Bread has its own agency, apparently so does our proofing refrigerator, and the weather, and the sourdough starter, and the baker. There are probably more I’m neglecting but the reality is that there are many variables and much of the time, they all co-ordinate into one big happy explosion of delicious baked goods. Sometimes, however, something goes haywire (what an interesting idiom, like the Chewbacca defense?) and there is no sense. The bread is still delicious but overproofed and ‘flatter’, the bagels fail (and turn into lovely bialys), the cheese doesn’t curd as fluffy – there are more trials and tribulations in cottage foods than one could possibly plan for (which is why many feel more comfortable with the factory options – uniformity, strategic success, sterility). But know that everything made here, despite their quirks, is made with love and care and the best ingredients possible.

Innovation and adaptation in a troubling situation is what we should all strive for, no? Especially these days. (I do love bagels but I would not kick a lovely bialy out of bed for not being a bagel! Why are there baked goods in my bed? At least they are not eating crackers!) Our little kitchen practice here is a work in progress, we are fine tuning our processes, our ability to organize, and our desire to share it with you.

And we thank you – for your patronage, for your patience, for your advice, and willingness to be flexible when we are challenged. All of these goodies we make are an extension of our own needs and family – we invite you to our home in this fashion. We’d prefer to make some coffee or pour you a fancy drink, wander around the apple trees or sit by the firepit, and visit with you. But this is the world we live in right now – a quick delivery from our home to yours – and we hope that this gets us all through.

Thank you for the connection ~

A couple years ago now we decided to charcuterie a pig liver, wrapping it in linen, tying it, and hanging it from a hook in our ‘dining room’. We were ecstatic to have hanging meat. We ended up being too nervous to try it after we left it for a ridiculous amount of time (somehow we forgot about it) and chucked it, though if I knew then what I know now – I would still try it even if it were still there. With that said, Josh is enamored with the little River Cottage book on Curing & Smoking, I expect our dream of hanging meats will be renewed.

What else is going on around here? It’s Tuesday so there are piles of bread, trays of bagels, jars of ricotta and pesto waiting to go out for delivery. It’s Pretzel Braed week – a sweet and savory braided bread with your name all over it. The chickens have started laying (gorgeous little eggs with deep colored yolks) and the rooster is being re-homed (today). There is apple jelly, apple butter, applesauce, and apple chips waiting to be finished and cider (whew!). And something delightfully sweet and special coming your whey (yes, I did that). A Fall apple Kimchi is bubbling away. I’m fantasizing about pumpkin butter and cranberry sauce, too (y’know, when I get a handle on this half of my chapter I have to write for this semester). And warmy teas are coming your way – the apothecary has been building all Summer and Fall (thank you Justin for the burdock root!) – rosehip, calendula, red clover, raspberry leaf, lemon basil, juniper berry, bee balm, yarrow, goldenrod, cleavers, lavender, thyme, mullein – it’s a good store this year.

Our extended Summer is coming to a close this week (today at 70 degrees, next Tuesday back to 40), which leaves us just a smidge of room to get those windflower corms in the ground in the back orchard, and the handful of alliums and croci bulbs. Duende and I almost had Josh convinced to get us ducks but since we haven’t painted the chicken coop yet or taken care of the strawberry beds, he was less convinced we should add more to our plate at this time. Maybe we can work on him again in the Spring – ha! Though he is dreaming of bees, and I of pumpkins (and floors). D has been making little picnic tables with dishes and providing seedy food for the birds and chipmunks – adorable.

Enjoy yourself – it’s later than you think.

There is always an urgency when the first snow flurries make an appearance – many times they signal the change and then aren’t seen again for months. Josh and I are both familiar with it snowing on our birthdays in October and April, mid season bookends. So, it is no surprise to wake up and see a soft coating of the white stuff, the green grass still poking through, the leaves over their splendor now, seed heads offering up the last nutrition to the congregating Black-Capped Chickadee, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmouse, Nuthatches, Cardinals, Crows, etc. Our sweet chickens have started laying eggs (adorable little faerie eggs with deep orange yolks), maybe in payment for all the treats we give them (oats, our own grown strawberry popcorn – so tiny compared to regular, flax/sunflower seeds, etc). When they follow me around I feel like Snow White.

Most of the bulbs are in (ha! still some leftover alliums/croci/windflower corms) and time is running out for that sort of thing. Time to mulch over the strawberries, the garlic bed, the fruit trees, and give up on the rest of the garden plans. We have a known little hiccup coming in the late Fall where we will have to take a couple of weeks off any big projekts, and baking/delivery which will serve my dissertation well and our collective health (no little thing), but not much else. So, the urgency is to push to get a lot of goodies set aside now – like whey caramel, apple butter, hand pies, a sweet and spicy Fall kimchi, new and exciting pastas, and more preserved lemons (speaking of – I made a piccata the other night with some monkfish my mother was kind enough to pick up at Portland’s Harbor Fish Market for me; preserved lemons, parsley, and caper sauce over fregola – so simple and sexy).

We really should use our upcoming ‘Indian Summer’ to paint the chicken coop, maybe add another little pop-door for their convenience and shelter, get the Sugar Shack ready for February, rake out the garden beds and sow Fall seeds (Poppies, Echinacea, Bachelor’s Buttons, Milkweed, Rudbeckia, Gaillardia, Flax, Foxglove, Dianthus, Delphiniums, and even Calendula, and Daisy) as all do well with natural stratification (dormancy), cage all the baby fruit trees, and paint the inside of the house, too – while we can leave all the windows/doors open (though we use No VOC and Milk paint, there are still chemicals in it and drying time is reduced by airflow). One last good clean out and Fall cleaning before the nights start staying below 30 degrees and we’re in and cozy for the long Winter weather (which we need both of us – this place is crazy town!).

Oh, the urgencies – and on this day when there is a political urgency of hope (and hopefully some practicality), and with the compounding existential urgency – we, at Rock Bottom, wish you moments of deep breathing, gratitude, and a sense that all of our urgencies are worth living.