IKR.....the weird thing was that while it was in the 20's throughout the valley, it was t-shirt weather up on Mt, Hood
I can't think of a single reason. I have worms in my soil. I top dress with homemade vermicompost and a it's loaded with cocoons, if I move the top inch or two of soil I constantly find worms dancin' around. Added nutrient cycling, worm slime, added castings, air and water passages and good vibes - why WOULD'NT you want worms in your pots? J
Done! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjVtKsSZwE4"]The Jeffersons - MOVIN' ON UP - Closing Theme (Full) - YouTube[/ame]
Thanks mate! On the worms in pots front.. I have stuck 5 or 6 worms in each of my pots... would have put more but they only 6.5ltrs and I only wanted them in there to dig tunnels and the added castings!
Yoo I finally got some oyster shell but it was big pieces so I've grinded it up.. I'm now doing the same with a whole crab shell lol Will prob do a mix of 50/50 crab/oyster and top dress a tea spoon per pot as I didn't ad any calcium to my mix even tho there wasn't any peat It should still help with the over all Ph thing... It's strange this grow I haven't used m Ph pen and I couldn't even tell you where it was tbh..
Well, in this cold-ass weather being stuck in the house gives me a chance to bake! We've got a nice homemade chicken pot pie in the oven, which went in right after the bread came out...mmmmmm.... I could live on this stuff! J
What formula did you use Jerry? I found my stomach growling looking at your pics lol. I'm imagining the smells floating through your house at the moment
Right so I ground the crab shell up and the oyster as you saw.. This is a 50/50 mix is nice and fine.. spooned 6 tsp on to the scales came up at 36 grams so I divided it into 6 piles and will sprinkle it in top of my soil and re-cover with the mulch job done EDIT: sprinkled some worm casts on top too
Chunk, it's a basic French bread recipe. The day before make your Poolish - yeast pre-ferment and let it sit covered overnight. Poolish - 5 ounces (140 grams) warm water. Add 1/4 teaspoon dry instant yeast. To this slowly mix in 5 ounces flour. Cover and let it sit overnight for the yeast to activate throughout the mix. I am going to remove the weight of the Poolish from this recipe to avoid any math issues. The next morning add the poolish to 314 grams of warm water. Mix in 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt and 540 grams of (high quality - I use King Arthur) I bleached bread flour. Combine all into a shaggy ball and let it sit for a few minutes (gluten) and then knead for around 5 minutes and set aside into a lightly oiled (I use the spray oil) bowl. Allow to rise (fermentation) for around an hour and a half to two hours until its doubled in size. Degas gently and divide for smaller loaves. The loaves I showed used 1 of these recipes; I made a double batch this morning to get 2 loaves. Shape and set aside (covered with saran wrap) to rise again (proof) until its doubled again - right around the same amount of time. I use corn meal on the bottom so that it doesn't stick. I baked these at 400 degrees for 10 minutes with a steam pan in the bottom of the oven ( tin pan with a cup of water) to help rise to its potential. Remove the steam pan after ten minutes and bake for another 20-30 minutes - each oven is different so keep a good eye on it. The loaves should sound hollow when thumped. Allow to cool for 45 minutes before slicing but damn it, that is hard to do! (Waiting!) lol Enjoy! J
Sounds yummy Jerry! I love nice fresh bread from the bakery but must be even better to bake your own I bet! I love to cook just dont do it enough.. single bloke on me tod don't seem worth it...
Well, there's 5 of us in the house and everybody enjoys it, and it's pretty cold and we're stuck inside so - I won't as much in the summer but this is a good winter hobby. This was some organic oatmeal bread from last weekend (just weigh out/substitute some oats and remove that weight from the flour in the recipe). Here's some "regular" French bread (the Baguette & round loaf) that we had with spaghetti & meatballs... It really is crazy easy. Ya kind of need the weekend time to do it, not that it takes long (at all) but the fermentation and proofing times take a couple of hours each so you need to be around the house. Baking bread reminds me a lot about organics - there are definite similarities going on with bacteria and enzymes... J
J, That makes me itch just looking at it. No more wheat for me. I bet it smells absolutely fantastic. My wife was banging it with the bread before my bullshit happened.
Jerry, Have you tried making Peter Reinhart's "Struan" bread? It's a great bread for sandwiches and when I made it into rolls for a Thanksgiving dinner it was a big hit. Struan Bread | The Fresh Loaf
I gotta advertise, sorry . . . . . Join my thread, if you're interested. http://forum.grasscity.com/great-indoors/1169352-fermented-foods.html I tried some wild fermentation of my food last night, finally.
A good friend of mine made "beer bread" the other day, its almost thick and heavy like pound cake, but soooooo damn good. I'm guessing the beer is the yeast?
Is that a purple cabbage sauerkraut? We've been eating a lot of Kimchi from Costco and I've been looking up recipes. Gotta love the health effects of fermented food. I'm heading off to your thread right now Chunk
Thanks for posting this Jerry, I'll have to give it a try. Ever try sourdough? I had a great starter (fermented from grapes) which of course got better with age and was really into baking it for awhile. MrNoob doesn't LIKE sourdough though (can you imagine!?) so I quit after awhile...I was eating too much of it bread baking recipes