I'm several weeks into this post-newspaper season of my life, and time is simply flying.
Seems like it flies whether the days are long and hard or the pace of life is more relaxed.
Is that a sign of "getting old?"
I've been busy and content here on the farm for the most part, but during the infrequent times I do get out in public, I'm being asked what I've been doing.
Wellll, you asked.
For starters, pun intended, I think I'm growing a new hobby!
I say "I think," because my intention was to cut back on carbs this winter and focus on building muscle instead of fat.
However, habit or some other mysterious force compels me to bake during the winter months.
So I thought I'd try my hand at making sourdough from scratch. Starting my own starter, if you will.
That process begins with mixing flour and water, pretty close to equal parts, then setting the mixture aside in a bowl, and allowing the wild yeasts of the air to ferment it into this fragrantly sour-smelling bubbly mess that can then be added to dry flour and worked up into bread dough. 
I fed my starter more flour and water for five days, baked two loaves of bread from it and made sourdough crackers from "the discard." 
I think I needed to let the dough rise a little longer, but I was in a hurry for fresh bread!
Ivy liked it! With lots of butter and sweet tea.
Because I loved my baked goods so much, I intentionally used up all the starter. Fresh bread is too carbo-licious to resist!
But, as so often happens around here, good intentions go by the wayside.
A couple of weeks ago, someone gave Hannah a starter, which she fed for a few days then divided with me.
Well, I certainly couldn't let the poor thing starve, so I fed it every day until I had another bubbly seething bowl of sourdough starter just begging me to bake something.
I made two more loaves of bread, most of which is gone already--I'm not telling how many days ago I made it.
Anyway, I find the whole process fascinating, that delicious bread can be made from fermented flour and water (sourdough starter) by simply adding more dry flour and salt, kneading it a bit and giving the leavening time to work/rise. It's crazy!
I've taken to watching You-Tube videos about it at night. There's a gal with a blog called Farmhouse on Boone (I think), who bakes all the yummy things with sourdough starter or sourdough discard. (Discard is basically when your starter goes a little flat and needs feeding again. But it would be sinful to actually discard it because you can make pizza dough, pancakes, waffles, etc., etc., from it. And crackers. I mentioned crackers before, but let me tell you a little about them. They remind me of Cheez-its! I love Cheez-its.)
Besides learning all about sourdough, I've also decided to learn more about wild edibles. I want to become a bonafide forager! 😁
I found some mushrooms in January that I researched to the point I felt mostly comfortable eating them. (They were wild oyster or winter oyster mushrooms.) I took a deep breath, said a little prayer, sautéed up the 'shrooms, then my hubby and I ate them.
We did not die!
Since then, I've been hunting for them a couple of other times, but I haven't found more---yet.
But I will!
Besides foraging and baking, I've been poking around in dusty corners of the house, sorting and tossing and passing along a few things I no longer need or want.
On pretty days, and I'm happy to say there have been quite a few of those this winter, I've been cleaning off flower beds and garden spots, and playing in muddy puddles with the grand-babies.
Look at sweet Kelce in the doghouse!
I think I'll call it "Cottage in the Trees" or something real unique like that, he he.
Our little "Cottage in the Trees," undergoing renovations.
Look at those blue skies! I love hanging sheets on the line on pretty days like this--in February!!
We've also been blessed with some pretty sunsets this winter.
