need, and providing nourishment. When the world around you seems too chaotic, unfulfilling, and just too damn frustrating to deal with...bake bread!

The Dishwasher Dilemma

We decided not to replace our dishwasher when it pooped out on us. This was an important decision because it, 1) saves us money, 2) uses less power to wash dishes, and 3) gets us more storage space in the kitchen, which, if you have seen our kitchen, you know it is clearly a necessity for our family.

The other part of the dilemma is that our old dishwasher is still sitting out on the deck. We have to find an eco-friendly and economically reasonable way to get rid of the non-working dishwasher.

So, washing dishes by hand is really not so bad. And, actually, hand-washing dishes is the kind of task that puts you into a meditative state, so that you can do it while thinking of things that seem important at the time, and all the while you are also getting some work done!

I have heard recently, I think on the radio, that lately people are replacing their DW's less, and choosing to wash dishes by hand. This may be because they are unemployed, and have more time for dishwashing, so they can justify the logic of it. If they were working full time, a dishwasher might just make alot more sense.

Still, at the moment, I am happy with our decision to not replace our dishwasher. And that extra storage space, however quaint it may look with the curtain and all, is sure nice.

Planting

Did some more planting today, and Patrick and I put a netting over the raised beds, mostly to keep the cats out. Would hate to find those cats digging up our new little seedlings.

We have some strawberries up on the deck in hanging planters. We are hoping the squirrels will not get them this way, but the birds may be a different story. Tomorrow I'll be planting some herbs in a big pot which will go on the deck.

Getting Stuff Done

It's been a cloudy, rainy day, and the sun would not shine. I walked early in the morning, but mostly stayed inside, working on small design jobs, and puttering around. Time goes by fast when working on the laptop.

I have moved the zucchini sprouts out into the garden plot, 3 of them. I hope I don't regret it later. Pat suggested we keep one plant for just growing one, giant zucchini and entering it into the zucchini olympics at the end of summer. Worth a try, I guess.

I'm helping mom tomorrow, and meeting my old boss for dinner later. It should be fun, haven't seen her for awhile. The news from the old place should be interesting. We're meeting up on Capital Hill at a place called Café Presse.

Garden Prep

The sprouts are growing and getting bigger. Today I added some worm castings to the garden plots and actually planted some tomato starts and a pepper. Our seedlings are doing well and I have transplanted the lettuce into small pots. The egg carton compartments only hold so much.

I am looking forward to moving the seedlings into the garden in the next two weeks. I will have to move them to the deck during the day for hardening off, and once it warms up a little bit more, it's show time!

Here's to sun, and growth, and future salads!