MY LEMONADE RUNNETH OVER

There is an old adage that goes, “When you are given lemons, make lemonade.” Well, we all have been dealt a lot of lemons lately and we’ve all been making lots of lemonade. I am not sure about everyone else, but my lemonade “runneth over!”

It seems like we never really appreciate the things we take for granted until they are gone. I daresay that probably no one, including myself, ever gave a second thought to buying groceries, getting haircuts, picking up garden supplies, getting the oil changed in vehicles and many more seemingly routine tasks before this last month. Has it really only been a month??

I guarantee that, after trying to do some of these tasks on my own, I will be a lot more hesitant to complain when my hair isn’t cut quite right, the grocer doesn’t have the exact brand of item that I wanted or maybe I had to wait longer than I wanted for a service appointment. Perhaps patience is best learned by doing simple tasks that you have never done for yourself.

I always considered myself a smart grocery shopper. I do the coupon thing (off and on), I watch for weekly sales and I stock up. Now, there is a difference between hoarding and stocking up. Stocking up is buying two of something essential and non-perishable, like toilet paper, and putting one back just in case. So glad I did that this time. Hoarding is buying a dozen of something and putting eleven back just in case.

I have always been one to put ketchup and other staples back on the list when I take the last one out of the pantry. This is why I had flour and yeast when none could be found on the shelves. This is the responsible buying I have always done.

The thing that has changed for me is learning to not be so picky. For certain items, I prefer brand names and on others I am not so fussy. Jif is the only peanut butter in my book. As far as flour, flour is flour. Same goes with other items. I would get upset when stores would not have my certain brand and I would not give in and take whatever was on the shelf. Now, baking powder is baking powder, tuna is tuna and many more of my basics have fallen into the category of “any brand works.”

My, how things have changed. Now, when I look at the shelves, it is amazing how substitutions, for the most part, have become perfectly acceptable to me; I am just grateful to get the item. Pandemics do breed a reality check, with the exception of Jif that is. As a friend also brought to light, there will be way less stored food in the bottom of freezers and staples stored in pantries left to go out of date and be wasted. We have learned to conserve our resources.

Just because the pandemic hit, our hair didn’t stop growing and it didn’t stop going gray. I am ashamed to admit that I never realized how hard some of these seemingly simple tasks are.

I decided to do my own hair, after all it couldn’t be that hard. As usual, I couldn’t just start slow with a little cut, but instead had to color it too. First of all, the cut. I like mine layered so I have seen it done with a razor blade instead of scissors. So, I got a paring knife…no razor in the house. I started cutting a little here and a little there. You know how they keep checking each side to make sure that it is the same length? I did that, and did that, and did that. It finally got to the same length because there was basically none left to cut! Not my fault, you know how hard it is to work backwards when doing it in a mirror…just saying, not my fault. Oh, how I appreciate my hairdresser!

As far as coloring, I followed the instructions on the box to a tee…well, almost. I got tired of the little brush and trying to work it into the roots. So, I just dived in with both hands and literally smeared it all through my hair. No problem.

I waited the amount of time and then tried to wash it out over the tub. Usually, I just wash my hair when I take a shower, but I thought I should get the product off my hair first. It seems so easy when my hairdresser does it! After soaking my sweatshirt and me and the floor, it was washed out. Now, I also know why she sets a timer when rinsing me. Apparently, I rinsed way longer than I thought because halfway through my shower, the hot water ran out. Did I mention that I now have a lot more respect for my hairdresser??

All I can say is that it is a good thing that we aren’t going out in public now, it will give my hair a chance to recover and grow until I can make an appointment at the salon. I will also be telling her how much I appreciate her and that I have definitely learned that simple tasks are not as simple as they look when professionals do them…lesson learned.

Ron has forever asked me why I pay to have someone wax my vehicles. I remember helping Dad when I was younger. It was a pain, he was such a perfectionist. The job took literally all day. With this extra time, Ron wanted to wax his new Bushhog and zero-turn mower. Surprisingly, the job only took a couple hours. They have come a long way since the old paste waxes. Sometimes you have to re-visit a job instead of holding onto the notion that some tasks never change…lesson learned.

This thing of making lemonade from lemons we are dealt hasn’t been all bad though. I have learned that making bread from sourdough starter is much kinder to my digestive system and is much healthier than buying commercial bread all the time. Yes, it is more time-consuming but, hey we have plenty of time now anyway. There is also the satisfaction of creating something from scratch and getting back a little of our heritage…another lesson learned.

A friend has been starting her own garden plants for many years from seeds she saves from the previous year’s harvest. Always in a rush, I have never gone this route and preferred to buy mine from the greenhouses. Now, this year with many greenhouses and garden centers closed, she is ahead of the game and won’t have to scramble when it’s time to get them in the soil. On top of that, so manhy are deciding to garden this year that the major seed companies are out of stock…another lesson learned.

I have always believed that these preppers you hear about are way out in left field. After going through these times, maybe I believe that they are moving a little more toward center field. Not saying that I want to become one, but we have learned some valuable lessons.

 

We can do some things for ourselves instead off relying on commercial businesses so much. We have had valuable lessons in self-sufficiency. So many modern conveniences make our lives easier, but do they make them better?

I have heard so many folks say they want to go back to a new normal and not necessarily the normal that we used to know. It is a good feeling to know we can do things for ourselves. No, doing my own hair will not be one of them but….if I could only learn how to make my own toilet paper…hhmmm!

YES, YOU CAN HAVE YOUR BREAD AND EAT IT TOO

Many folks, being stuck at home and not being able to find bread in stores, have resorted to baking their own. There is nothing better than the aroma of bread coming out of the oven. The taste is just as divine.

It is also so much better for you than the commercial bread with all of its preservatives. Actual truth, we have an experiment with a loaf of bread that has been setting on a shelf since January of 2019 and is not molded yet. Yep, you read that right, over 15 months old. It really makes you want to eat loaves with all those preservatives!

However, I have always noticed that homemade bread, although made with healthy, wholesome ingredients, almost makes me feel worse than the up-town stuff. It is like the dough is just setting in my stomach, causing bloating. I thought this was just me until Ron mentioned the same thing recently.

Nope, it is definitely not in our heads. Even though homemade has healthier ingredients, there is still a culprit. With a little digging, I found that grains have special protective layers on the outside called phytic acid. Its job is to hold all the nutrients inside the grain. When whole grain is broken down into flour, some nutrients are released but the phytic acid is also present. Not only that, but the acid also snatches up other material in our digestive tract that it uses for food, thus wrecking havoc in our intestines.

The gluten in flour has gotten a bad rap in recent years, but there is more to the story. It’s not that the gluten is present, but rather that it is not broken down, hence the job of yeast. Yeast is a good thing, it literally breaks down the starches in grains which essentially pre-digests the bread, making it easier for us to digest.

The problem lies with the kind of yeast we use. The commercial yeast we buy in those little packets is an isolated version and it only rises bread without breaking down the phytic acid to aid digestion.

There is a better way. Our ancestors used wild sourdough yeast, also known as natural yeast. It grows naturally in the wild on leaves, grapes, berries and other living things. Our forefathers figured out that this natural yeast made bread rise and drinks ferment and they also knew that ingesting the gluten grains prepared with natural yeast made digestion more efficient and provided our bodies with higher amounts of nutrition. The down side to using natural yeast is that it took six to eight hours for breads to rise.

In the late 1860’s, the same Louis Pasteur who promoted the pasteurization of all milk, discovered that yeast was a living organism. He found a way to isolate the yeast in pure culture form, thus finding a way to make bread in 30 minutes. Thus, was born the Fleischmann’s and Red Star yeast we all use today, the same that led to the commercial breadmaking industry.

However, for many of us that have stomach issues for which gluten has been blamed, faster is not always better. Natural yeast, though it takes longer to “work,” has many natural benefits including breaking down harmful enzymes in grains and making the vitamins and minerals in grains more available for digestion by completely breaking down the phytic acid. This process just takes a little longer.

Natural yeast also converts dough into a digestible food source that won’t spike the body’s defenses. It predigests sugars for diabetics, breaks down gluten for the intolerant and turns calcium-leaching phytic acid into a cancer-fighting antioxidant.

We can get this natural yeast in the form of sourdough starter. It is rooted in American history since the pioneers had no choice but to collect yeast from natural sources if they wanted leavened baked goods. Sourdough got its name from the starter which, when left at room temperature developed a sour tang due to the fermentation.

The nice thing about sourdough starter is that it will literally keep indefinitely. If it is stored in the refrigerator, it will become dormant and leaving it at room temperature will activate it. Since it is a live organism, it needs to be fed once a week (instructions with sourdough recipe) which means measuring out a certain amount of yeast, adding equal parts of flour and water and placing back in a jar in the fridge.

Sourdough starter is easy to make. It literally requires more time than ingredients since it uses only flour and water. It can be used for bread, pizza crust, pretzels and anything that requires yeast. You can make muffins or waffles with the yeast replacing the baking powder.

The important thing to remember is it needs to be fed. If you plan on using it, set it out the day before and feed it three times to get it nice and active. If you use it less than every two weeks, take some out and replenish it with fresh ingredients to stay healthy and strong. Even if you forget it, you can revive it by feeding it twice a day.

You will know your starter is good if it looks rough and uneven on the top and multiplies when at room temperature. However, if there are too many bubbles on top, it needs to be refreshed.

The good news is that using sourdough starter for yeast allows many of us to enjoy leavened baked goods again because it does a lot of the work for our digestive system.  Baked goods made with fast-rising commercial yeast doesn’t allow the bacteria time to do any pre-digesting.

One other tidbit that I will add: I have noticed that when I toast bread, be it homemade or commercial, it doesn’t upset my stomach as much. Turns out, the scientific basis for this is that same as for using natural yeast. Toasted bread has a lower glycemic index since the heat causes carbs to break down more slowly, making it less likely to cause a blood sugar spike. Since insulin and insulin resistance is linked to weight gain, toasting bread may play a small part in weight loss and better blood sugar control.

Unfortunately, gluten gets all the bad rap for digestive issues lately, largely because stores and companies are capitalizing on their gluten-free products. Why not give sourdough yeast a chance and see if it could be the answer to your woes. You will have nothing to lose and maybe a lot to gain.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

DAY 1. Stir together 1 cup flour and ½ cup water in a one-quart glass container. Cover loosely and leave at room temperature (not less than 70*F) for 24 hours. All-purpose  flour is fine but using whole wheat will jumpstart the process.

DAY 2. Discard half of the starter and add 1 cup all-purpose flour and ½ cup water, mix and leave 24 hours.

DAY 3. Keep ½ cup starter, feed twice today by adding 1 cup flour and ½ cup water. Mix and leave 12 hours, repeat in the afternoon.

DAY 4. Repeat Day 3.

DAY 5. Repeat Day 3, only discard and feed once instead of twice.

DAY 6. If starter is not rising and doubling in size between feedings and showing signs of bubbles, discard half and feed twice a day until it does.

DAY 7. Give it one last feeding.

Note: Starter is done if doubling in bulk within 6 to 8 hours of feeding. Also, if you see spots of pink or orange, it is unwanted mold and must be thrown out but spots of green, blue or black mold are        harmless. Skim it off with a non-metal spoon.

SOURDOUGH BREAD

2 cups flour

1 ½ cups sourdough starter

¾ t. salt

Combine ingredients and knead until dough is not sticky.

Place in lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in bulk.

Turn out on floured board and knead, cover on board with towel and let rise until double again.

Preheat oven to 400*.

Spray dough with mister, cut an X on the top, bake on a sheet until golden brown on top and it sounds hollow when thumped on bottom, roughly 60 minutes. It should have a darker crust than other breads, so leave in the oven 5 minutes after you think it is done.

PAYING ATTENTION TO PHENOLOGY

Gardening and farming are a whole lot more complicated than just putting seed in the ground, tending it and reaping a harvest. Knowing when and what to plant, when and how to fertilize, how to control weeds and insects, how to manage too little or too much rainfall, temperature changes and so much more plays into it. And just when you have it figured out one year, it changes the next.

Yep, we need all the help we can get. We read farm reports, we listen to the experts, we learn from generations before us. In spite of all this, one of the best sources we can listen to is nature herself. Even though it seems at times that she has no rhyme or reason, Mother Nature always has a perfect plan and she reveals it to us through phenology.

A new word to my vocabulary, phenology is the study of cyclical natural phenomena and events, also known as the science of appearances. Plants, animals and insects don’t use a clock, but instead they use the condition of the environment to keep time.

It is basically taking note of when certain events happen from year to year. Natural events may not occur at the same time each year but they occur in the same order. For example, many die-hard mushroom hunters know that when redbuds and lilacs bloom, it’s time to look for mushrooms. These events occur together each year even though they don’t occur on the same dates each year.

Many universities devote studies to phenology, which is by no means new. It actually started in 1736 with the English naturalist Rober Marsham. His records, keeping track of the connection between natural and seasonal occurrences began that year and spanned the next 60 years.

Phenology may be the easiest and oldest way to see and feel when the world is changing around us. Data is gathered from multiple sources such as farmers, gardeners, fishermen and nature observers. It affects whether plants thrive or just survive.

The food supply depends on the timing of phenological events. Farmers and gardeners have long used this data to know when to plant and fertilize. Just watching nature from bud burst to bird migration is nature’s way of telling us when to perform certain tasks.

Understanding phenology and being able to put it to use also depends on understanding growing degree days, or GDD. As the number of GDD increases, interaction between the various species changes. So, basically, it is a weather-based indicator for assessing crop development, whether it be field or garden crops.

Without getting into the exact mathematical equations, GDD allows producers to predict plants’ pace toward maturity. Without other factors like amount of moisture, development rates of crops from the time a seed sprouts to maturity is dependent on air temperature. Because the development of plants and insects depend on certain amounts of heat, it is possible to predict when these things should occur during the growing season.

So, what’s the big deal of knowing this? Well, considering the price of fertilizer, insecticides and herbicides for both farmers and gardeners, it helps them to know when is the best time to apply to be the most effective. Herbicides and insecticides are only active for a certain amount of time so it is good to know when to apply them according to when the emergence of the weeds or insects that we are trying to control should be happening.

This is where GDD comes in. It can be used to decide the suitability of a region for certain crops and to estimate the growth stages of crops, weeds and insects.

Phenology events progress from west to east and south to north. This is called Hopkin’s rule and it means that events are delayed four days per degree of north latitude and one and a half days per degree of east longitude. It’s just saying what we have known all along: it gets warmer sooner in the south than in the Midwest, farmers get in their fields sooner in Missouri than in Michigan. This gives us a general timeline of how fast it is moving north and eastward.

Studying phenology tells us that many insects are emerging earlier than they did in the 1970’s because climates have advanced 2.5 days per decade.

Going a little further, we have phenological synchronization. Plants and insects respond differently to climate change which means that the timing of when a plant is flowering and when an insect is active could get disrupted. Some plants and insects change together and some do it separately.

Paying attention to phenology can be an immense help in knowing when to plant, fertilize, apply insecticide and herbicide and, to a lesser degree, when to harvest.

When it comes to planting, many farmers and gardeners have long adhered to phenological signs as to when to plant certain things. Here are a few:

*mushrooms pop when lilacs and redbuds bloom

*when forsythia bloom, plant peas, onion sets and lettuce

*daffodils bloom, plant beets, carrots and chard

*wait for dandelions to bloom before planting potatoes

*when maple trees leaf out, plant perennial flowers

*when quince blooms, plant cabbage and broccoli

*wait for apple trees to bloom before planting bush beans

*when apple blossoms fall, plant pole beans and cucumbers

*when lilacs are in full bloom, plant annual flowers and squash

*when lily-of-the-valley blooms, transfer tomato plants to the garden

*when maple leaves are full-sized, plant morning glory seeds

*when bearded iris bloom, plant peppers and eggplant

*when peonies blossom, plant heat-loving melons like cantaloupe

I will admit, I have not noticed these associations before but I will certainly be paying attention this year. Just imagine, following these signs and incorporating phenology with planting by the moon calendars, what an awesome garden that should be. Following nature’s clock and signs helps us to tune into the rhythm of life around us and truly get back to basics.