Why would you want dough that's sour?

 Let me preface this with "I Don't Know What Sourdough Is."

Something to do with yeast and keeping it around and alive. To what purpose I'm not really sure. Yeah, settlers to the wild west might have had sourdough, cause the local supermarket maybe didn't carry yeast.

Is the bread at Outback Steakhouse sourdough? I can't remember. Tasted... different.

I recently came in contact with the Weston Price Foundation. As in I heard about them and read some of their stuff. Apparently this dude was the dentist who traveled the world looking at people's teeth and attempting to form dietary guidelines based on people's mouth development and tooth condition. I think I read about him in the Paleo diet book as well. One of his premises was on the preparation of grains and you know western people are doing it wrong. We're supposed to be soaking, fermenting, sprouting grains. One method of which is sourdough.

Now I've read several diet books and they seem to largely agree that grains = bad. So to have something say, "sure, grains and legumes are ok you  just have to soak/ferment/sprout them" is a bit disorienting.

Coincidently, I also just read a book by Melissa K Norris of Pioneering Today podcast fame called "Home Made." It details making sourdough.

Should you eat bread? Wellness Mama is generally gluten free and argues that grains have little nutritional value and more gluten than in the past because of breeding. Paleo and Keto diets don't use them. I think generally for the calorie cost, you can get something a lot more nutritionally dense. But that makes having like an egg sandwich or taco or just taking a meal on the go a lot more difficult.

Don't get me started on pizza. I'm not eating that for the nutritional benefit.

So if there is a healthy way to eat bread, it might be sourdough. You can make most forms of bread, including pizza crust and sandwich bread out of sourdough. I'd say it probably still shouldn't make up a significant portion of your daily calories.

Says the person who's been eating everything bagels with sharp cheddar cheese on the top.

It's a community thing to share sourdough starters. That means they give you a bit of dough with a lot of the yeast living in it and you feed it flour and water and it grows and rises and you use some of it to make bread. Which I've also never done. Baking is not my thing.

But, as I'm looking at homestead-y advice online in Twitter and Instagram posts, I keep seeing sourdough. And my mom just got into sourdough. And I'm always looking to save a buck and hopefully get more healthy in the process. Could I maybe make my own bread? That wouldn't save a buck, honestly, only like 69 cents a loaf. Possibly healthier. How about my own pizza? If I bulk bought the mozzarella.

If I was a true homesteader, I'd milk the cow and make my own mozzarella. Ha.

Anyway, we're currently eating a Lotzza Motzza pizza and a Jack's (or other cheapo thin crust cheese pizza because that's the only thing the kids want but at least it's cheap) a week. Lotzza Motzza costs $4.99 a pizza if you find it on sale and possibly over $8 if you don't.

We find it on sale. We have a chest freezer. Look at us, stocking up like pioneers. On frozen pizza. Just like 'em.

Ahem.

Apparently wild yeast lives in the air. So if you just start setting out water and flour mixed in a jar, like a wild cat it will come and start feeding. And living in your jar. It takes a lot longer than store bought yeast and apparently you can't even make bread from it for weeks to months trying to start it this way (instead of getting a starter from a friend). It is the harder, less reasonable route.

Since I'm contrary and also don't want to feel like I received someone's kitten and maybe accidently let it die, that is the method I'm trying. I'm on day four?

No idea if its working. It bubbles. It stinks (apparently that lovely yeasty smell isn't this).

We'll see how it goes.

Viewing an acreage, take 4 and 5

 I need to actually write these when they happen. Cause I barely remember.

So Take 4 was south of town, maybe 20 minutes away. It had some charming elements, like a newer sun room. It was six acres-ish, near the house having more trees and a kind of dilapidated garden area. Some outbuildings, horse related. And then there was a wide open field. I forsaw goats. I don't recall the price, but I think it was more than we wanted to pay for the condition. Which is a shame, I really liked the land. I think one of the painful elements was that one bedroom could only be reached by passing through another. Awkward.

Take 5. It was a good half hour away, and in the wrong direction. We don't really want to go any farther north, because just about everything we drive to is south, like the nearest city and Matthew's family. So it was a big lot, with a decent amount of tree fringe. Outbuildings, with actual animals in them. An old barn/grain bin thing that would be fun to play in. It had a bedroom on the main floor and three or four on a second floor, nice and spacious. Not much of a living room. If I inherited the place, I'd make it work.

However, too far in the wrong direction for the price, and the bathrooms were a problem. On the main floor, there was a shower and toilet in the mud room, separated on by a screen. There was also a toilet and tub room, but I don't think it had a shower? And in one of the bedrooms upstairs, there was a small toilet room, with the sink right in the bedroom. Not really practical for three adults and three kids. Really liked those spacious bedrooms though...

Viewing an acreage(ish), take 3

 My mom sent me an Instagram post from our real estate agent, advertising a house on "almost an acre," and it was a surprisingly affordable price.

Not surprising when you look at the location. It was only a few minutes away from where we live, but not toward the outside of town.

I ended up really liking the place. It was a charming, dated, kind of farm-house sort of building. The bedrooms were bigger (+), there were stairs (-), and Auntie, Matthew's sister who lives with us, would probably have to claim the modest sized family room in the basement as a large sized bedroom. She'd get her own close 3/4 bathroom (+), but we wouldn't have the large play area in the basement like current (-).

The lot was lovely. A bunch of mature trees, places to roam and explore, more open places to maybe put a garden in. It was just sandwiched between a residential road to the north, a busy, faster road to the south, just west of another busy road. And not fenced in. And if we fenced it in, how would we get the cars in an out?

I think both Matthew and I were more tempted than we were expecting. But if I hate being one house down from a busy road (think, always have to wait to cross, then often book it) and I currently have a safe, private, fenced in back yard, then this would end up being a serious downgrade.

Keep looking. I honestly don't expect to find anything, given the current insane housing market. But who knows? If it's meant to be, then God is on my side. And if it's not... I don't need to move.

Taking Life Offline

Growing up, I loved SyFi and thought a lot of the connected devices and virtual reality was pretty cool. I looked forward to the future. I have a smart phone and don't know what to do with myself if I have to wait five minutes without it or Google every random question I and my kids have instantly. My recipes are largely kept in my Evernote app or Pinterest. Instead of baby albums, I have Instagram. I just bought expanded Google storage subscription because I couldn't bear deleting any more photos. I keep all my music in the cloud for easy access and my kids can't scratch up the discs that way.

But. Now people are talking about supply chain problems. Google is censoring stories and topics (and tracking your information to boot). Big tech is deciding what people can see and discuss. Whatever your opinions on vaccines, masks, covid response, whatever, I think you should be free. Free to read what you want, speak what you want, discuss, and do what you want. Get the vaccine, or don't. I'm against mandating it. Science is never settled, discussion should never be quashed in favor of "shut up and get in line because we're your betters and we know." The places that do that inevitably move toward not being for your health and wellness, but for their own power and good. Maybe there is more risk in America because of freedom, but I would rather take the risk of my own decisions than never have to make them at all. Not to mention that I do not trust anyone to actually be a completely unbiased pure caretaker of me and my family. There is nobody I trust to make all our decisions for us.

And now the conspiracy theorists who are sometimes right are prophesying a social credit score thing like China and non-vaccinated being second class citizens. And I want to check right out of that society. It makes me want to move to a little town that never grew out of the 1800s, with a one-room schoolhouse and doctors that visited the house and maybe I can farm and not get the Internet. Maybe I could join the Amish?

But how do I give up my interconnectedness? How do I go offline when I'm basically an addict?

I'm trying to figure out what to do with pictures. I am not constrained by buying film, processing, and having only a limited number of copies. I am constrained by Google only giving me 15G of space (even though I have an Android, wth?). And accept for what I put on other social media sites, or shared to my Mom's digital picture frame, I'm the only one who can enjoy them. I could download them to an external hard drive I suppose, and save them that way, and delete them all off Google. Make Shutterfly books? Too expensive.

I could get a digital camera so I could ditch the phone, but honestly me pulling out a camera every time my kids are cute for about 1.2 seconds is kind of impossible.

I was thinking maybe I'd have to Walmart print all of my good photos and put them in an album, or several. Organized by child? By chronological date?

Scrapbook them? This all requires curating. And then I'd still probably put the backlog on an external drive.

What about my recipes in an offline world? Do I just get a whole bunch of different books? Painstakingly copy them down on cute little cards? Copy, paste, format, print, and put them into binders?

For music, burn a bunch of CDs and keep all the digitals on other hard drives? I was getting rid of CDs I had ripped not too long ago. It kind of hurts to think about going backward.

I just don't like what I see when I look forward.

View an acreage, take 2

 We went out to see another acreage. Similar setup in that it was a quilt block of grass and trees in a bunch of fields, also about 20 minutes outside of town.

Our realtor said that it was actually a pretty good example of an acreage, and advised us to put in an offer on it no later than that night, if we wanted it.

We ended up not putting in an offer. First off, it was more expensive than our house, while not being as nice as our house. There were a few things that would make living in it difficult, like the dining room only being big enough for a small four-person round table.

I'd take pictures, but normally we're trying to look before the kids get bored, and trying to keep an eye on the kids, and I'm holding the baby.

Anyway, I didn't find the lot that interesting. No creek. It had a bunch of trees on the edges, but underneath them was some fencing and thick undergrowth that the kids couldn't get in. Otherwise it was mostly just grass. No paths, no nooks, no hide and seek behind the trees. And then the real estate agent said that within three years, over half the trees would probably have to be taken out. The emerald ash borer has reached this area and is wrecking damage on all ash trees not already taken out. Our town has been preparing for this for years, but I still know some people who are now looking at having to take trees out of their yards cause they're mostly dead.

I don't want to buy a lot of country to lose half my established trees.

So we weren't in love with it. Maybe we're too picky, but no pressure over here. Nobody is making us move.

I still dream about an acreage though.

Toy Theory, part 2

So what am I supposed to do about toys?

Short answer: I don't know.

Honestly, I wish I could reduce down to like a Waldorf level of a few building blocks and some Waldorf dolls. Waldorf dolls are simple enough they could be baby dolls or older (and not sexualized. Don't get me started on Barbies) and I could make all sorts of clothes for them, or turn them into fairies or mermaids or whatever.

Completely a tangent, I found a website on making a Waldorf doll: https://www.newlifeonahomestead.com/how-to-make-a-waldorf-doll/ Admittedly, I am intimidated. My mom, of course, says, "We can do it!" I'm not sure she actually looked at the site, she just always thinks that until proven wrong.

Anyhow.

A friend at church, I asked her the style of toy management she used and she said "my own." Apparently, she rotates toys out and keeps boxes of them in the garage. I do have plenty of storage space in my basement, so I could do something like this.

And I have.

I don't quite have it in me to get rid of everything that isn't Waldorf. So many stuffed animals, some Beanie Babies from my own childhood. Others are gifted the girls, so even if I had started strong, I'd still have a "what do I do with these two beloved stuffed dogs?" moment.

So I made several boxes and I'm going to rotate them. Every week. Or kind of. Until I just throw it all out, I guess. It's a good option because it allows me to put in the stuff I had in the basement that wasn't loved enough to be upstairs, but was interesting/loved enough to not throw away. It keeps stuff fresh. It keeps the toy level manageable.

Several things are staples, and I don't rotate them, like the three Ikea mice, Rose's Ty stuffed dragons, the girls' homemade dragons plushies, small plastic animals, and some odds and ends that don't really have a place. Baby toys. Musical instruments.

Caveat: There are often conversations where Rose says, "Where's [random toy]?" and I have to be like, "It's in a box. It'll come back eventually." Which is apparently not a satisfying answer.

I themed them. I didn't start with that idea, but sometimes the groups just work together.

Box 1: Dragons

Box 2: Safari

Box 3: Farm

Box 4: Small nature things (think flowers, fairies, mice, reptiles)

Box 5: Woodland

Each box (almost) has a set of plastic animals, a "house" of a sorts (mouse house, tree house, barn, etc), some stuffed animals, a building toy (blocks, connecting flowers, peg board, etc), and a puzzle. That way if they get it all out, it's not ALL the puzzles getting mixed up.

I haven't been fantastic at switching them, but it's not a bad system.

I need more tubs.

Also, don't ask about the basement. What happens in the basement stays in the basement.

Toy Theory, part 1

 Ah toys.

So basically I have a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, and a 1-year-old. All girls.

They have a lot of toys.

Part of me is a softie, like, "I had this when I was little and I loved it!" or "I didn't have this when I was little and they need it!"

Then on birthdays and Christmas people keep giving them toys, which is nice, but how many cheap babydolls with cheap accessories do they need? A fake makeup kit? Second hand games? 10+ stuffed dragons? (Ok, Rose actually loves all of them).

Age three and up we're trying to teach them the value of money, so they can do simple jobs for a dollar, which they can then save for buying something. More things. (Do I encourage a consumable, like candy? Ah, food rewards and nutrition, another issue).

And then building toys, like LEGOs (which are heirlooms, as far as the husband and I are concerned), blocks, magnatiles, rods and joints, etc get scattered over the house, causing far more mess than warranted for a single category. Puzzles are almost worse because if you lose one piece, it's unsolvable, and the cardboard pieces are not up to Joy's chewing.

So many stuffed animals. And all these cheap tiny plastic ones. And the random things that get played with, but aren't particularly their own thing. Like plastic dragon eggs, grocery store boxes used for houses and building, car seat straps that have become dog leashes, whatever.

I can't consign stuffed animals. So they've kind of piled up.

For a while I had all their favorite stuff in the boxes upstairs (and it was getting crowded) and a bunch of things I liked but they had basically forgotten in a box in the basement. Rose seemed to think of it was a mythical present storage wherin untold delights lay hidden, and occasionally asked, "Can I have something from the basement?" Then she would peruse the whole box and select more than allowed but I never had the heart to force the rule.

There are other toy theories. I haven't studied.

I believe Waldorf/Montessori aficionados focus on open ended toys, dolls with really simple faces or none at all, simple stuff. Definitely nothing with batteries. As in, not many toys. I believe studies show that when there are a lot of toys, kids play with each one less amount of time, but when there are only a few toys, kids spend more time with each. So having a ton of toys can actually discourage play. Having toys with "bells and whistles" often limits the amount of use the toy gets. Like if it has buttons that make noises, often that's all it's used for, when open ended toys, like blocks, can be shapes, can be lined up, can be built into buildings, sorted by color, dumped in a bucket as "soup," etc.

Another theory is even more simplistic. Forget toys, use found objects. Like seriously, does the baby like playing with the baby toys more, or ransacking the kitchen cupboards? Give them wooden spoons, bowls, balls, whatever (that's baby safe).

Here's a picture my cousin sent of her Janet Lansbury Independent Play for two year olds:

Which is a fair point. Joy is almost one and she ransacks each kitchen cupboard she can reach almost daily.

So what's a girl to do?