Adventures with Sourdough

So my dad gave me a sourdough starter a few weeks before Thanksgiving last year and gave me strict instructions for caring for it and extremely vague directions for actually making bread out of it. The instructions included feeding it daily and weighing water and flour to do so. I immediately went off the grid on that. An overflowing scoop of flour, a scoop and a half of water, mix, call it good. It worked out okay.

I kept my sourdough in the fridge in a half gallon mason jar at first, but then I transferred it to a crock on the counter. I wanted to use the mason jar for something else. The crock has a lid that just kind of sets on top, so I put a cotton napkin under it as added protection from fruit flies who seem to love sourdough. This proved a bad idea, especially when the weather was warm (we have no air conditioner), so it went back in the fridge after a few weeks. When it lives in the fridge, it's a good idea to take the sourdough out the night before you want to make bread so it can wake up a bit before it needs to perform.

Baking Sourdough Bread

As for the actual making of the bread, that worked out fine. Here's how I do it:

First, I scoop out nearly all of the sour dough starter and put it in a mixing bowl. I make bread once a week and feeding it about a half cup of flour a day seems to give me just the quantity I need for two loaves and a pizza.

I add a cup of flour and cup of water to the stuff in the bowl and mix it up, then I take a cup out and put it back in my crock and put it to bed. Then I add another cup of flour and water to my mixing bowl and mix that up an let it set for a few hours. When I see active bubbles again, I add as much flour as the dough can hold. When it becomes difficult to mix, I turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it, adding more flour, kneading until its sticky, then adding more and kneading till its sticky again until it stops becoming sticky.

My Great Grandmother, who was much better at making bread than I will ever be, used to say that the dough was ready when it felt like an ear. So pinch your ear lobe. Ignore the lump from your piercing. When you pinch your ear it gives, but it maintains a few millimeters distance between your fingers. You should be able to pinch the bread without your fingers meeting. It should be dry and and flexible. When you get it to this point, you are done kneading.

Now I simply gather the bread together in a ball and set it right on the counter where I kneaded it and cover it with a damp cotton napkin and leave it alone for a few hours or until it's grown quite big. Then I knead it again for about five minutes. (It won't feel as dry anymore.) and shape it into loaves or pizza crust and then let it be again. (You'll want to start preheating the oven at this point 350F should do.)

My grandmother always called this rising "the proof". And one thing I've noticed about sourdough bread is that it doesn't "proof" as high as other types, especially her favorite potato bread, but it does tend to do more rising in the oven. So let it proof a couple of hours and if it is making a disappointing show of it, give it a shot in the oven anyway.

You'll want to bake it about an hour, depending on the shape of your loaf. Loaf pans about an hour, dinner rolls 40 minutes, pizza about 30. If you flick it with your fingernail, it should make a kind of hollow sound to let you know its done.

If your bread is in a pan, remove it immediately from the pan because it will get soggy if you don't. Then let it cool before cutting.

Sourdough Pancakes

First, I dump almost all of my sourdough into a mixing dough and add equal parts flour and water, mix it well and dump half of it back into my crock and put it to bed. Then I let the batter sit for awhile till it gets bubbly, you should have about two cups of batter. Next, I add a tablespoon of baking powder, an egg, some melted butter or oil and a little sugar and some finely ground walnuts. Mix it all up and voila! Pancake batter. Just make it as you would pancakes.

Personally, I am not overly impressed with sourdough pancakes. They are good. Quite tasty indeed. But I prefer buttermilk buckwheat pancakes. It's just a personal preference.

The Sourdough Verdict

I am not good at taking care of sourdough. I have nearly killed it and wondered if it was safe way too many times. In the summer, I don't make bread as often because it is just. too. hot. Also, sourdough has a texture my family isn't overly fond of. So, after the final death of my starter, I declare the sourdough experiment at an end. I can buy yeast. However, having had this particular adventure, I can rest secure in the knowledge that should the Zombies rise and packaged yeast become a commodity worth shooting people over, I can always make a sourdough starter.

Monday House Blessing

So the Flylady has us (Flybabies) do this thing every Monday she calls the Weekly Home Blessing Hour. This appeals to my Kitchen Witchiness so I embrace it even though  she's using the word "blessing" in a figurative sense, and I am using it magically.

Of course, the first time I did it I raced through it and read it wrong and thought that I was supposed to do a 10 minute de-clutter of every room and then go back and vacuum and dust and after about the third room I was tired and cranky and done with it. I finished with the de-cluttering, but no vacuuming or dusting got done and I was irritated with the whole process. But then I re-read and realized that I was a silly monkey and tried again next week. In truth, many of those rooms were so cluttered that vacuuming and dusting wouldn't have been possible without some pre-work anyway, so it's just as well I did it the way I did it.

The following week I got it right, except that a lot of the things she says to do simply don't apply to me; Like throwing away newspapers and magazines since we don't do magazines (though I did toss a few gardening catalogs) and the newspapers we collect from folks who actually read them get put to practical use (First they line the duck's crate or the lizard's cage, then they get used as mulch in the garden.) Anyway, my house looked and felt great but it still took longer than I liked.

By the third week I was a pro and it was done quickly and I had time to add my own little Kitchen Witchery touch with a ritual broom and some incense and my spray bottle full of salted water and basil oil (for family harmony) for a proper home blessing. The energy in my home is amazing. I invite you to visit my own online Book of Shadows to see the House Blessing spell I have now incorporated into this method at http://sacredhearth.com/house-blessing

Now I'm about to begin a six week temporary office job. It's 9 to 5 with a killer commute. I don't know how next Monday's house blessing will go! I may have to move home blessing hour to Sunday.

Flying at Night, Falling Flat, and we're up again

As you may know, I made the Hearth Day Resolution to follow the Flylady's program to get my house in order and I am proud to say that my house is looking pretty decent. Each month, she gives you a habit to work on with the goal that you will develop all these wonderful positive habits that will keep your house clean and organized and you'll just do them, because they're habits, and won't even notice. After that, I think there is some more advanced work, but I'm not there yet.

The habit for September was the before bed routine and I had a really hard time with it. I do a lot of running around all day. After dinner, I want to rest, watch Hulu or Netflix and eventually wander off to bed. I am tired. When my husband comes home and hauls my Sunshine off for his bedtime story, I am done. No routine. I'm tired. Bite me. 

But I tried. I struggled all friggin' month with this. I read and re-read her article on the subject and the testimonials from other flybabies and I was right on board with the before-bed routine being a good idea. I just couldn't get myself to do anything before bed. 

It wasn't until the last week of the month that a light bulb went off. I was stuck on the "before bed" part. Why does it have to be right before bed? It doesn't. Flylady says so herself! It doesn't even really have to be in the evening! All I needed was to give myself a list of things to complete throughout the day that needed to be finished before I went to bed (not started just before bedtime). I can get the coffee pot ready for tomorrow right after I'm finished with it in the morning. I don't have to wait 'till bedtime. I can lay out clothing for tomorrow while I'm doing laundry in the morning. I can pack tomorrow's lunches while I'm making tonight's dinner! Now all I really have to do before bed is take a peek in the kitchen to make sure it's clean, take a bath and put on my pajamas.

Yea. I got this.

And now on to October when we tackle Paper Clutter. I am a ready!

Adventures in Laundry

As the month of August closes, I am reviewing my laundry adventures, which were substantial, before we move on to the next habit in the Flylady's plan: The Bedtime Routine. The Universe must've taken note of my intention to perfect my laundry routine because she cooperated beautifully by rendering me without fully functioning laundry facilities for several days.

I had just put up my shiny new clothesline (referred to around here as the "redneck clothesline"). I had a clothesline setup in mind that wasn't practical at the moment for several reasons. The first being that we couldn't afford it, but also because in order for maximum sun exposure a certain tree would have had to move and the deck, upon which the plan depended, is in serious need of repairs (that is, a complete rebuild) which would have meant that the clothesline would have to be dismantled sometime in the future. So I gave myself a stern talking to, convinced myself that any clothesline is better than no clothesline, and ran a line between two trees. It works beautifully, of course, and gets just the right amount of sun, but I will wax poetic about my clothesline in a minute.

Shortly after we installed this clothesline, I put in a load of laundry and went to bed, looking forward to hanging the clothes on the line in the early morning sun. My husband arrived home around 3am. When he gets home this late, he generally sleeps on the couch in the mancave, so as not to disturb my beauty sleep. When he visited the bathroom off the mancave, he discovered the whole bathroom flooded. He quickly realized the washing machine was running in the laundry room (which shares a wall with the bathroom) and spewing water everywhere. My darling husband did not wake me up to assist him with squeegeeing, mopping and setting up fans and dehumidifiers, even though the mess was entirely my fault (never leave your washing machine or dryer unattended) and he, not I, had to be at work at 8am the following morning. Best. Husband. Ever. Of course he didn't have time to actually figure out what was wrong with the washing machine and fix it. That would have to wait for the weekend. In the meantime, I had an adventure and learned some stuff.

Things I Learned from My Broken Washing Machine

So I woke up to a rather damp, but not flooded laundry room and squishy carpet in the downstairs hall and a washing machine I could not use. At least not the way I was used to using it. I could fill it, if I watched it carefully and it would spin out if I manually turned the knob to spin. It would not agitate. So, I did small loads, filled up the washer, agitated it with two rubber scrub brushes (From Flylady's line of Rubba cleaning products), set it to spin when I was ready to drain it and then refilled it to rinse and repeat. Then I gathered up my clothes and took them out to the clothesline. The result was an unexpected growing intimacy with my laundry.

• By observing the water go in and out of my machine, I became more aware of the amount of water I am using with each wash. I began collecting the final rinse water and adding that to the first wash water of the next load, as well as dumping the water from the dehumidifier in there. 

• By observing the draining of my rinse water, I came to realize that I am using too much soap, or perhaps not rinsing enough. Following the washing machine's usual process and watching the final drain (and often collecting it) I came to realize that this "final rinse" water was full of soap! So I'm using less soap now. In fact, I am using soap nuts in most cases. 

Things I Learned from Line Drying My Clothes

I thought that line-drying my clothes was going to be a pain in the butt, but it's really not. I take my first load out when I take the ducks out in the morning and the cat comes out too and it's all very festive. The air smells wonderful, the sun is coming up and the birds are singing and it's still quite cool. I shake the dew off the line and pin up my clothes, it is a moment of silence. I am thinking of nothing, except pinning up my clothes. It's really a wonderful way to start the day. But more than just a morning meditation, line drying my clothes has taught me to be more mindful of my clothes themselves.

• Hanging up my teenage son's clothes in particular, I have noticed several items that need repair that I had never noticed before. When you just take them from the washer to the dryer, you don't notice these things until someone points them out to you. My son just doesn't. But when you're shaking out a pair of pants and turning out the pockets so they will dry properly and hanging them up by their ankles, you notice if there's a tear in the hem or a hole in the pocket. 

• Also, and this mostly with regard to my toddler's clothing, I am more aware of stains. When you are just going from washer to dryer, you don't tend to notice the stains until they've been through the dryer and then they're set. When you're hanging them on the line, you can notice if the spaghetti sauce didn't come out of a shirt and you can take it back in and give it some attention. 

• Line dried clothes smell freaking amazing. And the smell sticks. There's no comparison.

• If there's any soap left in your clothes, line dried clothes can be really stiff. So an extra rinse or use of Using soap nuts instead of laundry soap helps.

What Does This Have to do With Witchcraft?

Okay someone recently told me that if I am going to claim that this is a Kitchen Witchery blog, then I need to focus more of my articles on "Witchy" topics. I need to say why this relates to Witchcraft. I feel like it should be self-explanatory, but maybe it's not. As a Witch, I try to live as close to Nature as possible. Not just because of the usual fairy dumpling "I love nature" business, but also because I believe that when you are in tune with nature, your magick is in tune with nature and is automatically more effective. Magick operates by natural laws, and we can talk about natural laws all the time, but until you live with the rhythms of nature, you only kind of get it. 

Doing your laundry mindfully, as using manual methods of washing and drying forces us to do, puts us in tune with nature in a way that simply tossing your clothes into the washer and then into the dryer simply does not allow and it helps us to walk softly on the Earth, which should be the goal of every Witch.

• Line-drying uses less electricity, which saves money, a goal any homemaker can appreciate, and is gentler on the Earth, which is the goal of most Earth-based Witches.

• Manual washing makes us aware of how much water we are using, again, this can save money (if you pay for city water) and it's gentler on the Earth.

• In both cases, your clothes last longer and you use less soap and other products (like fabric softener sheets) which saves money and is gentler on the Earth.

• Line drying makes us pay closer attention to what's going on outside; not just while we're out there hanging clothing, but also while we're planning our laundry adventures. Does it look like rain? Is this going to pass quickly? As time goes by and this observation and thinking becomes habit, you start to recognize the signs of a quick short rain, a bit of overcast that'll move on soon or the illusion of a sunny day that'll downpour soon. Maybe you don't have time to dry jeans and hoodies, but maybe a load of sheets or dress shirts will make it before the wet weather hits. Predicting the weather is a cool witchy skill.

• You also need to be aware of Sunset, at least around here, because the second the sun goes down, the dew descends and all your clothes are wet again. 

Doing the Laundry

If you haven't been following along, I am following the system at Flylady.net to get my house organized and beautiful as my annual Hearth Day Resolution. This month's habit is laundry and I am pleased to say I am starting strong here.

I had to get into the habit of doing laundry daily when I started using cloth diapers. Otherwise, the whole house stank of pee and poo. But Flylady says we must do this in order to avoid CHAOS (can't have anyone over) which is also nice. She has a specific system for doing laundry which works well for her, but I do it my own way.

My Laundry Routine

Every night after dinner, I gather up laundry. This is triggered by the wash cloths and towels I have at the end of the day from keeping the kitchen area clean. I have a  two year old and don't use paper towels, so it can be a lot. It's not a full load of laundry though; even last Tuesday when he was sick and vomiting all over everything, (carrot juice on my carpet!) it wasn't a full load. So I toss those in the wash machine and grab what's in the dryer and take it upstairs, toss it on my bed and fold it and put it away. Then I peek in the bathroom, around the various bedroom floors, etc. and gather up enough laundry to make a full load, toss it into my recently empty laundry basket and take it downstairs to the laundry room. No, I don't generally sort (I know, this is a crime). At this point we're mostly looking at towels anyway. I start that load and proceed with my evening. Just before bed I transfer that load into the dryer.

In the morning I am usually looking for towels and washcloths to do what needs to be done. Granted, there's often some in the kitchen drawer or on the bathroom shelf, but it's easier just to go downstairs and grab what's out of the dryer. I take those clothes, toss them in a basket and put them at the bottom of the stairs, take the washcloth and dishtowel I need off the top and return to my day. The reason I don't fold them and put them away immediately is because my husband sleeps about two hours longer than me in the morning and I like to fold my laundry on my bed.

When my husband gets up, he wanders in the kitchen and begins puttering around doing I don't know what and generally being in the way. In order to preserve our domestic tranquility, I go back upstairs. I make the bed, bring in the laundry basket and fold and put away my load of towels. Then I gather up the clothes my various family members discarded the night before (often but not always found in their laundry baskets, in their rooms, which I did not previously invade because they were sleeping) and take them downstairs to be washed. Assuming I have a full load, I'll wash them. If not, I just toss them in the washing machine and turn it on later when it's full. By this time, my husband has finished whatever he was doing and wandered back upstairs, so I go back downstairs to finish putting breakfast on. He will return shortly with the little one. Then we can enjoy a nice sit down at the table. This is important, since my husband is rarely home for dinner.

Breakfast is another morning routine that I feel I've got down nicely, but I will share that another day.

Sometimes there is a third load. If I'm washing bedding that day or if there was some extra messy situation or someone just got back from a trip and dumped their suitcase on the laundry room floor. But usually, two loads a day is plenty and sometimes I don't even need to do two.

Clothesline Dreams

I am also considering putting in a clothesline. But you see, my dream clothesline is a big circular rotating thing that I can easily reach off my back deck. My back deck is in desperate need of replacing and it's not in our budget. The clothesline of my fantasy would have to be sunk into a big hole and fixed with cement. I'm not sure if its a good idea to do that sort of permanent installation right next to a structure right next to a future major construction project. Not to mention the fact that there's a certain tree that will need to go away in order to create the perfect sunshine/ventilation situation for the drying of laundry. It's size and nearness to the house means we will have to hire professionals; also not in the budget. The result of all of this thinking: Not only do I not have my perfect outdoor clothesline solution, I have NO outdoor clothes drying solution.

As soon as he wakes up, I am going to give my elder son (who will hereafter be referred to by his super hero name: The Iron Panda) one end of a string and I am going to take the other and we are going to string a clothesline between some trees.

One thing I'm learning from the Flylady is that perfectionism is the enemy of actually getting things done.
Seriously, check her website out if you haven't, she's so cool. And no, I'm not getting paid to say that. I should look into that though.

Magic in the Laundry Room

As a kitchen witch, I take great pleasure in finding little ways to insert more magic into my everyday activities, especially my housekeeping. So of course I'm going to whip up some laundry magic.

One thing I like to do (and I'm not sure you'd call it magic exactly) is to take old nylon socks and pantyhose and fill them with dried herbs, tie a knot in the open end and toss it into the dryer. Lavender is a favorite for this, especially for bedding. It scents the clothes beautifully and naturally and the ugly little sachet can be used about a dozen times before I ultimately toss it. It's a good way to reuse old pantyhose. Other nice options might include cinnamon chips, orange peel, lemon peel, or southern wood. Go with what moves you.

Another kitchen witch I know prefers to put a few drops of essential oil onto a washcloth and toss that into the dryer. This also works well and gives you more choices of fragrances to choose from as many herbs lose their fragrance when dried. It's just a matter of preference and budget. Essential oil costs a bit more, but it is also easier to manage and stores more neatly and compactly. But if you grow herbs, you may want to use what you can pick out of your garden at no extra costs. You can also use leftover citrus peels after you eat the fruit.

Here are a few ideas of herbs or oils to use for their magical properties:
Lavender - Soothing, relaxing, pleasant dreams and good sleep. Try it on your bedding. Ahhh.
Cinnamon - Gently increase the libido, draw love and friendship and money and for protection against general negativity. Try it when you go to a new place and are looking to meet new people.
Cloves- Draws money and luck, protects against gossip and jealousy. Your lucky gambling shirt. Or whatever.
Rosemary - When you have to stay sharp and want to be memorable. A job interview, taking a test at school, etc.
Allspice- Maximum manly sexiness. Also for self-confidence.
Citrus- Including orange, lemon, lime or grapefruit peel for energy and clarity
Southernwood- To stay alert and to repel insects. Your ritual garb perhaps?




PS I am in the market for a new laundry soap recipe. I will be experimenting with them over the next few months and will get back to you when I find one I love. If you've got a recommendation, please feel free to share it.

My Hearth Day Resolution - Learning to Fly

Last year's Hearth Day Resolution was something of a wash. It was "be prepared" and I was not. I was not prepared for my husband to lose his job three months after buying the house we moved to so that he could be near his job. Seriously. You'd think someone could have put a bug in his ear. And so instead of preparing, we spent most of the year in emergency mode and living hand to mouth. I did okay stocking up on foodstuffs and keeping the batteries in the flashlights charged but as for the rest, no. We do not have the emergency stuff in place we'd hoped for. I would like to revisit this resolution in the future, but right now I am tired of it and ready for a new, more immediate resolution that won't cost me any money. Something I can do, even in emergency mode.

I don't know if any of you have ever heard of Flylady.net. It's a homemaker's community aimed at teaching people how to be homemakers while retaining their sanity and dignity. The Flylady has a program of creating new habits to help homemakers get their act together without getting overwhelmed and she makes it kind of fun. So, my Hearth Day resolution for 2014 will be to follow her program and finally get my house organized.

Next year, I will revisit the be prepared resolution. Once I've gotten organized.

My monthly check-ins will be particularly challenging because I will be working on someone else's program. I need to be careful not to cross the plagiarism line while I do so. So... yea, I'm not sure how that's going to go but I will do my best. My goal is not to take her program, but to follow it and make it work for me and encourage you all to follow along if you can benefit from it.

That being said, Happy Hearth Day! I would love to hear about your resolutions too!

Baking Bread from Scratch

Once a week I bake bread. Possibly twice this week because it went really fast. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, but I've got a system now and it's very simple. Because I believe everyone should bake their own bread for the money savings if not the health benefits, I am going to share my system with you.

This makes two lovely loaves.

First: the Ingredients

Flour 

I use half whole wheat and half enriched white flour. This is a compromise that results in a nice, soft bread that the whole family enjoys. You can also add some soy flour for protein or oat flour for its many health benefits, but no more than a 1/2 cup.

You will need about 4 cups (probably a little more) of flour for this recipe.

Yeast  

Yeast isn't necessary for every type of bread, but it is for this type. I use regular active dry yeast. Not breadmaker yeast, not brewers yeast, not nutritional yeast. Yeast is leavening. It feeds on the sugars in the dough and produces waste in the form of air bubbles which result in a nice, fluffy loaf.

You will need 2 tablespoon of active dry yeast for this recipe.

Water

I am convinced that my ultimate bread-making success is an issue of water. A transplant from New York, I have been telling people for years that New York pizza dough resulted from New York's mineral rich water, so when I moved from city water to a well, I believed it was the mineral content in my well that was the secret to my bread making success, but after further reflection, I think it's the complete lack of chlorine that does it. I am not 100% sure of this, but if you have city water and you are having trouble getting your bread to turn out right, try buying a gallon of spring water to see if that helps.

The water that you use to make bread should be quite warm. It should feel like a nice, warm bath. Not a hot tub. It should feel warm, but not hot, when you put your finger in it. I know there's a specific temperature it should be, but I have no idea what that is. The temperature of the water is important because this is what will wake your yeast up.

You can use milk instead of water or add powdered milk for extra protein and nutrition. You can even experiment with other liquids later, after you've got the system down. The only important thing to remember is to keep it nice and comfy warm.

You will need two cups of warm water for this recipe.

Sugar

Sugar feeds your yeast and gets it active. You don't really need sugar using my method, it just gets things moving quicker. Your yeast can feed off of the sugars in the flour just fine, though the rising process may take a bit longer. If you're using milk, your yeast will enjoy feeding off that sugar as well and I personally haven't noticed any rising delays when using milk and omitting sugar. This is a good way to use up your milk or buttermilk when you are starting to suspect it's turned bad but it's not yet foul enough that you can throw it away without hesitation.

For sugar you can use: white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, syrup

But do not use: stevia, artificial sweetener

You will notice color differences in your finished product when using different amounts of sugar. The flavor will vary as well, of course.

You will need two tablespoons of sugar, honey or syrup of your choice for this recipe.

Salt 

Salt adds flavor to the bread and really offsets the other ingredients, but that is not the only reason we add salt to bread. It is an important part of the fermentation process. It reacts with the yeast and also with the gluten in the flour, to help create the perfect rise and the perfect dough. While baking, salt helps retain moisture in the loaf and with experimentation you will notice that the amount of salt you use directly affects the nature of your crust. More salt results in a harder crust. 

I use two tablespoons of salt for my bread, you may wish to vary this according to taste. 

Oil

Oil is not necessary in bread. However, I have found that when I omit (or forget) the oil, my bread turns out somewhat dry and crumbly and doesn't stand up well to being spread with anything. Any oil or melted fat will work. I like to add the oil to the water before I mix both with my dry ingredients. That way, if you're using melted butter or lard, the heat will kind of disperse into the water and you won't scald your delicate little  yeasties.  I usually use safflower oil or coconut oil.

You will need two tablespoons of oil or fat for this recipe.

Next: The Tools

These tools make breadmaking easier, but every one is optional.

Bowl

I have a big ceramic bowl that I use just for rising bread in. I recommend a nice, thick ceramic bowl for rising as the ceramic will help hold the temperature. For mixing a stainless steel bowl will do. If you don't have either of these, make due with what you have. The rising bowl must be big enough to hold at least twice the volume of dough that you have, bigger is better. 

Mixer

A stand mixer or electric mixer can help with the sponge phase of breadmaking, but that isn't a big deal. They aren't much help with the rest of it as bread dough is much too tough for an electric mixer and even a stand mixer using a bread hook struggles with it. 

My recommendation is a really big whisk and a heavy duty wooden spoon. Or just the spoon.

Kneading Board

The hardest part of baking bread for me is finding the space to knead. I don't have a special board and you don't need to either. The kitchen table or counter top will work if you just wipe it off and dust it with flour. 

Loaf Pans

Since this recipe makes two loaves, you may want two loaf pans. I have a cast iron pan and a earthenware pan and I can't decide which one I like best. I also have an aluminum pan that I do not like one bit. You do need a loaf pan for quick breads, but this bread is nice and solid so you can just form it into a loaf and it'll pretty much hold its shape. It'll get fatter, but it'll stay the same shape.

Now: Let's Do This

1. Make the Sponge

For this part, there is two of everything: 

2 cups of flour (I use all whole wheat flour for this part) (you will need at least 2 more cups later)

2 cups of warm water

2 tablespoons oil 

2 teaspoons salt 

2 tablespoons sugar. 

1. Make the Sponge First, I combine the oil and water in a 2 cup measuring cup and all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Then I dump the water & oil in the bowl and mix until I get a smooth batter, kind of like pancake batter. (sorry, I neglected to take a picture of this)

This is a nice, bubbly sponge

Then I go write an article or play with the baby or clean something. In about an hour I come back and check on the batter to see if it is bubbly. If it's not I go do something else and check again in another hour. If it is, I move on to the next step. If it never gets bubbly, I grow concerned about the health of my yeast and do some experiments to make sure it's alive and start over with new yeast if necessary.







2. Mix the Dough Now I gradually add 2 more cups of flour to the sponge, about a half cup at a time. If you are using a stand mixer, you should use the dough hook for this part. If you are using a spoon, mix gently, scooping along the outside and gliding in. Do not "cut" the dough with your spoon.

I usually use white flour or a combination of whole wheat and white for this part. Keep adding flour until it is really hard to mix the dough and it is forming a solid ball.

3. Knead the Dough Sprinkle some flour on a clean counter top or other surface and dump your ball of dough onto it and sprinkle some more flour on top. Now you will knead it. To knead your dough, push down in the center with the heal of your hand, then catch the end that squishes out in front of your hand and fold it back over the top, rotate the dough a quarter turn, switch hands and repeat. (I like to switch hands because it's easier on my bad elbow.) This is an excellent workout.

As you knead, whenever your dough starts to feel sticky, sprinkle some flour over the top and knead it in. Your goal is to be able to knead your dough 100 times without adding any flour. The dough should feel smooth and dusty and when you pinch a bit it should feel like an earlobe between your fingers. How much dough you use here depends on humidity and such factors beyond my control, so I can't definitively say how much flour you'll use here. (Honestly, after the sponge phase I don't measure anymore. I just keep adding flour till it's right,)

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the actual kneading process, it's kind of impossible and probably wouldn't help much without video anyway.

4. Let it Rise Drizzle a little of your favorite oil or some melted butter into the bottom of a large bowl. Form the dough ball into a nice round. um. ball. Plop it in the bottom of the bowl and roll it all around so it's completely coated with oil. Cover it with a damp cloth and put it in a warm, draft free spot.

Now go for a walk, run out to for a quick trip to the store, weed the garden, fold some laundry or play a rousing game of Kinect Super Party with a toddler. In an hour or two come back and check on your dough. When it's twice the size it was before, it's ready for the next step. (And I neglected to take a picture of that too.)

I keep my house at 68 degrees Fahrenheit during the day in the winter and my dough always rises just fine. Of course I usually have a bunch of other stuff going in the kitchen so it's a little warmer in there. On warmer days the dough will rise faster, on cooler days it'll rise slower.

**If you have to go to work or bed, you can wrap your dough tightly in waxed paper or plastic and put it in the fridge for several hours or even a day or two before you move on to step 5. A few hours before you're ready to bake them, take them out and continue with step 5. They will take longer to rise, but otherwise will be fine.

A free form loaf on an old pizza pan

5. Shape Your Loaves Make a fist and sink it right in the middle of your risen dough. Punch it good, several times. Then take it out of the bowl and put it back on your floured counter. It will feel quite different now, and that's okay. Stretch it out into a long oval and twist it in the middle to break it into two pieces, then shape it to fit your loaf pans, or shape it into a stand-alone loaf or several buns or sub buns or whatever you like.  Turn on your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

A loaf in a cast iron loaf pan

Then cover these with a damp cloth and wash up your bowl, clean up your flour-covered counter and then go catch up your Hulu queue.

Come back and check on them in an hour or two.

ready to bake

 6. Bake Some Bread Once your dough has risen to about half again the size it was before, you're ready to bake. Make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and pop them in. If you like a really chewy crust, put a pan of water in there with them.

Set the time for 45 minutes and proceed to do whatever else you need to do around the house.


7. Enjoy! I like to let the loaves cool for about 15 minutes in the loaf pan and then take them out to finish up cooling on a towel. Although fresh, hot bread is amazingly delicious, it slices better when it's completely cool, so the first slice is usually breakfast the next morning.

For freshness, store your bread in an air tight container and don't slice it till you're ready to use it.

Yum! This is some delicious breakfast!

My two favorite loaf pans:

It's a cold, cold world

I survived Snowmageddon. Barely. And I'm still digging out.

As you may now, my Hearth Day Resolution was "be prepared" and I think I did alright even though I made a HUGE mistake right at the beginning. You see, we have a giant tank in our basement that we fill with oil to run our furnace. Well, it ran out. Just in time for the biggest snowy/cold spell I have experienced since the '80s (I am not sure what the official statement on that is, just going by memory.) More to the point, I let it run out. In my defense, the little guagey thing on the top has been stuck at 1/4 for as long as I've known it. It says 1/4 now. It wouldn't have mattered if I noticed that the thing was running low. We didn't have the money to fill it. There is a minimum order of 150 gallons. At a little over $3 a gallon, that is no small change. Our credit cards are maxed out. I borrowed money from my daughter's nest egg to fill it. I have no way of paying her back.

The truth is, we have not been saving like we should. We haven't been able to. I have almost $400 in medical bills I pay each month on top of the $250 I pay for insurance. That is all money that should be going into savings but isn't. Now I wouldn't mind paying a couple hundred dollars to go to the emergency room and have a doctor say to me "I don't know why you lost 20 minutes of time and ended up driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood with no memory of how or why you got there, but it doesn't seem to be your heart and you don't seem to have a brain tumor, so why don't you just sit here for five more hours while we ignore you and then you can be on your way." But over $6000 after insurance is ridiculous. And crushing. We have been barely scraping by each month making these payments on top of our everyday bills. We have been rationing food and gas. We sold one of our cars. We cancelled our house phone. We do not have cable. We make our son pay for his cat's vet bills, his Xbox Live membership AND his school lunch out of the money he earns from his weekend job. Still, every month our paychecks disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Christmas was small and included much-needed long johns and boots. Every night I went to bed and prayed "Please please don't let anything break."

And Saturday we woke up to a cold house. Not so cold yet. The cold was yet to come. Sunday it was frigid. By Monday we were all in the master bedroom snuggling on the bed alternating between reading books, playing games and taking naps. We even moved the lizard's habitat and the worm bin into the bedroom. We also learned some very interesting things on Monday.
1. Diesel fuel freezes at -20 degrees. You can't pump it into a can and take it home to your furnace when it freezes. It has the consistency of Jell-O
2. We made (notice the past tense and read on) too much money to get help from the government. Yea, I asked. The maximum for a family of four is $38,000.
3. The candle & clay pot trick that's been going around Facebook works. Assuming you can keep your candles lit.

On Tuesday my husband called at lunch time and informed me he was coming home because he'd been laid off. This did not make my day. Even so, all I could do was laugh. Because somebody, somewhere must be, so I may as well join in. At this point we decided there was no point in waiting for a paycheck and risking frozen pipes. (I am so grateful that our pipes didn't freeze. My daughter's did, but at least they had the means to thaw them out!) So we borrowed money out of my daughter's "someday I'm going to get a drivers' license and a car" account. We have no means of paying it back. *sigh*

During this emergency, I did find myself well-prepared in some ways. I had plenty of flour & yeast to bake bread and plenty of beans and even a couple of ham bones in the freezer. I kept the beans going in the crock pot and that helped take the edge off the cold in the kitchen and made sure we always had something warm to put in our tummies when we had to make a foray out of the bedroom. And yea, that's about all we ate because it was way too cold in the kitchen to spend time cooking.

Even if this adventure hadn't included my husband losing the job we moved all the way out here to be closer to, it would impressed upon me that we seriously need to take a closer look at the money coming into this house. I haven't had a new dog training client since November and the clients I do have are so far away that I am actually losing money driving to their houses. And frankly, after my little "episode" a few months ago, which included apparently driving on autopilot after I had "left the building", I am not really excited about driving anywhere anymore.

When we first moved out here I had been planning to eventually turn my home into a doggie daycare, training and boarding facility so people could bring their pets to me. But I wanted to wait till my little Sunshine started school and we're still 2 years away from that. Well. I don't think I have the luxury of waiting anymore. I am going to give it a shot. Since my husband is home, he can help me with the baby when there are dogs around. And as for him, well his band is going to Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge in two weeks. This could be interesting. It's just a roller coaster, eh.

Good Prepper Habits

Having gone through another power outage, I have identified some habits I would like to cultivate to support my emergency prepping goals. Without further ado, here they are. Any thoughts you have on the subject are welcome as well.

1. Shop for the long haul
Now that my nearest grocery store isn't very near at all, and we've gone down to one car in order to better afford our little bit of paradise, I am trying to minimize my shopping trips as much as possible. I do this by making a menu for the month and a shopping list to match. This isn't easy. It takes more than one cart and way too long. I hate shopping. But when I shop for a month at a time, guess what! I have a month of supplies in my house. And it makes it easier to budget too.

2. Do Your Chores
Nothing's more frustrating than putting off doing the dishes till tomorrow only to discover that you have no power (and therefore no water) the next morning. Just do it. Yea, I have a heck of a time with this one.

3. Get Ready for Tomorrow Today
When you wake up in the morning and there's no power, it's nice to know that your pitcher is already full of filtered water, your clothes are laid out in the usual spot, the diaper bag is already ready to go, your lunch is packed and you've already had your shower. There's enough to panic about without worrying about the stuff you could've handled last night.

4. A Place for Everything
Put everything away as soon as you're done with it. That way, when the power goes out, you at least know what direction to grope blindly in.

5. Keep Your Tank Full
I learned during the great East Coast blackout a few years ago that you can't get gas when there's no power. When the rest of my family hightailed it up North to Grandma's house, I was stranded with an empty gas tank. Now that we live far away from the nearest gas station it's even more important. If I could just get my husband on this bandwagon.

In a power outage, your fully fueled car is your transportation if you need to evacuate. It has a radio so you can get news. And you can use it to charge your cellphone and other devices.

6. Keep it Charged
Keeping your cellphone and other devices fully charged makes it so much easier to use them when charging is no longer an option. Plugging them into the charger every night is a good habit to get into.

7. Be Redundant
So this last power outage I had to call 411 to get the number of the electric company because I had the number stored on my computer. I get electronic billing, so the invoice with the phone numbers was, yes, also stored on the computer. Which doesn't work when the power's out. I also couldn't call my clients to reschedule for the same reason. I like to keep my contacts on the cloud, though. That way I can access them anywhere that has WiFi. Keeping your important information in more than one place can be helpful. So is having more than one first aid kit, in more than one place. Lots of flashlights, in multiple locations. Lots of smoke alarms & carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers throughout the house and lots of different ways to escape.

My Favorite Small Appliances

So I have been without a stove for nearly two months. I have a stove now, a fancy electric thing that I am having a bit of trouble getting used to. Works great, lots of nifty features. I miss my gas stove. But that has nothing to do with this post. This post is about the small appliances that I used while I was waiting in stove limbo. And now that I have had a stove for a couple weeks, the ones I still use are really telling. So, without further ado, here's my list.

The Electric Frying Pan - I love this thing. It is so much easier to use than a pan on the stove. I remember thinking "who needs an electric frying pan when you have stove?" And so I don't actually own the thing. I certainly needed it when I didn't have a stove and now that I have one, I still prefer to use the electric frying pan. It always heats evenly and cleanup is a breeze. What do I make in it? Stir fry, omelettes, hash browns, peirogies, sausages & peppers, fried rice, pancakes, you name it. I used this thing every day when I didn't have a stove and now I have to return it to my mother, from whom it was borrowed (she only uses it at the annual Memorial Day family fish fry.) And I am sad. When I buy one for myself, I will be looking for one without the suspicious coating, but I don't expect I'll have much luck.

The Aroma Steamer - Another thing I figured I'd have no use for that I used almost every day when I didn't have a stove and continue to use daily even though I have one. In the morning you can throw in a handful of oatmeal, some raisins and dried apples and enough water to cover, sprinkle on some cinnamon, set it to steam for 10 minutes and you've got breakfast. You can make any kind of rice or quinoa pilaf in the thing as well as steaming veggies or fish or chicken in the top basket for a complete meal. I also use it to make chili and other soups. You can toss it all in in the morning and schedule it to be ready when you need it. And it cleans up super easy. This also has suspicious coating and that frustrates me a bit because there's not much stickiness that goes into this anyway.

The Crock Pot - The crock pot has always been a favorite tool, but not one I use every day. It is my favorite way to cook beans which might later be turned into hummus or added to chili or a rice or quinoa pilaf. It is also one of my favorite ways to process apples. Just cut them up, add sugar and cinnamon, cook it on low overnight and you have apple butter. Yum. Turn it up to high in the morning and plop on your favorite biscuit recipe, cover and cook another 20 minutes and you have apple cobbler (sort of). Very yummy. Of course it's also useful for potroast and pulled pork- neither of which I make very often. I actually have two different sized Crock Pots and a West Bend slow cooker. The 3 quart Crock Pot gets regular use as a bean cooker, the other two get used much less often.

The George Foreman Grill - I did not use this daily, but I used it often enough for it to make the list. I like it for grilling chicken breasts and I also made salmon in it once.

The Toaster Oven - Mostly I used the toaster oven to bake potatoes and roast beets. I also used it to make cheesy garlic bread out of some sub buns that had gone stale once. It is not big enough to take more than 1 sub bun or 3 potatoes or beets at a time and certainly not big enough to bake a batch of bread in. I am glad I had it, but I didn't use it every day.

Honorable mention must go to my food dehydrator which is hardly a necessary tool in the kitchen but made the abundance my apple tree produced this year into manageable bits, easily tossed into the steamer or crock pot to be used in whatever recipe I wish. (Especially helpful since pies and canning were not an option.) Next year I am going to use it to dry peppers, onions, blueberries and more into nifty bits that can simply be tossed in and simmered.

During my stove-free cooking foray I did not find a good solution for pasta. My pasta maker went un-used entirely because I didn't have any way of cooking pasta. My mother did lend me a hot pot which might have worked, but would have required me to work in several small batches. I didn't try this. I did try using her deep fryer to boil pasta but I couldn't get the taste of old oil out of it and the resulting pasta was pretty gross. It may have worked if it had been brand new. As I have never personally deep fried anything, the deep fryer didn't get used at all after that.

Aside from pasta and fresh baked bread, we did not go without when we went without the stove. And since I have been trying to cut carbs, this worked out perfectly for me. (The boys, not so much.) In reality, I could have gone without a stove indefinitely. If it had come down to buying an appliance (we got our new stove for free from a guy who was moving and didn't need it of I still wouldn't have one), I would have spent the money on a dishwasher before the stove as my cooking needs were pretty much met without it.

That being said, most of these small appliances, with the exception of the toaster oven and the Crock Pot, have suspicious non-stick chemical coatings. The West Bend items are the most suspicious-looking. I feel much safer cooking with my trusty Lodge cast iron pans and for that I need a stove and an oven. Or a fire pit - but I don't have time for that.

You'll notice that there is no microwave on here. I don't have one and haven't in a long time. I use the steamer or the toaster oven for reheating leftovers. I thought I'd get a new microwave eventually when the old one went out in a blaze of sparks and flashing lights but I haven't missed it so I don't think I'll bother. Besides, my husband is convinced it turns food into carcinogens.

Power Outage Prep #prepping

We moved into our new home two weeks ago and our first weekend in the house we had the privelege of experiencing a power outage, quite unprepared. Everyone we spoke to at the electric company told us something different, but I think what happened was that they scheduled the turn off for the previous owners after our turn on date and so turned us off thinking they were turning them off and when we called to say "Hey!" they tried to turn us back on and broke us on Friday and couldn't get a repair crew out till Monday. So we got to spend our first weekend in the house with no heat, no lights and no water because all of these things run on electricity. And of course we couldn't find any of our flashlights or camping gear because we were moving and it was dark. Oi.

So what did I learn from this experience?

1. Our well is useless without power.
The purchase of 3 2-1/2 gallon jugs of water kept us hydrated through the weekend, but we had to travel for bathing and eating. Those three jugs, now emptied, will be filled with tap water for emergency flushing and washing and four more fresh, sealed jugs will be stored in the basement for emergency drinking. They aren't in the basement yet because the repair men have only just vacated. The power outage slowed them down too.

2. Getting a generator isn't just a simple trip to the hardware store.
Oh no, we tried. And we were thoroughly confused. And there was nobody around to ask. Customer service simply doesn't exist anymore. Of course we would normally go online and look at reviews, but without electricity this was not an option. This weekend (payday is Friday) we will be buying a generator or an emergency battery to use for the well pump and/or furnace (which has an electric ignition) and I will post reviews as soon as I've had the opportunity to experiment. If you have any recommendations, pass them along!

3. My emergency food stash was largely useless.
It wasn't useless when we lived in a house with a gas stove, but this house is rigged for electric. Rice and beans do no one any good if they can't be boiled. We did eat a lot of cereal and fruit. My emergency stock will consist mostly of canned food from now on. The dry goods are still good for different types of emergencies, like money emergencies, but when you can't boil water you need something you can eat out of hand or cook up on the grill.

4. The lower level is as awesome in the cold as it is in the heat.
A major selling point for this house was the sub-level family room where we can retreat from the stifling summer heat without using the AC. I suspected that it would be just as handy in the winter and was proven right when we had our first hard frost while without electricity. The temperature downstairs barely dropped while the upstairs rooms were only bearable while snuggling.

5. The electric company sucks.
Since we don't get to choose our electric company and can't simply take our business elsewhere I guess it's no surprise that we couldn't get any decent service and nobody gave a shit that my children had to sleep three nights in an unheated house with no water because they screwed up. Apparently their repair crews don't work on weekends. This is really important information that I wish I had had before I moved in. I would have moved in with a generator.

In summary; our power outage prep list-
A generator and/or emergency battery
About a dozen flashlights, one to be placed in the top of each closet and the top drawer of each dresser for handy access
Several cans of veggies, fruit, beans
Nuts, granola bars & cereal
4 2-1/2 gallon jugs of purified water for cooking and drinking + several additional jugs of questionable tap water for washing and flushing
Several cartons of shelf stable milk/soy milk/coconut milk

Anything to add?

The Money Cushion

The Cash Cushion

I would like to have a cushion of 3 months. While I've seen statistics that say the average period of unemployment is nine months, I have never been unemployed that long and neither has my husband. Three months seems about right, especially since my husband can collect unemployment if he loses his current job. His previous job treated him as in independent contractor and so when he was laid off, he was not eligible for unemployment. I am an independent contractor myself and not eligible for unemployment, but my income is also extremely variable and unreliable and very very small, especially compared to my expenses. I'm not going to bother including it in my calculations, because I don't include it in my budget. And the chances of us both becoming unemployed at the same time is pretty slim.

Long term goal - 3 months income in savings

1 year goal - 1 month income in savings

Monthly savings goal, about 8.5% of income

Of course this safety net of cash does not just prepare us for a loss of income. It can be used for many emergencies.

• If we have to evacuate due to fire or another emergency, it can pay for a hotel and food.
• If our belongings are destroyed by fire, it can pay for replacements while we wait for the insurance company to do what it does.
• If something breaks and needs to be repaired immediately, we will be able to address it immediately without relying on credit or imposing on our friends.

Problems

If there's a black out, we might not be able to get our money from the bank. ATMs might not function, credit card machines might not work. We're going to need to store actual cash somewhere. Not all of our savings, but at least enough to fill up a tank of gas, buy some groceries and maybe pay for a night in a hotel. I don't like the idea of keeping large quantities of money in the house.

Can we actually afford to put aside 8.5% of every paycheck? As it stands right now, we spend each paycheck as soon as we get it. We are going to have to be diligent and budget. It does seem that we always manage to find a little extra money for the extras. We're just going to have to make this an extra.

The Credit Cushion

Paying off or paying down our credit card will give us an additional cushion in case of emergencies. Paying it off will eliminate a bill, making it easier for us to save money and meet our other obligations. Also, it will improve our credit so if we do have to take out a loan in the future, say for a nice big car with room for the whole family and MrRabbit's musical equipment all at the same time, we won't have a problem.

In order to pay off the credit card in a year, I will have to pay about 10% per month. That is not going to happen. I simply can't afford it if I want to save. So I will pay about 5%, which is about twice the current minimum payment, I think I can handle that. That will have the card paid off in two years. I'll take it. In the meantime, if I use the card to buy something online, I will increase the next check I send by double the cost of the order.

Emergency Prep for:
Unemployment, emergency repairs to home or automobile, other emergency expenses, evacuation

Next Month: The Stuff Cushion

A New Resolution

So paying off all of my debt in the next year is not realistic. Maybe next year. This year I have to buy appliances, do radon mitigation, fix the oil tank and heater, fix the sump pump, redo the deck, take down the really scary and dangerous looking fence around my yard and replace it with a fence that will actually keep things in instead of just punishing anyone who walks over it with tetanus... That is assuming this deal ever goes through, and I did say I was going to blog about that, didn't I? I am planning on doing that without using anymore credit, but paying off what I already have just isn't likely.

BUT, paying down (or off) my credit card can be a part of the NEW, much more practical Hearth resolution I have chosen.  (Drumroll please)

Be Prepared

Yes, I am going to start prepping. As I look at all these websites and TV shows about prepping I think "Those people are nuts" Why would you spend a whole bunch of money on all sorts of stuff to survive a nuclear attack or a zombie apocalypse? I just want to survive the next major black out.

So I got to thinking. What is practical to prep for? What emergencies are my family most likely to face?

So here's my brainstorm:
(In no particular order)

• Power outage due to storms, whatever that was last time the whole Eastern seaboard went out and equipment failure
• Loss of heat due to equipment failure or power outage
• Loss of water due to a main break, plumbing issues, etc.
• Illness or injury
• Loss of income due to unemployment, illness or injury
• Fire. Gods forbid.
• Extreme weather, confining us to the home and limiting our ability to get to resources. 
• Extreme weather or other condition requiring us to evacuate, limiting our access to the home for some time.
• Extreme weather or other condition causing serious damage to the house requiring immediate repair for the safety of the family and to prevent further damage to the house. Broken windows, leaks, torn off siding or roof shingles.
• Loss of transportation due to vehicle damage or malfunction.
• Being the target of criminal activity in the home, in the car, or out and about in the world
• Being charged with criminal activity or faced with a lawsuit

There we have 12 items I can review over the next 12 months. Assuming I keep on task here. The way the summer's been going... Well, I need to get back to some sort of normalcy around here.

My Hearth Day Resolution #hearthdayresolution

My hearth is so hectic right now that I am having a very hard time deciding what my Hearth goal will be for this year. On one hand, moving into a new house, I can think of a million possibilities. However, we don't actually have that house yet and it seems like making major plans associated with it might invite even more bad luck, so my goal is going to have to be something I can do wherever my hearth happens to be.

After much thought, I've decided to reduce my debt. This seems rather daunting as I take on the biggest debt I will ever take on in my life, and as I take on the rather expensive responsibilities of homeownership, but I feel that this is a long-term action that will benefit my family immensely.

Specifically, I have identified 3 debts to eliminate entirely in the next year.

$2,000 to the hospital for an emergency room visit
$3,500 credit card debt
$4,200 car loan

These are actually not a big deal. If I continue to make the minimum payments on these, I can be done with them in a few years. However, if I pay them off this year, I will save money in interest, and have an extra $315 per month to put toward my mortgage and student loan debt, or to spend on things like gardening supplies, lumber, and livestock to increase our self-sufficiency, which is my ultimate goal.

According to my math, in order to pay off all of these debts in 1 year, I am going to have to come up with about $800 per month.

Can I do it?

Well yea, sure I can. I just have to figure out how.

Winter Warm Ups

With the snow flying already, it's time to break out the hot beverages. I've been enjoying the taste of mulled cider since before Samhain but it becomes even more enjoyable as the weather grows colder. I've decided this year to share the joy by adding mulling spices to my gifts. To do this, first take a look at my mulled apple cider recipe at Kitchen Witch Corner. Find or make a cloth bag, preferably cotton (about the size of a of a tarot bag, maybe a little smaller) in a festive print. Fill the bag with the dry ingredients (dry the orange slices in a food dehydrator or purchase dried orange slices) and tie the bag closed with a pretty ribbon! Add a tag to the ribbon with preparation instructions. If your recipiant isn't a huge fan of hot apple cider, this gift can also be used as a fragrant sachet or potpourri!

What's your favorite winter warm up?