Sheep!

Yesterday, we got out the door a little late to the sheep shearing. Actually, the sheep weren't sheared completely; they were just "Skirted," which just means that the dirty/wet wool from around their eyes and bums were sheared off. The shearer was cool too, and it was fun that the whole shearing family came. The oldest of the three girls was a whiz at herding the sheep into their holding pen. The sheep looked funny in their smocks, protecting the bulk of their wool from dirt. Once we got through the first 12 sheep, taking their jackets off their hind legs, skirting, and everyone bundled up again, we broke for lunch. Jean, our hostess, and owner of the two dozen sheep, had prepared quite a spread. She's an amazingly productive person for 99 years old. And she makes some award winning fiber out of those precious puffs of wool on her sheep.

For lunch we had good company, too. Matt, the shearer, Rebeccah, his partner, and their three girls, Jean, Jean's son and his wife, and three Salt Hollow WWOOFers. Matt and I talked sourdough and njira, a sourdough flatbread from Ethiopia made from Teff flour. I'm curious if the sourdough culture will work in Teff flour, too. Whatever the case, yesterday had two different loaves of GF sourdough, with positive results.

Somewhere in the middle of shearing the second dozen sheep, I got a call from a new friend, Jonah. Through my own miscommunication, he was at Salt Hollow, petting the goats, and waiting until we got done. When we got back, we all worked on Jini's stage effects for her Raging Grannies Singing Group performance coming up next week (more on this to follow).

Today, I've got another loaf of sourdough rising, and one on deck. I'm increasing the amount of Amaranth flour in the mix with each loaf.

Already today, too, we had our goats "debudded," a process when their horns are cauterized before they begin to grow through the skin. The process is painful to watch, but apparently it is necessary to avoid all sorts of mishaps with rowdy goats and pointy horns.

It's a rainy one here at Salt Hollow, so we'll see what we can get done this afternoon.

Oh, and a rainbow.

First Garden Day, Aquaponics, and Sourdough Success

Lots of fun work done today. Fixed up the potting shelter and moved some compost from our friend Jean's sheep. Spread on a few beds and double dug the compost in. Meanwhile, Michaela and Jini worked to process the Yucan roots into pickled versions of themselves, as well as packing some whole and dirty in a bucket with newspaper so they will keep while we take our time eating the pickled ones.
They also prepped the pumpkin for our vegan pumpkin chocolate pie for Valentines day. We're having quite the soiree tomorrow, and desert just may be the most important part.

Afterward, we zipped off to Ukiah High School to get a tour of their Aquaponics project. They have three rows of tanks, one big one on the bottom, and two staggered, smaller tanks suspended above that. Water flows constantly between the three levels. The fish live in the bottom, and provide most of the nutrients by eating the plant waste, and the plants use the nutrients from the water to grow amazing vegetables. The plants are susoended in a fliating foam with cocao mulch, and their roots soak up nutrients in the water they share with prawns in the upper tanks, and Steelhead or Bass in the lower tank. The solid waste settles in a catchment basin, and goes to the bio-digester, which catches the methane gas from the break-down. The gas powers a water heater that pumps warm water underneath the tanks to keep them warm in winter. Then, the digested sludge is finally fed to worms.

We could have been beat after a day like that, but we came home to delicious Gluten-free pasta, and my first crack at GF Sourdough. It was soo good. I missed real bread, but I think we made something that is close enough to actually call bread. I have another batch in the oven, and another one on the rise. Toast! How I've missed you!