ooh mama it is feeling like texas.
today will be day two of triple digit heat.
so
far the creatures have been doing well. a good great number of the
chickenychicas are moulting. bunbun is placed in the shade and
comforted by his very own whirling fan while the kitty creatures and
myself seek shelter in the shaded parts of the homestead place.
i
am busy on project this morn in hopes of moving the project on to the
next phase later this afternoon. moving the project on would make time
for honey extraction of the frames from hive one and honey pulling from
hive two but all in good time. first things first.
i
had an interesting live active culture bread experience here just the
other day. i set out a jar partially filled with an organic flour and
water mix. no yeast was added just the flour and water. i let the mix
set for a few days, feeding a bit more flour and water each day until
naturally formed culture bubbles were witnessed. the bubbles were
present day three, a sure sign that natural yeasts and bacteria were
captured and in process of turning the flour and water into a lovely
sourdough starter. or so i thought.
as
the days passed, the starter began to smell cheesy-ish but looked fine.
there was no mold growth, nothing looked odd in color, everything
seemed good. i thought hmmpfh, that must be what bastroptown yeast
smells like. five days in, i decided to make bread as it was bubbling
real good and the homestead bread stores were down.
again,
while rising, i sensed the cheese-ish smell. cheddar cheese i thought
or rather cheddar like. interesting. and sure enough once baked and
sliced there was a deep cheese flavor to the loaf. deep enough to fool
anyone who might not know it was a cheese-less organic loaf. so i got
to wondering which got me to searching for what might be going on. i
was sure it was something that magically occurred in the fermentation
process. i was not sure what the magic was until i came upon the
following.
Salt
rising (or salt risen) bread is bread in which the main rising agent is
a bacterium Clostridium perfringens , which leavens the bread along
with lactobacillus and other wild microbes, as opposed to mainly yeast
or baking soda. It is thought that the salt used in the starter is used
to suppress yeast growth and provide an environment more conducive to
the C. perfringens bacterium, allowing the flavors from the bacterial
metabolic products to predominate over the more typical yeast and
lactobacillus flavors; in situations where reduced salt might be
necessary, similar yeast suppression results can be achieved by adding a
Campden tablet to the starter mixture. Another assumption regarding the
name is chunks of rock salt were heated and used to provide a warm,
stable temperature in which to incubate a "starter" overnight for the
C.perfringens to grow.
Salt
rising bread is made from wheat flour, with a starter consisting of a
liquid (water or milk), either corn, potatoes, or wheat, and some other
minor ingredients. The starter distinguishes itself from a sourdough
starter by working best with an incubation period of 6-16 hours at
temperatures ranging from 38-45° C (98-113° F); a sourdough starter will
usually work best at or below room temperature. The resulting bread is
of a dense crumb and favorable cheese-like flavor. The exact origin of
this bread is unknown, but evidence suggests that it was well known
throughout Scotland and Ireland during the mid- to late-1600s.
Currently, the tradition is kept alive by relatively few individuals and
bakeries that tend to be clustered in the mid to eastern United
States.
i believe
the lack of a.c. in our hot hot temps helped to create a most excellent
growing environment for the microbes and yeasts to grow. interesting
fact though is that i used no salt nor campden tablet. the process
happened all on it's own.
i put to jar another experiment just yesterday. this round is a mix of
organic buckwheat flour, organic bread flour (wheat) and water. already
it's bubbling. i wonder if it too will produce the cheese effect. all we
can do is watch and wait. one thing for sure is that the temperatures
are cooperating. i wonder what the yeasts and microbes will do next?
moral of this cheesy bread story...
it may feel hot for you.
it may feel the perfect temperature for others.
so when it's hot and your hankering for something cheesy put a mix of
flour, water and time together and see if you too are able to make cheesy lemonaide from some hot hot lemons. or rather yeasts and microbes if you dare.
Posted by hippychick
@ 10:13 AM CDT
|
future fullterbys feeding on a gone to seed parsnip plant |
an interesting day so far...
a profitable day so far...
a sweet sweet day so far...
i
had been a bit concerned for the out back honeybee hive the past few
days. i was not seeing the same great numbers of bees setting off for
flight as i had in previous weeks and it got me to wondering.
- did i have too many supers on the hive?
- were the supers full/empty/in bad shape?
- did i miss a swarm?
- is my queen in good shape?
- is my queen home?
- have the wax moths struck again?
- is there another problem i'm not guessing at in the works?
- could it possibly be harvest time? oh please oh please fingers crossed
well there is no better way in finding out than to take a good look inside i thought so this very morning, i got to it.
i
put on my new "bees cannot climb right in this veil" bee veil and
jacket. i put on a pair of thick jeans. i put on my rubber boots and
gloves and i was on my way. i got the smoker smoking. i gathered my
tools. i set up a large swath of heavy weight plastic and a single
empty super for the placement of hive parts while working.
the
hive was sealed tight. these bees were serious about keeping things
airtight and secure from the elements and from unwanted visitors which
might include me, the homestead beekeeper. upon my first view in, i
knew the deal. happily, it was time for this season's second honey
harvest. amazing what a bit of healthy "keep the blooms blooming" rain
will do for your colonies. outside of the frames being full of honey,
the colony looked great. they were all busy and possibly keeping tight
inside in order to keep cool.
super by super i pulled
full frames out while transferring yet uncapped honey frames and brood
frames (brood are future baby bees tended by nurse bees) into supers
that would be returned to the hive structure. there were several
moments when i got a bit too close to the queen and the guard bees got
right to business. i took a few hits to the thigh which in light of my
recent stings put me at caution. i rubbed out the stingers and kept
working. calm and slow, calm and slow.
side note - for those who know about or do not know about my recent bee sting events
i
had my recently prescribed epi-pen in the house and at the ready with
mr. man also at the ready to help me out in case i got fearful or woozy
but lucky for all of us, none of the pesky symptoms showed face. i was
ready at any time to step aside and administer the pen's goods if
necessary as survival is an action i very much believe in. the good
news is that even with four stings - three to the front of my thigh and
one in the rear - all is well.
fyi
- jeans are not thick enough to keep oneself from being stung. next
time, more layers, thicker layers, damned be the heat! protection
matters.
back to the honey collection
report. the key is to stay calm at all times. the bees know when you
are stressed and they will act up. if you remain calm and move with a
slow steady pace, you have a pretty good chance that the bees too will
remain calm. long story short - i pulled honey, the bees played mostly
nice and all is well.
the bees are in great health.
woohooo! the population is not for want as i feared, in fact, the
population is booming as evidenced by the brood frames in hive which
means that our queen is strong. knowing my bees are strong healthy bees
cheers me to no end. something you might not know about my bees is
that i, as keeper, use no chemicals or medications on my bees. i
purchased my two colonies from an aviary that practices organic chemical
free beekeeping, has always practiced organic chemical free beekeeping
and preaches the importance of doing so for the long term health of
honeybees and for long term survival of the honeybee. i will continue
to raise my bees as such with joy and care and that's that.
back
to the harvest. the harvest is good. the harvest is heavy. i have
not uncapped and extracted the load quite yet but i imagine this
mid-summer harvest will prove at least as strong as the spring harvest's
happy 50lbs. and this is just one hive. i'll not go into the front
hive for a few days as projects outside of the farming universe need
finishing first.
that said, the full mid-summer honey report is yet to come.
the
timing of this harvest is perfect as the honey stores remaining at the
bastrop producers market are quite slim. sales are good, real good and
this harvest will certainly fill our little slice of shelf space without
a stitch.
one detail i have noticed is that my
honeybees very much dislike the black plastic frames. they avoid them
like the plague and turn to them sometimes not at all and sometimes as
last ditch effort. but for the most part, they ignore them. so i as
keeper, want them gone. this means building more frames and fitting
them with natural beeswax. i've got the parts to do so. it's now up to
me to make the time and get it done. i think, for now anyway, i'll
have enough frames to keep the bees busy with the frames i'll return
once extracted. the frames will return with either fresh wax foundation
or as spun frames ready for bee cleanup.
the cleanup
frames (those extracted but not fitted with fresh foundation) provide
the bees with a natural food source and a base foundation that they will
"clean up" and build upon for future honey stores. the fresh frames
will be those that might have experienced a bit too much stress in the
extractor and prove in need of new and better supported structure.
honey is heavy. you don't want your frames falling apart in the hive or
upon removal from the hive as either situation could prove most messy
and troublesome for both the bees and the keeper.
until
i extract, i won't really know the condition of the currently pulled
frames. for now the honey frames lay quietly in two large plastic totes
with covers. i hope i hope i hope, to extract in the morrow.
until then folks - happy day to ya!
hippychick
Posted by hippychick
@ 10:12 AM CDT
|
chickenychica's relaxing in the big run |
|
time for a bit to eat in a shaded space |
|
rooroo with his adorable chickenychicas scratching about |
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Posted by hippychick
@ 10:10 AM CDT
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