August's catchup ...

Home-produced eggs

 (Belatedly!) August was so hectic! It was the Summer holidays so we had all five children at home which was wonderful ... the best time of the year :~) This year, were decided not to go away as such but to have lots of days out, spread out over the holidays which were interspersed by mornings of swimming and a few days at home and the allotment. We did our work in the evenings, sometimes stretching into the night and we all fell into an easy rhythm. I must admit, we were all pretty sad when school and college came along in September and broke our happy little routine!

Dragon cloud in a woodland lane

Golden wheat field

Eyebright ... note the allotment fingers!

We celebrated a special birthday :~)

Picnicky days out ...

Printing with inks

Creating a printed bag

Wild juniper berries

Allotmenty lizard :~) A rare find!

Allotment slow-worm ... a long one!

Allotment harvest

The heavens opened on a day out!

Wow! What a fantastic summer! It was the best ever :~) Thanks kids!

Busy baking day

Left: Barleycorn loaf - Right: Huge Granary loaf

 I had to wait in today for a delivery ... of course, they said it could arrive at any time between 7am and 6pm! So, I was up at 7am on the first day of the Easter school holidays and thought I may aswell concentrate on using up alot of the huge amount of fresh yeast sitting in the fridge. In the end, despite having a good try at baking everything possible, I had to freeze most of it.

I ended up making two huge wholemeal Granary loaves (one for the freezer), a Barleycorn loaf which was lovely and light (also in the freezer), two brioche loaves and a River Cottage sourdough loaf. 

Barleycorn loaf

A's lovely pair of baps ;~)

Left: Barleycorn loaf - Right: Brioche loaf

Sourdough loaf made using Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe

Sourdough loaf

 I saw Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on TV this week making sourdough bread. He was saying about it being very rhythmic ... the sponge is made in the evening, turned into dough the next morning, knocked back and shaped at lunchtime and then baked in the evening. I've found it really hard to get into any sort of pattern with my sourdough so this routine appeals to me. 

I tried making the sponge last night and baked the loaf today. I haven't cut into it yet or tasted it but it looks good ... :~)

It's been a nice day today - hectic and tiring but good. C and F enjoyed making a rock band with a guitar (with two strings missing), cake tins and chop sticks. They were rocking to the Almighty (very loudly!) and looked perfectly happy :~)

Minted new potatoes for dinner :~)