Less stuff

I feel like I'm swimming against the tide in my small efforts to simplify my life. I have a few more bags ready to go to the Op shop today.

Here is a clip I found inspiring and entertaining. If you haven't yet watched the story of stuff, I also highly recommend it.

Can you pick the freerange eggs?

I made two batches of scrambled eggs (with pepper) this morning. They are almost unrecognisable as the same food. I had camera troubles and when I finally came to take the pic, someone had helped themselves to some eggs. You can see which they chose.

So, did you guess which were freerange eggs? If you guessed the ones on the left, you were right. If you guessed the eggs on the right, you were also right. The eggs on the left were supermarket "freerange" eggs, which by the looks the hens got some fresh air and windy pudding in a barren dirt yard. If your hens are freeranged  where the grass is sprouting lush and green like in my backyard, you get eggs such an intense gold it is hard to believe the colour is natural.
So, do you want "freerange" eggs or freerange eggs?
Some purists say that a backyard doesn't constitute free range, neither does a barn opened an hour a day or dirt yards resembling a barren moonscape. It certainly does make a difference though, even if you dont' have a few acres for true freerange hens.
I have had caged hens eggs that are more yellow than those on the left and sometimes the yolks are more orange/yellow than my hens, but when you cook them like this, there is a depth and intensity to the colour that can't be manufactured. I think the layer mix must have beta carotene or something added to make the caged eggs more appealing and healthy looking.
I just wish my chooks would all start laying so I don't have to buy an inferior product ;)

Daily Bread - feeding the ravening hordes

We are nearly at the end of the holidays and having 11 kids in the house including 7 boys 14yo and over, it is a challenge to bake enough bread. These first loaves were yesterdays bread. The loaves were rolled in semolina and baked in the big oven with a pan of boiling water in the bottom. The crust was the best I have ever made.

Today's bread was done in two batches. First  I made Kefir milk white dough rolls, crosscut. I love using kefir in the dough. It makes a lovely soft, light and tender crumb.

Next I made organic wholemeal and rye dough  again using all kefir and a little added gluten. Very tasty.

I need to get more rye flour as I want to try the rye crackers in my new Peter Reinhart book, "Artisan Breads Every Day". It is a fabulous book, I have learned so much already just flicking through. I will have to rave on about it some more once I have made some of the recipes.

I do like to do a slow rise overnight but at the moment it is the last thing on my mind in the evening. My favourite warm resting place is behind the curtain by the window overlooking the deck. A quick rise guaranteed. When you have restless and ravenous teenage boys pacing the floor, it needs to happen fast.
While the oven is on, I also baked the egg shells I keep to grind up and feed back to the chickens for the calcium and minerals. Note the Araucana shells in the middle. Unlike the brown eggs, the colour goes all the way through the shell to the inside.

It seems it is all about baking around here. Maybe I should call this blog Bake-a-Rooney instead. Though that sounds a little macabre lol.
There's not much sewing happening (though I need to do some) but I did manage to cook up some soap a few weeks ago using Rhonda's recipe on her Down to Earth blog. It went fabulously well, or so I thought. after it was poured and covered, I peeked under to see it gelling beautifully. An hour or so later I peeked again and to my dismay it was developing lye crystals on the surface. The problem was I had used an old balance scale which was obviously no where near accurate enough. So Iscraped it all back into the crockpot and let it remelt, added more oils and a little more water and eventually repoured. It was nowhere near as smooth as the first pour. I have saved the bits and pieces from scraping the bowl and such and have used those bits from time to time and was really pleased with the rich lather it produces (and not red raw burning skin lol). Yesterday when I turned the soap I grated up one of the small end offcuts and dissolved it in hot water. I was really pleased with the bubbles in the sink when I tried some as detergent. I think it is better than the liquid castile I paid for. I then used more of the liquid to wash my hair - I was getting brave.

Oooh! just had an earth tremor! The kids are calling it an earthquake and were wondering whether they should stand in a doorway! lol. (It was tiny really).

Here is the liquid soap and the bubbles when they were half gone.

And lastly, why you shouldn't buy cheap knives or use them to machete frozen chicken carcasses: