Maggie Turner: Page by Page

A few weeks ago, on a visit to the city, we purchased hard white wheat berries. The Bulk Barn sells hard white wheat berries, I haven’t found any other supplier as yet, so I thought we should give them a try. While there we picked up a small bag of sprouted spelt berries as well. After struggling to consume about 3 gallons of whole wheat flour that was past being pleasant, I decided that i wanted to mill my own whole wheat, on demand, when needed. Wheat berries keep for a long time, and they will keep even longer in the freezer. To that end we recently purchased a flour mill, the WonderMill, for grinding our own flour. My expectations have been low for this project, as I’ve not had stellar results baking 100% whole wheat bread. My 100% whole wheat bread is acceptable, but nothing to write home about, particularly of late, baking with older-than-desirable flour. The adventure began this morning. The wheat and spelt berries were taken out of the freezer early in the morning, to give them a chance to thaw before it was time to mill them. Hydro becomes much less expensive after 11:00 a.m., so … Continue reading →

Our Wedding Anniversary has come and gone. It is interesting how it played out. I had been thinking about it a week or so before the event. Attila says he was too. But on the actual day, we both forgot about it completely, until a few hours before bedtime, when we suddenly realized that it was our anniversary. I don’t know if it means anything at all, forgetting the anniversary, but since we both forgot there was nothing to get upset about, we laughed, then we ate popcorn. This morning’s breakfast saw the last of the sugarless cookies consumed. It was surprising how enjoyable they were. They are more enjoyable with the inclusion of the scant amount of sugar called for in the recipe, so the next batch will find me following the recipe with great care. Last week the garden seeds were ordered. Attila is expanding the main garden, and I am going to create two small raised gardens in giant totes. At first Attila had little interest in raised bed gardening, but the concept has grown on him, and now he wants to build a small wood raised bed to see how that works. The wood raised bed … Continue reading →

Spring thaw has begun. The snow is melting into puddles, puddles everywhere. The yard is still mostly white, with pools of water reflecting the approach of spring. I’ve had a quiet day. I left the cheerful living room lights on for most of the morning, until the day brightened and the curtains were drawn open. I am working on a new crochet project, a cotton facecloth. The blanket I have been working on for, gosh, almost two years, is now finished and keeping Attila warm at night. The blankets were good projects for me, because of the repetition my hands developed strong body memory for the the stitches, and the technique I use for maintaining tension. There is lots of evidence that spring is coming. The ladybugs who have burrowed their way into the house are crawling on the windows, when the sun shines. I kill them, as they bite. Two wasps have also managed to enter the house, again, drawn to the sunny windows. I kill them. Their sting is seriously painful, and Attila is allergic. Their presence in the house inspires a plan to properly seal the house with caulking, at the bottom of the siding, around the … Continue reading →