Homestead Diary--Rainy Day Version

 Last fall, inspired by the celebrity chef diaries in Food Network Magazine, I posted about a day in the life here on Berryridge Farm, and the various outdoor chores that filled the day. (See my October 7, 2021 post.) This spring, we've had so very many rainy days, that we haven't had a full day of dry weather in what seems like forever! So here’s a recent day of indoor activities, brought to you by yours truly.

The rain was pouring down when I got up, so I figured it would be a writing day. Since we were getting low on bread, it would also be a baking day. Now that the bakery seed bread we like is up to $8.25/loaf, I’ve been cutting back on buying it, and relying more on my homemade bread.

So before breakfast, I started the “sponge” for my favorite hearty seed bread: warm water, yeast, a dollop of honey and white flour, and set it on the counter, covered by a clean towel, to let the yeast do its thing. (You can find the bread recipe in my April 21 post.)

After breakfast, I worked on my latest Irish novel for a couple of hours. The book is finished, but I’m still in the checking-for-typos and polishing stage. It’s also one of the longest books I’ve written, so this part of the process is really taking a l-o-n-g time!

By this time, the sponge was all bubbly and ready for the next step: mixing in the oil, honey, flours, seeds and salt. Once all the ingredients were incorporated, I kneaded the dough for 8-10 minutes. Then set it back in the bowl, covered it again with the towel, and into the oven to rise.  

(Tip: putting your bread dough in the oven to rise works great—it’s a spot free of drafts that might affect the rising process. Simply keep the oven light on, and it’s just enough warmth to get a nice, consistent rising.)

Back to the computer. Publishing activities instead of writing this time. I added two of my titles to a “new-to-me” ebook retailer, which took about an hour and 45 minutes. It was still pouring rain—no chance for working in the garden—so I took a little break, stretched and moved around.

I returned to writing: this time for a blog post. Composing it and posting took another hour or so.

Time for another break from the computer! By now, the bread dough had risen nicely, and was ready for the second rise. I kneaded the dough for a couple of minutes, then set it in a buttered bread pan, and back in the warm oven.

I was overdue for my usual late lunch: a big bowl of yogurt and some roasted nuts. The rain hadn’t let up, so I did some email. Twenty minutes or so.

By now, I was stiff from sitting and desperately needed some fresh air. Rain or not, I’d get to some outside chores. 

I changed into my grubby gear and visited our hen, gave her some fresh feed, and cleaned up her pen. With her all taken care of, I ferried our day’s worth of kitchen scraps into the outdoor bucket, which will be added to the compost pile when it’s not soaking wet!

Small harvest this year

And it was still pouring rain. But we were out of fruit in the house! So I picked the rhubarb—a sad harvest this year, with so much cold and rain I hadn’t kept the area weeded.

Instead of our former foot-and-a-half long stalks, these scrawny specimens were about 9 inches long. By the way, do not underestimate what too many weeds will do to your food-gardening production!

Then I harvested the few spears of asparagus that were ready—with the cold rain, the asparagus doesn’t grow very fast.

The rain was unrelenting. I’d gotten about as wet as I wanted to be out in the garden, so back to the house. I did some vacuuming, and saw the bread had risen beautifully! Time for baking.

I preheated the oven, got the bread dough in, and set the timer, with a heads up to John. Then I  bundled back up and took a walk—about 40 minutes. On our gravel road, a walk in the rain is a pretty muddy experience, but a nice big umbrella kept my head reasonably dry.

Once I got home, the bread was ready! Out of the oven and onto a rack. I cut up the rhubarb, and with the addition of a quart of frozen marion berries from last summer’s harvest, I made a fruit compote, stirring it now and then as I prepared dinner.

Finally, dinner time! I was more than ready to sit again. We tend to eat really late this time of year, with the extended light in the evenings—not that there was much light this particular evening! But by the time we finished dinner, I was tired.

But it had been a productive day. More productive than most. And now John and I had fruit for breakfast, and a fresh supply of bread! Regarding this recipe, you may note that it’s easy to work in the various stages of sponge, mixing, rising and second rise around all kinds of other activities.

I later heard this rainstorm had been one of those “atmospheric rivers” we’ve been getting this year. The upside of all this moisture is that the garden soil is plenty damp, so the weeds are easier to pull--that is, when it's not too rainy to be outside!