Meanderings

It’s raining as I write. A grey, incessant rain that takes hold and makes you feel glad that you’re not out in it. The house is enveloped in water.

I’m having a low, quiet day. I get them every now and then – no energy to do anything and a feeling of wanting to hide from the world. These days come, and they go. I feel increasingly anxious about being out there, with people. Is it an age thing, I wonder?

I baked another sourdough boule this morning. I’m slowly getting back into it and the newly developed starter (Feisty Fran II) is now maturing nicely. She’s a home-bred local girl from natural Skye yeasts, so is well used to our weather.

A few loaves a week will soon get me back into the swing of things. I’m trying an 85% hydration recipe with rye that tastes great but spreads like a big-bottomed girl and doesn’t give me the crusty “ear” that I like, so I need to work on that.

It’s a very loose dough so needs better tension to hold the slash and to be able to create an “ear”. It’ll get there. I’ll eventually work it out. Bread-making is just alchemy.

Husband has done a great job with the hedging around the deer-fenced orchard and vegetable area of the croft, which is all now in, and mulched. Some of the seedlings and twigs are in bud already so I’m hoping that’s a good sign.

Husband has now returned to indoor jobs, building shelves and working on our big bookcase in the sitting room area.

Our carpenter Ben had to leave unexpectedly and didn’t get time to install the big bookcases as planned so husband has been left to finish them. It’s been weeks of cutting, osmo oiling and assembly. It’s coming together now at last. I know it’s all been meticulously measured but I had a bit of a panic attack when I saw it, thinking that it wouldn’t fit on the wall under that roofline. Husband assures me that we have 2cm of clearance..

We can’t wait to get the book boxes unpacked.

The seedlings are coming along well and I’ve moved the hardier of them, the lettuce, beans and kale, out into the polycrub. The cucumbers, tomatoes, aubergines and more heat-loving tender plants remain indoors for now, the green wall of food lined up against the big south-facing windows.

Whilst I was in the polycrub the other day clearing old grow tubs, I found a surprise stash of carrots! All good, perfectly firm and sweet. These are a batch of St. Valery carrots, a heritage variety sowed last year from Real Seeds that I’d forgotten. We’ve been snacking on them raw with homemade humous and olives and I’ve been so impressed with the taste that I’ve bought more seeds for sowing this year.

Nature is just amazing. We’ve managed to eat kale, purple sprouting broccoli, tatsoi and carrots throughout the hungry gap.