From the homestead

Daffodils are blooming, the wattle trees are turning the hills yellow with beautiful flowers, the plants around us are bursting into life, and the soil smells alive and full of potential.

I can get caught up in the garden for a long time, feeling like there is nothing in the world I’d rather be doing. These days I have to be more conscious not to over-do the work, to take it all a bit more slowly, taking time to have a break, take in the surroundings, smell the soil, and hear the songs of the birds.

Outside the homestead, this month sees the launch of Sourdough Without Fail, and me stepping a bit outside my comfort zone, doing my first ever book signing later this month.

To balance that out, there’s lots of gardening, learning more about bees, and I’ll be hanging out on Permies next week to answer sourdough questions and do a book giveaway. If you’d like to be notified when the giveaway is live, sign up to the Permies daily-ish email.

From the archives

Thick greek-style yoghurt was something I struggled to achieve for a long time, in this post I share all my tricks for getting Greek or Bulgarian yoghurt to culture successfully without any electricity or gadgets.

​Homemade yoghurt​

New blog posts

Gardening ideas, meal ideas, and reflections on living 100% on local foods in the leanest time of the year

​Planning for the hungry gap, and how to eat well when there’s not much growing in the garden​

Most cheese recipes have exact timings, but in this next post I share the inexact way I make our staple hard cheese several times a week, and how to make hard cheese recipes fit in your life. If you get frustrated with cheesemaking because you feel like you have to watch the clock constantly, read this post, and you may end up enjoying cheesemaking.

​Homestead hard cheese recipe​

Would anyone like some pancakes? You can make these fluffy sourdough pancakes with any kind of sourdough starter, including gluten-free, whole grain, and fresh milled flours.

​Sourdough pancakes​

Homemade sourdough sandwich bread with a similar texture to store-bought bread is possible! Here's my recipe that uses a special technique to make extra soft bread.

​Soft sandwich bread from fresh milled flour​

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And if you'd like crusty round loaf of sourdough to share around the table, here's a recipe for you:

​Dutch oven boule recipe​

I've also put the first chapter of my new sourdough book up for free, click here if you’d like to have a look.
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With warmth from the hearthfire,

Kate

​The Nourishing Hearthfire​
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