The Journey Begins..

 

So it seems that most people got into sourdough during Covid time (2020-21).  i admit, i was already baking bread regularly, and didn't really understand the appeal of sourdough.  We have a local sourdough bakery here in Floyd, VA and my daughter started bringing home loaves from them and they were super delicious. 

So when i had the opportunity to review a sourdough  starter, i jumped at it! This sourdough starter by Sunrise Flour Mill worked wonderfully. i have never made sourdough before, and was really a bit clueless about the process. The starter comes dried and includes a booklet on how to activate your starter and bake your first sourdough loaf. The instructions say that you can bake with your starter on day 5, but my kitchen is pretty cold and my starter was not ready.

 i continued to feed it and ended up moving it closer to my woodstove. It seemed to like that and began bubbling and doubled it's size after just a couple days. It has a wonderful sourdough smell. If you have never made sourdough before, i suggest watching a few youtube videos of the process before you start.

 The booklet does come with written instructions, but i found i needed the visuals from video tutorials to really understand the stretch and fold technique and the shaping. One of these days i'll put together my own sourdough video to show my process. 

This is my very first sourdough loaf. It wasn't perfect, but it was delicious. One of the fun parts of  sourdough starter is that it's a living, symbiotic culture of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria that needs to be fed. If you are baking regularly, you can leave it out on the counter and feed it daily. If you don't plan to bake regularly you can keep it in the fridge and feed it once a week.  Each time you feed it, you'll want to discard a portion of starter first. The discard can be given away to friends  as a starter, or you can save it to use in discard recipes.  Since starting my sourdough journey, i'm now making bread 3 times a week and cinnamon rolls and bagels once a week using the discard. 

So, i'm a little late to the sourdough game, but i'm completely addicted now that it's cold and i'm stuck inside.  i'm sure once garden season starts my baking may slow down.  Although i can already imagine the amazing garden fresh sandwiches we can make with our homemade sourdough. 

My usual disclaimer- i received this product at no cost in exchange for an honest review, my opinions are my own. As an amazon affiliate i earn a small commission from qualifying purchases

We weave because we have to...

 

i currently have about 40 handwoven dishcloths available. Most singles and some tied together in neat little bundles of 3. These are made with 100% cotton and are washing machine safe.

It's not often that i have time to sit, and these require sitting. i used to only make these on long car rides and sitting in hotels while traveling.  The last couple years there has been a lot of that. So i've spent a lot of time with my loom. What was once just a fun craft i did occasionally, became a much needed respite.  i don't weave for fun or just to make dishcloths, i weave because i have to.  To care about weaving is to be in touch with a 10,000-year-old human tradition that binds us to our ancestors and to each other.  

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 If you've been following my summer adventures you know many of these were woven at various outdoor concerts and music festivals.  Sierra Ferrell, Del McCoury, Molly Tuttle, Sister Sadie and more! So i do believe each dishcloth holds the spirit of the music & magic. 😉 Of course each one is also made with love. ❤

In the evenings i've been working to get them finished and listing them in my Ko-fi shop.  Each set has 3 cotton dishcloths, woven on a loom and finished with a crocheted border.  These sets are $15 per pack. i also have individual dishcloths for sale for $5 each. If you are local i can meet up in town this weekend. For everyone else, i do ship. For anyone interested the looms are made by my FIL.  You can find them on Etsy in the BigFam15 shop, i believe mine is the 10" mini loom in oak. 

Many people weave all of their lives without knowing that it is not cloth they are after. (Attributed to Henry David Thoreau, but not exactly his quote.)

Stolen Moments.

“I've seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write... and you know it's a funny thing about housecleaning... it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman. A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectability) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she "should" be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.”  

-Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

IndestrucTable® ECO™ Table by Iceberg Enterprises Product Review

 

It's been a minute since i've done a public product review, but i recently got the chance to try out this IndestrucTable® ECO™ Table and wanted to share my experience! Over the summer i used one of our regular vending tables outside to pot some plants, and a surprise rain storm pretty much destroyed it. So i was looking for a new table that was multi-purpose. i wanted something that would work for vending and could also be used outside when we're camping or to start trays of seeds etc. 

One thing i really like about this one is that it's really easy to set up and it folds up for easy storage. It has a carry handle for easy transport. It's also really heavy-duty and is advertised as being environmentally friendly. The tabletop is made from 90% post consumer resin. It also has heavy gauge 1” bamboo green powder coated round tube legs for stability. It's described as being lightweight, but i found it to be pretty heavy (for me). i had to have Kenan do the unboxing because i couldn't lift it out of the box. i have a smaller folding table that is significantly lighter, but it's also not as solid or heavy duty as this one feels. 

The table top is dent resistant and really easy to clean. It is slightly textured, not a perfectly smooth surface. i added the iGear™ Stretch Cover and did a quick set up of our vending table and really think it's great! Over all, i'm pretty impressed with it. It's a little heavier than i was hoping, but it really does feel solid. Iceberg Enterprises is family-owned business committed to manufacturing in the United States. You can read more about them on their website. https://icebergenterprises.com.

i received this product at no cost in exchange for an honest review, my opinions are my own. 

 #Tryazon #IcebergEnterprises #ecofriendly #sustainable #sustainability #eco #sustainableliving #gogreen #nature #environment #savetheplanet #green #ecofriendlyproducts #ecofriendlyliving #smallbusiness #environmentallyfriendly #greenliving #ad #productreviewer 

Eggs and Honey for Sale

Local folks. i'm in Floyd a few times a week and have extra eggs and honey available. Eggs are $5 per dozen. You can pick them up at our house or i can meet you in town. Connect with me on messenger to arrange pick up.

We have a limited amount of fall '22 honey available for purchase. If you are local you can pick up here, or i can meet in Floyd. For those that are not local we do ship.

Our honey is available in 1lbs glass bottles, 1lbs and 2 lbs plastic squeeze bottles and 8oz sampler jars.  My 8oz giftable sample jars are available as liquid honey w/mini honey dipper or crystalized honey with bamboo mini spoon.  They have a decorative fabric top and are perfect for gifting. 

You can contact me at m.me/enchantedtree  on messenger or email me at enchantedtree@hotmail.com