I Learned Something New

Sourdough. It's a thing. I've seen enough demonstrations. I've heard plenty about the benefits. I've also recognized that it is a time consuming process so I haven't thought seriously about attempting it. I don't have time for sourdough. Until...

for a Relief Society activity in June, we had a hands on lesson in sourdough. And I mean hands on. We each got a bowl with flour and salt and a wooden spoon. Then we passed around the sourdough starter and water and a kitchen scale. Wow. That doesn't sound good. Let me try again.

We were given instructions and followed them together in our activity. I even learned how to stretch and fold and did it both at the activity and when I got home. 

Thanks to a friend who took pictures of me at the activity and texted them to me. 

 

I took some starter home with me to put in the fridge. This is not my first sourdough starter but I have never gotten to the point of feeding it before so eventually it just gets thrown out. But since we were really doing a hands on thing here, I was determined to feed it a week later. Before that, however, I realized that the hands on part of the sourdough process isn't actually that much. There's just a lot of letting it sit. And I've baked enough bread products that letting something sit is not abnormal for me. 

Anyway, so I actually made sourdough bread for the first time and second time and so on.

I've even fed the sourdough starter several times since the class, with or without intent to bake.

I've had varying levels of success with the bread and with the starter but I've done it. Yay, me. I actually tried something new.

I'll leave you with a last pretty loaf as compared to the sad one before.

 

Fireflies!

Mom: Everybody say "Fireflies!"

Most of the kids: Fireflies!

Lucky: Where?

Years ago we heard that there are fireflies in Utah! Being a Western states girl, I'd never seen fireflies because I assumed you only found them farther East. We found out that every year for a short period of time there are places in Utah that have fireflies. BYU has even done studies on fireflies in Utah. Look it up.
So for years we've been wanting to see fireflies. Well, this year, it worked out. As a family we went down to a little place where we were able to stand next to a field with fireflies. Hooray! That was a cool experience.

To me, their lights going on and off look like sparks from a campfire. No wonder they are called fireflies. It was sooooo cool.

You may or may not be able to see the tiny little lights in these pictures. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

We couldn't stop singing songs from Ray the firefly in The Princess and the Frog.
The kids also had fun watching bats flying around eating mosquitoes.
It was a neat family experience. And we were able to count the experience for a Summer Reading badge.