Day 288 of 365
I have spent the day making bread and have much work to do tonight. I have many ideas floating in my head today, but I will just share this quick thought for the day: Of all of the skills I have learned to become more self sufficient, I think bread making is my favorite. Well, second favorite. Caring for chickens and ducks is my most favorite.
Bread making is so important. Fresh homemade bread makes every meal seem better, and it’s so much cheaper to make than to buy. And I don’t even do sourdough, though I really want to. I really, really want to. I should try to get started with that. It seems like such a frugal way to make bread.
Today, my son, Ronan, asked me how much he would spend on groceries when he’s grown. He’s trying to figure out how much money he needs to make to support himself because, with any extra money, he’s going to buy musical instruments. He asked if he would maybe spend $150 a month on groceries. I chuckled and said, “way more, sir!”
He commented that our whole family only spends about $700 a month and that includes other stuff like cat food. I reminded him that we grow a ton of our own food, so unless he’s a farmer on the side too, he’s definitely going to spend more than $150 a month on groceries. I should add that he’s a foodie and loves really good, organic food. He gets sick if he eats very much non-organic food. One time, someone brought Oreos to orchestra rehearsal for the kids to eat at break. Our son ate an Oreo, got sick, and then was mad at Oreos.
I told Ron about Ronan’s questions about groceries and said we need to be sure to teach him how to make bread, that it will help him save money and give him access to quick, good food. Ron agreed. Ron’s going to teach him how to make wheat loaves and Challah, and I am going to teach him how to make French bread, but I realized as I was writing this that I should get him to learn sourdough with me. It would be a great thing to do together, right?
I would love to know what breads you make from scratch or which ones you long to make. Oh, and I would really appreciate any sourdough tips. My worry is that I will get it started and then life will get crazy and I won’t be able to keep it up. Is it hard to keep up?
Farmer-ish 