One of the side effects of the pandemic is a gradual back-to-earth trend. Our footprint is significantly reduced as we limit our wandering about. We are more resourceful and some of our tribe who never cook are suddenly engrossed in conversations about sourdough starters and what to do with the discards. It took an pandemic, but this Earth Day, we may all be a little bit closer to earth.
We’ve been doing “earthy” stuff too and in honour of Earth Day 2020 here are some of our back-to-earth highlights:
In the kitchen
We are baking many loaves of bread. Tony and the bread machine are mostly very successful with some delicious results.
We are eating the breads way too quickly…
We made rye buns
and filled them up with hamburger.
I know, not a very earthy food, but trust me it was really good!
We are using up our precious yeast very quickly so we are in the process of making a sourdough starter. There are lots of recipes online – we followed the instructions in this video.
Below is a picture of day 2. Five more days to go.
Discard is a byproduct of making a starter. You need to remove half of the starter before you feed it with more flour and water. Some people throw it out, yet others prefer to use it in other recipes. We belong to the second school so we’ll try some discard recipes for crackers and crumpets and we’ll let you know how those turn out.
We are always on the lookout for eggless recipes and these Mexican Wedding Cookies are beyond delicious and eggless!
In fact, they were so delicious that we finished them before I could take a picture of the baked cookies.
outside
We started a yard clean up of leaves, brush, and fallen branches.
The vegetable beds needed some TLC in anticipation for spring that may come some day.
The compost is ready.
This is pure black gold!
We started some seeds indoors, but that did not go very well and all of the pots developed a fuzzy layer. Luckily, a few cucumber seedlings made it and we are hoping that they’ll survive the deadly fuzz.
We are going for walks in the forest and we are very thankful for that.
Fallen branches do not go to waste here.
Bird talk
We’ve been feeding the birds all winter.
Here we are working with wood and feeding the birds at the same time. I love this cute feeder that Tony made.
Giving the birds shelter (and working with wood)
I wonder who will take residence in this bird house. We still need to find the right location for it.
In addition we are waiting for the hummingbirds to arrive (if they let them cross the border). We can spend hours watching these little buzzers. Take a look at this map that will tell you when they are in your area and put out some sugar water for them!
I am sure that there is a lot more we can do, but all in all, we have a pretty full back-to-earth life. On the other hand, we may have to abandon some of it once we are able to be back on the road, but we are enjoying it while it lasts.
This post was inspired by Second Wind Leisure Perspectives photo challenge for this week. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us. You can like our Facebook page, share on your favourite social media page, or drop us a line to tell us about your experiences. When you shop via our links to Amazon.com in the United States, or in Canada at Amazon.ca we will get a portion of the sales.
I remember leading some teach-ins back at my high school on the first earthday 50 years ago. Today I am participating in some online sessions. Your participation is far more practical. I am exhausted just reading about your tribes accomplishments 🙂
I didn’t mean to wear you out 🙂 Oh, and we didn’t do it all in one day either! In reality, we spend a lot of our day sitting, browsing online, and wondering what we’ll eat next…
As the globe did a Fred Flintstone “footmobile screeching halt”. I do believe “sustainability” or “self reliance” is on the minds of many these days. People now have the time to try things out. We started planning on our veggie beds, but our grow season is very (very) short. What to grow? Maybe buy market veggies and dry them for winter or jar them?
Bread-wise Fatimá has a “lazy” bread maker’s recipe of one of the bread types she makes. It’s my favourite, crunchy crust, chewy middle, mid-evil looking loaf. Straight out of the wood stove oven, hot and steamy, melted butter, with fresh coffee . . . oh, what a treat!
I might film her making it for our YouTube channel; if folks are interested?
Great idea! Please do 🙂
Hi, thanks for linking up with Sunday Stills! I think you linked in the wee hours while I was sleeping so I just approved the ping back. Your photography is fabulous, but the best part is your “homestead” back to basics philosophy! Baking homemade bread, composting, gardening, all wonderful tasks we can do to help ourselves and our Earth. I hope our days of quarantine will spark a new normal for being mindful of being more down to Earth (pun intended)!
Amen to that and thank you! Please ignore my frantic emails 🙂
No worries, I’m glad you let me know 😁
<3
Haven’t you heard that the President wants the border opened up? The hummingbirds will arrive!!!👍
But please don’t rush the gardens. We had a good coating of snow this morning! Keep eating cookie dough 😂
Oh, you crack me up every time 🙂 Oh, and we also woke up to a snow covered lawn this morning.
Yeah, sourdough is a great way to make bread. I am not in either of the discard camps. The whole discard thing put me off starting my Levain bakes for about 3 years. Then I scored some Mother from the local bakery. I do not discard any other. I do either a regular or mini 5 day feed to renew my starter. After the 5 day feed, I store my Levain reserve in the fridge for 30 days. If I have a lot of reserve, I do a 4 loaf bake and a mini feed to renew it after 30 days and then put 600 gms reserve mother back in the fridge. On my full feeds, I bake 5 loaves and 3 pizza crusts on day 6 and then put 2 tubs of 600 gms each reserve in the fridge. I have been doing this for 3 years now and getting pretty good results with our waste. We seldom buy bread these days. Levain pancakes and bagels are to die for. Happy baking. Allan
Thanks for this. Sounds like you got it down to a science! Do you bake your bread in a regular pan?
I actually have a lot of cheats, so I guess I am not a purist. I do not feed the Mother twice a day, just once in the morning with the whole day’s proportions. I mix the dough with a Kitchenaid about 2 hours after my day 5 feed, do at least two folds over the next few hours, put it into pans in the early afternoon and bake it in the evening. I use regular loaf pans. I did buy 2 cast iron loaf pans which are the best for heat transfer. I oil the pans and then flour coat the bottom and sides, so the loaves do not stick. When I bake at 450, I cover the loaves with foil for 40 minutes and then expose them for the last 20. I use a thermometer to make sure they all racy 200 degree interior temperature, before I turn them out to cool. It has been a slow learning process for sure, but so worth it. Can’t believe we ever bought bread from Sobeys and Cobs. Stay well. Allan
Thanks! I actually stopped for a bit, but I can see myself getting back into making this type of bread. In the meantime, we do bake regular breads as much as possible.