Lately, Son and Heir greatly objects to staying home all day. He has this driving need for some form of outing every day. It’s a pain in the backside when I don’t want to go anywhere. Like today. All I wanted to do was clean the house and tend to some outdoor tasks that I have been struggling to find the time for. So we compromised.
I made some cheese and salad pita wraps and threw them in a bag with our water bottles. The Ankle Biters jumped on their bikes, grabbed the dog and we all headed down to the local park. Just to make it an even more exciting event, both a fire engine and a police car parked there while the drivers stopped for their lunch breaks and a quick jog around the ovals. The Ankle Biters nearly exploded with excitement. It was a nice break for me too, no lunchtime mess at home and I actually sat down to eat rather than eating whilst working like I normally do during the week. Not much beats a cheese and salad wrap on a warm spring day. The dog was happy to get an extra walk too.
By the time we got home, my bread had risen sufficiently for it’s second knead. Do you notice anything unusual about this loaf?
That was almost a trick question. I honestly cannot remember the last time I made a loaf in a tin. If I had to guess, maybe two years ago? Mainly I guess because I don’t have good bread tins. Or is it just that I can’t be bothered washing the tin. That is probably closer to the truth. Anyway, today I went the tin and was happy with the result. I finally seem to have managed a good sour dough starter. Very exciting. Something I have tried before and never quite mastered. The Bread Winner will be pleased. He’s San Francisco raised and a crazy sour dough fiend.
Another task I managed to get to was extending the potatoes. Actually this is purely experimental. Fingers crossed. I moved my potatoes to a half wine barrel this year. They seem very happy and have grown like crazy. I started with the barrel about half empty and have built up with sugar cane mulch. The tops have extended way above the capacity of the barrel. I found some wire mesh in the garage today and have improvised some taller walls with that and newspaper. Time will tell how successful I’ve been at increasing my yield.
There you have it. Some snippets from my day. Overall, a productive and satisfying one. I hope yours was too.
Hello Dani! Sounds like a good day 🙂 Love to hear how your potatoes go; I’m trialing a few methods this season to see if we can produce some respectable yields. We pulled some volunteer baby potatoes up recently, and my goodness they were delicious.
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Not much beats a home grown spud does it Em? I’m always blown way by the taste. I just need to get a decent yield! I’ll keep you updated.
picnics are a beautiful thing aren’t they? We’ll be doing more of that down by the creek now the weather is getting warmer.
I’d like to have a go at growing my own taties in a barrell. An inspiring tip for a woman with a balcony rather than a garden. Would really like to hear how you go with them…
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Lovely. I wish we could picnic by our creek but alas it is just too snakey.
I say go for the taties. At worst you should get a nice little bunch of fingerlings.
That’s a neat idea. I actually have a half barrel that I’m wondering what to do with. Did you fill it all with sugar cane mulch?
I don’t have access to sugar cane mulch around here but I do have a couple of bales of hay. Think that would work?
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Mine was filled about a quarter with soil/compost Nate. I would give hay a try for sure. You might some god ideas from the comments in this gardendesk post http://www.gardendesk.com/2008/10/garbage-can-potato-harvested.html