November 2022 – By Alanna Pass

The Zen of Sourdough

Years ago I used to bake bread frequently- until I discovered I was gluten intolerant. I missed the bread and the process. Then this last year I discovered I could make a decent sourdough in a dutch oven. An all sourdough bread will consume the gluten in the proofing process making it digestable for me- as long as I use organic flour. I’m sensive to all the chemicals in regular flour. Now I bake bread weekly. I find the ritual of baking bread a meditative & sensual process. One must be very in tune with the dough to know when you have it right. A bit of biology, chemistry, intuition, and a touch of alchemy can make four ingredients so delicious!

Sourdough Bread

Flour, water, salt, starter

Combine, then gather with your hands

sticky with dough

Let the mixture rest 30 minutes

Form into a ball, now baby soft

Let it sleep while you sleep, eight hours or so.

Wake to the white mound doubled

Gather again, caressing this living substance back into a ball,

Place in a cloth-lined proofing basket

like you’re putting it down for a nap

In 3 or so hours this colony of wild yeast will reclaim its rightful size

Gingerly invert the dough from its basket

Score your design into its skin then

carefully lower it into a hefty cast iron pot

and slide it into the oven preheated to 450 degrees

Cover and bake for 25 minutes

Remove the cover and bake 15 minutes more until browned

(Savor the aroma of baking bread wafting through the house)

When the final timer rings

remove your lovely loaf and wait one final time for it to cool.

Saw the knife blade through the crust releasing the first slice,

exhaling the breath of wild yeast

Slather some butter on the warm bread

Savor and share in good company

Here is the link for recipe I use. (I cut down the water to 1 cup for a more workable dough.)

Photos, sketch, and poem by the author

Tune into my other blog about sustainability at onesweetearth.blog

Planting Seeds in Winter

Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized

Today I went out in the brisk sunny air to do some planting. First came the garlic that takes up an entire bed in my garden. Then it was on to plant Pacific NW native wildflower seeds that I ordered from Steele Acres. I marvel that some seeds need the harshness of winter to flower in the spring. Perhaps we do too.

Even seeds sown in winter

Bring forth flowers in the spring

While planting I noticed a some delightful tiny groves of mushrooms and a miniscule very late violet in the very right side of the last picture. You never know what you might find out in the garden…

Photos, sketches and poem by the author.

Please visit my blog on sustainable living at onesweetearth.blog

The Art of the Obituary

memoir, The Creative Process, Uncategorized

In September of this year, I took up the task of writing my mother’s obituary. She passed away on June 28 from complications due to advanced Alzheimer’s at the age of 94. Previously I had never written an obituary .

An obituary announces the passing of a person’s death as a public notice in a newspaper, church bulletin, or the like. Usually, there is a brief biography and a photo, but everything else is up to the writer’s interpretation. An obituary can be solemn, funny, traditional, or even in poetic form. Writing Mom’s obituary begged the question ”What should be said about a loved one when they pass?” What was their essence? What was their legacy?

I didn’t like the idea of writing the 3^rd person like a detached narrator so I made it clear this was from the viewpoint of her surviving adult children. I had to keep in mind that obituaries can be very expensive in major newspapers. Ultimately, my mother’s average-sized obituary at approximately 1000 words cost over $1000 in the San Fransico Chronicle for one run. Her local paper for the same obituary cost $300 with 4 courtesy copies thrown in with the deal. (non were included with the Chronicle). So yes, a lot of money but hey, you only die once and everyone deserves memorialization. In most cases, like in my mother’s, the deceased estate covers it.

It was therapeutic for me, the author, to cut through all my mother’s foibles as we had our differences and honor her- her accomplishments and her legacy, I also decided to mention some of her hardships growing up. Hardship is a pivotal force in a person’s life. I could see how her challenges as a child reflected in her parenting. In her last years with her memory loss, all that friction washed away like dust in the first rain of fall. It was an honor to summarize her life for all to see.

As for the picture? Rather than one from her youth, I chose one that was taken on her 80^th birthday looking radiant with the celebration.

Having written my mother’s obituary, I wonder about my own. What would be written when all is said and done? I have considered writing my own and leaving it in my will giving me some authorship. I should include such things as

She liked to start her day with a steaming up of tea in her hand sitting up in bed with her pens & journal with a clear view of the bird feeder.

Felt complete with a dog and or a cat at her side

Liked to take adventures in the wilds, as well as in art, writing, and music

I’d like the picture of me taken by my friend Deb we were out on the Zumwalt Prairie in 2021. Then I would choose one of my doodles to be included.

Now I may be tasked with writing my step-daughter, Heather who recently passed. For this, I would solicit the help of her many friends to contribute their thoughts for a young woman who lived very large for her 38 years. This is a challenge I would be honored to take up.

As I think of the many people that have passed from my life this year, I also think of the other beings, favorite trees, dogs, cats, and the like that have crossed the rainbow bridge that I could memorialize. They certainly are deserving of an obituary as well, at least in my personal writing. I’m inspired by this worthy genre.