Cam, Joey and the Turtles

This story is by Julia Koerner, about Cameron Koerner and Joey Fairbanks back in 1999. I am posting this today as a birthday present for Cameron, who is unavailable to receive gifts right now, due to his Marine Corps obligations.

Cam, Joey and the Turtles

I took these photos on a day when Cameron and Joe were on a self-initiated,100% official turtle rescue.

There was talk around the (Royal Oaks) golf course that a small alligator had been spotted in the pond just a few hundred feet from our backyard. Groundskeepers had been looking for the Jurassic critter for a couple weeks, but had nothing to go on but golfer tales up in the clubhouse.

That same pond was actually one of Cam and Joe's favorite spots for collecting abandoned golf balls, but this one particular morning they had found a hidden nest of hatching turtle eggs.

When the boys heard tell of the baby alligator from a few golfers, they came running into the house - frantically asking for a bucket they could put their newly hatching turtles in so the alligator wouldn't eat them.

We found a bucket - and I, of course, followed them out to the spot with my broom in hand to retrieve the turtles and assure their safety from any free range gator babies that might be lurking in the rushes...and of course, bash the gator with my weapon, if necessary.

Now, 18 years later, these are still 2 of Joe's favorite photos. He posts them on his bedroom wall with a push-pin wherever we live. Joe can't remember how many turtles they rescued that day. Perhaps Cameron will remember.

That same afternoon, the boys and Mother and I made an official trip to the wildlife preserve so the boys could deliver their treasured find to the appropriate authorities and ensure the safety of the hatchlings.

You should have heard Cameron retell their tale of danger, intrigue, excitement and wonder at having watched turtles hatch; kept a look-out for the mystery alligator; collected their specimen and escaped without harm. He spoke almost all in one run-on sentence...with Joe piping in, "Me, too! Me, too!" as often as he could squeeze it in.

The rangers were amazed and entertained, to say the least! On the drive home, Mother decided the boys deserved ice cream from her favorite haunt, the Moonlight Drive In.

I'm sure you heard this whole tale first hand on the day it happened - but now, nearly 20 years after the fact, here's the photographic proof of the boys' humanitarian efforts.

The Power of Words. On Writing: Poems, Journals and Individual Expression

At the prison where I work, I was on Outside Post duty the other day and heard this story on NPR's On Being show by Krista Tippet.  I love this show.  Through this story I intellectually, emotionally and spiritually confirmed the writing of this blog and my personal, hand written journals.  It also convicted me of writing online, but not publishing all my stories publicly.  If you wish to read these other stories, more personal, with more detail, send me a note and I'll send you a link or personally email you my entries. Email to guskoerner@gmail.com

Here is the story from OnBeing.org that inspired me.  Thank you Krista.

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Your Life Is a Poem (Audio Interview) A must hear of 51 minutes.  Give it at least 15 minutes and you'll be hooked too.

Growing up, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye lived in Ferguson, Missouri and on the road between Ramallah and Jerusalem. Her father was a refugee Palestinian journalist, and through her poetry, she carries forward his hopeful passion, his insistence, that language must be a way out of cycles of animosity...

Thank you Naomi.

Making San Francisco Sourdough Bread, Using Linda Wilbourne's Recipe

I've devoted several days of my life now to create sourdough bread according to the recipe of Linda Wilbourne.  Make no mistake, this is her recipe, and its a great one, but for my sake and others, I've included my comments.  Here is the original link and recipe below.  Please go there and see all she has, and the bread making / kitchen gizmos...

My comments are italicized.  By default, this recipe isn't going to tun out like hers, because I didn't use Linda's Sourdough Starter.  I made my own.  About a week ago, I created my own with Fleischman's Yeast, flour, water and a little bit of sugar.  Next time I'll do it old school and grind some wheat seeds I have that the yeast spores naturally live on.  They say that about 13,000 spores live on 1 gram of wheat.  One thing I like about Linda and her guidance, is that she is thorough and frequently mentions Alton Brown, from the Food Network.  Alton is a hero of mine.

I feel a little bad about just copying and pasting her recipe into Mr. Gus Outdoors, but I really like the blog format, and I think others appreciate, as I, embedded links.  I also feel a little bad that my daughter Ember isn't here to do this with me.  She's doing teenage stuff I suppose.  Another thing that I feel kind of bad about is that this is the 3rd recipe in a row on Mr. Gus.  I want to do more outdoor stories, but this is where my heart is right now.  On the other hand, recipes like this were a staple of ancient cultures to the mountain men  and explorers like Lewis and Clark, and those who braved the Old West and the Yukon.  The fact that we carry them on today is a wonderful thing.  Betcha Preppers are doing it!

Follow Up After Baking... I learned so much from this exercise, but messed up along the way.  I think the salt added to the final recipe might have wrecked it, causing it not to rise properly.  The taste of the finished product however, turned out fine.  If you look on Linda's FAQ page, she discusses some optional additions such as milk, sugar and additional yeast.  I'm definitely going to try it!

The next morning I made Sourdough Pancakes, and they turned out perfect.  I will be posting that recipe.

Linda's Recipe...

You will have a much easier time of it—and lots more fun—if you will sit down and read through this little booklet two or three times before you touch an ingredient. Alton Brown says to do that with any new recipe you're going to follow—and this is a process—much more than just a recipe! I have underlined and bold the really crucial parts, so pay special attention to those. Then be sure to go through the entire bread making process the first couple of times step-by-step with this booklet. I love hearing from my bread makers, but before you email me with a question, please re-read these instructions once more. The answers to fully 99.9% of the email questions I receive can be found right here in this little booklet, but there's really way too much information to absorb in just one or two readings. Thanks! 

Also, please keep in mind that any bread making is a process of continuous adjusting and you can count that twice for sourdough. Many different variables contribute to the final results and I could never go into enough detail here to describe every combination of events that make your final loaf of bread the way it is. You are unique, your kitchen and oven are unique, and your baking techniques are also yours alone. For those reasons, not to mention different flours, waters, temperatures and humidity, bread making is always an adventure in learning. I am still learning and I’ve been baking bread since I was a teenager (which was a very very long time ago)! So, please be patient with yourself, your starter, and your bread. If your bread doesn’t turn out exactly like you want it, there are always adjustments you can make to get closer to perfection in your eyes. Remember that your perfect loaf of sourdough bread could well be totally different from that in another baker’s view.

I have tried to put answers to the most often asked questions on the FAQ page of my website. If you can’t find the answer to your question in this instruction booklet or on the website, then by all means, email me! Tech support is usually quick and always free. I really want you to be a successful sourdough bread maker, and you can!

Activation

NEVER add any commercial yeast—or ANYTHING other than flour and water—to your sourdough starter. In a medium mixing bowl, mix ½ cup of tap water with ½ cup of wheat flour—all-purpose, white, whole wheat or bread flour—doesn't matter. If your tap water is really cold, you can warm it to 75-85º F. To this mixture, add the contents of your San Francisco Sourdough Starter package and stir it up—lumps are OK. Cover the container with a tea towel. The important thing is to keep this mixture at the correct temperature—above 72° and not more than 90° while the wild yeast and the friendly bacteria come out of hibernation. If your normal room temperature is cooler than 72°, then the easiest way to achieve the temperature you need is to turn on the light in your oven and put your starter mixture in it. But be sure to put an accurate thermometer in the oven with your starter—you can use the Large Dial Easy-To-Read Instant-Read Thermometer that’s on my website—the same one you’ll use later for checking to see when your bread is done. Or, you can turn on your oven for a minute or so, turn it off and then use that warmth (check it with a thermometer) for activating. This is important!! You DO NOT want to expose your starter at any time to temperatures above 90°. Heat is just about the only way you can kill those little creatures that make our bread so good. (Well, you could starve them to death, but that's pretty hard to do. When they run out of food, they just act like little bears and hibernate.) 

Somewhere between 4 and 24 hours after you first mixed the starter with flour and water, you will start to see enough bubbles to know that the wild yeast is beginning to wake up. You'll probably have to stir the mixture to be able to see the first very tiny bubbles, so feel free to stir any time and as much as you want. Stirring is actually good for your starter at any time because it redistributes the critters and the food supply, giving all the babies a chance for another snack. Stirring also allows you to see what’s actually going on beneath the surface. You won't see many bubbles on top of your mixture, but when you stir it and look closely, you’ll see lots of extremely tiny bubbles throughout the mixture. When you see these minuscule bubbles, then feed your mixture, without reducing it just this one time, 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water. 

Continue to look at your growing friend often (about every 30 minutes) and soon you will see more and more bubbles; the consistency of the mixture will change—it will become thicker and more cohesive and viscous. When that happens and you can see lots of larger bubbles throughout the mixture, it’s time to feed again! This time, reduce the volume to ½ cup and feed it with 1 cup of 75°-80° water and 1 cup of flour. From now until the end of the approximately 72 hours of activation, you will need to feed your new pet regularly—whenever it reaches its peak! DO NOT feed on a time schedule! 

Your starter will let you know when it is ready to be reduced and fed—NOT the clock!!

How do I know when I need to feed? 

You'll know because the yeast and lactobacillus organisms will eat what you fed them, get busy and start metabolizing and multiplying, and you'll see the difference with a slight expansion of volume, a thickening or clotting of the texture and more bubbles—and larger bubbles—throughout the mixture and on top. If you leave it alone for a while longer, you’ll actually see some tiny ‘foam’–type bubbles on top. If your starter goes past this 'most active' stage, then the bubbles will decrease in size and number and the consistency will thin out. 

When your starter has reached its most active stage, stir it well and then pour out (yes, down the drain!) all but ½ cup of the starter and feed what's left with one cup each of flour and water. I know, I know, I really do hate waste too, but this step actually helps to avoid wasting flour and water. The more starter you're feeding, the more food you have to give, because larger quantities of starter contain much larger populations of hungry organisms which want much more flour and water to eat. 

You’ll want to keep watch on your starter as often as possible during the time that activation is going on. From your observations, you will learn what your San Francisco Sourdough Starter is supposed to look like at each stage of its activity. You’ll use this knowledge each time you bake. When you know what starter at or close to its peak looks like, you’ll be able to start your dough with sponge that is active enough to give your sourdough three good rises—one in the bowl, one after shaping and one in the oven (the third rise—called oven spring). 

Don’t get up in the middle of the night to feed your starter. Whenever you know that you won’t be around to check it and feed whenever it reaches the peak of activity, just give a double or triple feeding so that your sourdough babies won’t starve. (One-half cup of starter and two or three cups each of flour and water.) Lots of folks who work just use a container with a cover to transport their starter to work with them, then loosen the lid so that the critters can breathe, and check on it while they’re working. This is a great idea because it’s important to watch the activation in all of its different phases.

As your new pet goes through several activations, the density of the population of yeast and lactobacillus increases exponentially and that’s exactly what we want to happen. (If 18-24 hours after mixing the dry starter with the flour and water you can stir it and still see no tiny bubbles at all, then you should email me right away.) 

After a minimum of three full 24-hour days of regular feedings or as soon as you can clearly see the mixture get very active within an hour after a feeding, you'll know that the activation process is finished. This is the only time you’ll have to wait three days to bake. Now you can do one of two things: 

1. Put a cup or more of your starter into the fridge (this is your stash) until the day before you want to bake your first loaf of San Francisco Sourdough Bread. 

2. If and only if your starter is at its most active state—full of bubbles and thick and glutenous, then you're ready to go directly to The Dough on Page 6 and make your first loaf of San Francisco Sourdough Bread right away with the very active starter you've just finished activating! Don't forget to save at least ½ cup stash for next time!

Care and Feeding of Refrigerated Starter

When you first put your starter ‘stash’ into the fridge, leave the cover loose until the mixture is chilled throughout, or the pressure will cause it to explode—what a mess that could be! After about 36-48 hours, you can tighten down the lid. I keep mine in the one-liter glass wire-bail jar that’s on my website. It’s small enough not to take up too much valuable fridge room and large enough to take out and feed without having to transfer the starter to a different container. It has a tight-fitting top, so if it accidentally turns over, all my precious stash isn’t spilled. Plus, you can see clearly through the glass jar and watch what's going on with your new partner in bread making. 

About once every four to eight weeks, take your starter stash out of the fridge, stir it well, (with my Bamboo Starter Stirrer which is perfect for mixing your sticky starter as well as lots of other things) reduce the volume if necessary, give it a healthy feeding and let it come to room temperature. When you can see good activity beginning to happen, put it back into the fridge, without tightening down the lid, of course, until it is thoroughly cold and asleep. After it has been refrigerated for a couple of weeks or so, it’s entirely normal to see some beige or gray-colored liquid on the top. The old-timers called this ‘hooch’ because it contains alcohol and some people actually drank the stuff. I don’t recommend it. Just stir the hooch back into the starter mixture any time you take it out of the fridge to use it or to feed it. Or, if you’d rather, you may pour it off and then dilute what remains with plain water. Your choice! 

Making Bread--The Sponge

Sponge is the name that bakers use for the mixture that they allow to ferment or proof before mixing in enough flour to make a dough. The night before you want to bake, take your stash out of the refrigerator. If you want to bake on Saturday morning, take out about a half-cup of cold starter and put it in a bowl on Friday evening. 

Feed what is left in your “stash” container and put it back in the fridge. 
Feed the ½ cup that is in the bowl 3 cups each of water and flour, cover it with a tea towel or plastic wrap, and leave it at room temperature (between 65º and 85º F). Then on Saturday morning, you should have a very active sponge. It's always important to have a very active sponge to use to make your dough. If it hasn’t reached or has passed its most active point, you'll get very slow or no rises and you risk birthing a hockey puck (or a door stop) instead of a great loaf of bread.

The Dough--Classic San Francisco Sourdough Bread Recipe

Makes a 1½ pound loaf, two 12-ounce loaves or three or four ‘mini’ loaves 

2½ cups of very active starter (the sponge that you have allowed to ferment until peak activity is reached)
2-2½ cups of bread flour, or enough to make dough that’s still moist but not too sticky
2 teaspoons of salt, or more, up to 1-2 tablespoons if you like (I like a lot!)
½ teaspoon Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C pills crushed fine or Fruit Fresh added to the dough with the first flour—enhances the rise—sometimes it's already in your flour—look on the ingredient list.)

Other Stuff You’ll Need 

A hand spray bottle full of water
An oven-safe pan or other container that will fit on the floor (or lowest shelf) of your oven 
A baking sheet or loaf pan or whatever you want to bake on or in 
Some coarsely ground cornmeal—usually labeled stone ground
An egg and 1 Tablespoon of water for an egg wash
A pastry brush or clean bristled paint brush
A new, sharp single-edged razor blade or razor knife
Some oil and/or oil spray—like Pam 
A tea towel or plastic wrap or both

I like to use my KitchenAid stand mixer to mix the dough, but you can make and knead the dough in a bread machine if it will handle a fairly stiff dough and you can intervene during the rising cycles. A recipe for sourdough in the bread machine is on the website. Naturally, you can make it entirely by hand, just like the original bakers of sourdough did.

KitchenAid Mixers are the absolute best!

Put the 2½ cups of the sponge (very bubbly and very thick active starter) into your mixer with the paddle attachment, add about a cup and a half of the flour and the ascorbic acid and mix well. At this point, stop for 30-90 minutes before adding more flour. This resting period, called autolysis by the bread geeks, allows the flour time to absorb the liquid. 

Next add the salt and mix and add flour until the dough gets too heavy for the paddle attachment. Change to the dough hook and continue adding flour until you have a fairly stiff dough—still moist but not too sticky. You just can't use exact measurements in bread making. 

After your mixture has become dough and is a cohesive mass, knead with the dough hook for about five minutes or until it isn’t sticking to the sides of the bowl (it will probably be sticking to the bottom of the bowl). If you’re kneading by hand, ten minutes is probably the bare minimum time. I let my KitchenAid mixer do most of the kneading, but I usually finish with a minute or two by hand. Getting your hands on the dough is the only way to really gauge its exact condition. 

Now, oil (or spray with Pam) a straight-sided dough rising bucket like on my website, if you have one. You can put a rubber band or a piece of masking tape around the bucket so you'll be able to tell when the dough has almost doubled. Or you can use a large bowl. Place the dough into your well-oiled container then oil the top. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and put it somewhere that it’s not drafty and is between 70° and 85° F. Expect sourdoughs to rise much more slowly than breads made with commercial yeasts. The cooler range is fine—better in fact. It will take your dough longer to rise, but cooler rising temps also improve the flavor and texture of your bread. Remember—don’t go any warmer than 85-90° F. 


At this point, you can cover your unrisen dough securely with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with Pam and put it into the refrigerator for one to about 14 hours. This can help when you run out of time or want hot bread on a schedule and will always enhance the flavor of your finished bread. When you’re ready to continue, just bring the dough to room temperature and allow it to finish its rise. You can refrigerate your dough for the first rise or for the second rise, after it has been shaped.

Look at your rising dough every 30 minutes or so and when it is about 1½ to 2 times its original size, you’re ready for the next step. Here's a good test: Push your finger into the dough about one-half to three-quarters of an inch. If you can see the dough spring back and fill the hole within a minute or so, then it isn't finished with its rise. If most of the indentation remains, you're ready to proceed to the next step.

The first time you do this recipe, plan nothing else except home bound activities.  By the time you read and re-read the recipe, mix, knead, wait, this and that - your day will be consumed.  And since there is no direct yeast involved, the rising time is much slower.  I am beginning to get impatient with this, but I'll hang in there.

Shaping and Baking 

Push your closed fist gently into the middle of the dough close to the bottom of the container, then gently push the outside parts of the dough into the hole you’ve just created in the middle. This is called ‘punching down’ the dough and serves to rearrange the gluten strands to encourage a proper second rise. Now dump the dough out of the bowl and on to the counter. If you've greased your container well, it will slide right out. Divide the dough (with the Dough Divider/Scraper on the website) into the portions you’ll use for your final shaping and ‘round’ each one, then let rest on the counter for about 15 minutes, covered to keep it from drying out.

Rounding is important and not many bread recipes discuss it. Here’s how it’s done: Pick up the piece of dough that will become a loaf of bread and gently pull the edges of the dough that were just cut underneath, making a round ball of dough so that you have sort of a ‘skin’ around the ball of dough and no cut edges are exposed. Pinch the bottom together. Then put the ‘round’ on a clean dry counter with the bottom side down and put your hands on the sides of it. Push the round from alternate sides so that it goes around and around on the counter. You’ll see the skin tightening as you do this. Do it gently so you don’t break the skin. Alton Brown and his cohort, Shirley Corriher, both of whom I admire greatly, taught me about rounding and its importance. 

While your dough is resting, prepare your baking sheet by sprinkling some coarsely ground corn meal where your loaf (or loaves) of bread will go. You can oil it with vegetable oil or spray the pan first with Pam if you like, but the cornmeal adds an artisan-like texture to the bottom of your loaf of bread, so don't leave out that step. There’s a good cornmeal shaker (only $2.99) on my website that I keep full of cornmeal all the time. Actually, I have several—one for cornmeal, one for flour, one for powdered sugar, one for freshly- and coarsely-ground black pepper and one for kosher salt. They’re very handy. 

If you want to bake your bread in loaf pans, now is the time to grease them well. You can also dust the bottoms with cornmeal. Be sure to check out the three bread pans on my website. The Commercial Heavy-Duty Non-Stick Bread Pan on my website is the best loaf pan I’ve ever used. It heats evenly and is a kitchen staple that you’ll never have to replace. The Rada Unglazed Stoneware Loaf Pan thinks it's a mini-brick oven and bakes a wonderful crusty loaf of bread. To make it even better, unlike other unglazed stoneware, you can wash this pan in the dishwasher with no worries. The Chicago Metallic Double French Bread Loaf Pan is great at shaping your sourdough bread into beautiful long baguettes without its rising out instead of up. I use all three of them all the time.

For the oven: If you have a baking stone, put it into the oven before you preheat the oven. (If you don’t have a stone, don’t worry—your bread will still turn out great!) Also before preheating place a shallow, oven-safe container on the floor of the oven full of water. If this won’t work, put a pan of water on the lowest shelf. Or, don’t use the pan of water and just spritz more with water while baking—whatever works for you and your oven! 

Preheat the oven to 400° F for a minimum of 45-60 minutes—so that your baking stone, water, and oven are all fully and evenly heated—before putting your bread into the oven.

Now that your dough has rested, it’s time to shape it. You can shape it any way you want. For a round or oval shape, pick up the dough and gently push the edges toward the underside until you get the shape you like. Then be sure to pinch the dough together firmly on the underside. If you’re making a round shape you can do the ‘rounding’ thing again. When you’re satisfied with the shape, place your dough on top of the cornmeal on your baking sheet or put it into the loaf pan. 

Cover your loaves with a tea towel or plastic wrap that has been sprayed with Pam. Now place your loaves in a warm (75°-85° F) non-drafty place again. This rising could take from 1½ to 3 hours—mine usually takes about two at my normal room temperatures in the low 80’s, but it depends on the temperature of your room and the character of your dough. Expect sourdoughs to rise much more slowly than breads made with commercial yeasts. And again, keep in mind that cooler temperatures and longer rising times contribute to flavor and texture. You can do the same finger indentation test on the second rise that you did on the first.

When your unbaked loaf has risen to about 1½ to 2 times its original size and passes the finger indentation test, it’s time to bake. Your oven has been preheated to 400° F. Beat an egg with a tablespoon of water and set it aside. Then, just before putting your bread into the oven, take a very sharp single-edged razor blade (like the razor knife on my website), dip the blade in water before each cut, and slowly and gently make cuts in the top of your loaf about ¼ to ½ inch deep. To keep from collapsing your risen loaf, be careful—sometimes I have to go over a cut two or three times rather than press down too hard and risk deflating the dough. Practice helps a lot! 

If your loaf is round, the traditional San Francisco way is to make two vertical slashes and two horizontal slashes in a tic-tac-toe pattern. If you have an oblong or oval, you can still slash it that way or just make one long cut lengthwise—be creative. Back in the days when there were no home ovens—just one big one in the middle of the town that everyone used, each baker would create an original slashing pattern so that he could identify his loaves after baking.

When the slashes are finished, gently brush your loaf of bread with the egg wash. I like the egg wash, but many bakers use a cornstarch and water glaze. Try that one too and see which one suits you better!

Now get your spray bottle of plain water and spray the loaves with a very fine mist. Put your pan into the oven directly on your baking stone. You already have a pan of water in the oven. As soon as you put your bread in the oven, put your hand sprayer on stream and spray the sides and floor of the oven with water. Do this three or four times during the first five or ten minutes of baking. Yeah, it’s high maintenance, but believe me, it’s worth it! (Don't spray the light bulb—it'll almost surely explode!)

Combined with the water evaporating from the pan, this spraying will reward you with a thick, chewy crust on your finished loaf of bread. The egg or cornstarch wash makes it look pretty by adding a nice shine and making it a brown nicely. If you want a thinner, less chewy crust, then leave off all the water in the oven. If you like a softer crust, brushing with oil or butter before and after baking will do the trick.

After 10 minutes of baking, turn your oven down to 375° F. Your bread will take about 30 to 60 minutes to bake, depending upon your oven and the size of the loaves you have made. The only way to really know when bread is done is to remove the bread from the oven, turn the loaf on its side or upside down, and insert an instant-read thermometer (like the one on my website) into the center—from the side or the bottom, of course, so the hole won’t mar the beauty of your bread. A reading of 200° to 210° F means your bread is done. Amazingly, an instant-read thermometer like the one on my website is about twice as fast to give you the temp as a ‘digital’ one that requires a battery. 

Put the loaf on a rack to cool and admire your creation. Try to resist cutting it right away. If you can, wait until it has cooled at least 30 minutes and always use a good sharp serrated knife to slice it. Check out the fabulous aluminum-handled bread knives on my website— they’re the best I’ve ever used and the prices are incredibly reasonable for the value you get. 

Other Stuff

After you have baked a few loaves of your own San Francisco Sourdough Bread, you may want to experiment. Feel free to double the recipe or replace some of the white flour with whole wheat or rye. And be sure to add cheese, roasted garlic, or your favorite nuts, grains, herbs or spices just for fun! 

Another thing I have tried is using plain all purpose unbleached flour instead of bread flour. I also use spelt, kamut, semolina and other ancient and exotic flours and whole grains and seeds and my family and I love the results. Be adventuresome and have fun with it! 

If I’m not serving or giving my bread on the day I bake it, as soon as it is perfectly cool, I wrap it in an air-tight package and freeze it. As long as there’s very little air in the package with your bread, you won’t be able to tell the difference when you thaw it and eat it. And yes, you can thaw and re-freeze—homemade sourdough is amazingly tolerant and has a long shelf-life because it’s naturally resistant to mold and mildew. 

If you like, slice it before you freeze it so you can take it out one or two slices at a time, or you can wait until you’re ready to serve. The heavy-duty long ‘bread-shaped’ plastic bags for baguettes and multiple loaves on my website are very affordable and perfect for storing on the counter or in the freezer. Users tell me they love them and reuse them. 

Sourdough is STICKY! Be sure to put all your tools in cold water straight away to soak. If you do, cleanup is a breeze later with just a vegetable brush.

If you want more sour flavor, leave your stash in the fridge, unfed, for at least three or four weeks. Then take it out and use it. Some bread makers keep two or three stash containers aging in the fridge because freshly fed starter just isn’t as sour.

If you want bigger holes in your bread, add more water or less flour to make a wetter dough and try using some all-purpose flour in place of part of the high protein bread flour. Longer, slower proofing helps make larger holes as well.

Remember that longer, slower, cooler proofings and risings (even overnight in the fridge!) are guaranteed to contribute heavily to that wonderful sourdough flavor. 

If you’re making sourdough in your bread machine, be sure to go to the recipes page on my website and read Joe Wagner’s Sourdough in the Bread Machine Research Project. It’s a fun read, but more important, it’s a fabulous ‘how-to’ for machines. There’s also a recipe page for the basic recipe for San Francisco Sourdough Bread in the Bread Machine. 

If you have a problem with your free-form loaves spreading out more than rising up, add more flour to the dough. If you have used A/P flour, substituting all or part with higher protein bread flour will help too. Also, you can use a bread form, like the Professional Loaf Pan or the Chicago Metallic double baguette form or the Rada Unglazed Stoneware Loaf Pan—you’ll find all three on the website.

To convert the US-centric measurements in this booklet to metric, go to Gourmet Sleuth, Conversions Section, —it will do all the work for you!

Happy Breadmaking!
© Linda C. Wilbourne 2012, Revised January 2012

From One Kid to Another, "My First Deer Hunt"

My First Deer Hunt
By Harley P., age 12, Titusville, FL

  October 11th:  840 miles and 36 hours before the start of the 2012 Kentucky Youth season and with my license and two youth deer tags in hand my dad and I are finally on the road. The butterflies in my stomach feel like a swarm. Dad said if I passed the Hunter Safety Course we would go to Kentucky and could hunt on a couple of farms owned by family and friends.
     We arrived at my uncle’s house Friday morning and after a quick breakfast I got to practice shooting an inline 50 caliber, a percussion cap 50 cal black powder, a lever action .22, and a scoped single shot .243. My uncle said that I had great shooting skills and that made me very happy to hear that because I have not gotten to shoot a lot. The first time I shot the inline, I shot 100 grains instead of 80 because my dad tricked me. But 100 grains was still very fun to shoot. The Rossi .243 single shot had no kick but it was loud and we decided that was the gun I would use since we were going to be hunting open fields and shots over 100 yards were possible. After shooting, my uncle gave me some hunting clothes that my cousins had outgrown.  I packed the inline 50 caliber, the .243, the hunting clothes my uncle let me borrow, and my dad’s first bb gun into the car and then we had to leave and go to my dad’s friend, Mr. Frank’s house.
       When we got to Mr. Frank’s, we took a ride down to his hunting stand and saw several deer out feeding. After a dinner of pork roast and baked beans cooked by Mr. Frank, I finally went to sleep thinking about tomorrow and my first deer hunt.
        I woke up early the next morning and immediately got my hunting clothes on and got all the things I needed for the hunt. When dad and I were ready, we headed to the deer stand at about 6:00 A.M.  The trail getting there was very steep and it was really dark at the time so we had to watch our step. It was still dark when we got to the deer stand and we had to wait for legal shooting hours to start hunting but we still had to be very quiet. At about 7:00 I saw two deer, a doe and a little button buck. I waited a while thinking if I wanted to shoot the doe because I wanted my first deer to be a buck. While I was trying to decide, she walked 50 yards from us and stood broadside, offering a perfect shot. After watching her for several minutes I said “Dad I’m going to shoot this one.” When I was about to shoot she started to get nervous, blew, and ran.  I got really frustrated because my finger was on the trigger before she started to run. I never had butterflies in my stomach like that before.
         About twenty minutes later, a small eight pointer showed up but I had to pass on him. Mr. Frank’s rule was “the antlers had to wider than the ears”. We watched him feed for awhile and I wanted to shoot it so badly but I couldn’t. After the 8 pointer left, a small spike came into the field that I could not shoot.
           After the morning hunt I went to my cousin Levi’s house because he wanted us to hunt with him and his dad at his dad’s friend, Mr. John’s farm. It was early afternoon when we got to the farm and we headed straight to the stand. It was very hard to stay quiet because my dad and I both had a very bad cough. But I waited and waited, watching the soybean field, trying to be quiet.  Finally we saw a deer and it was a big doe. I was ready to shoot that deer even though it was not a buck. I got my gun up, focused my cross hairs on the spot where I wanted to hit the deer, put my finger on the trigger and “CLICK!”- I forgot to take the safety off! She left the field very fast. About 20 or 30 minutes later we see a really good sized doe so I picked up the .243, cocked it, took the safety off, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The deer fell right in her tracks and that made me the happiest person ever.  I went to get my cousin so he could help me load her up but we couldn’t put it on the 4-wheeler by ourselves so I got my uncle to help and we still couldn’t pick her up so we ended up pulling her with the ATV.
     We put her on the trailer and took it to my cousin’s house to skin and butcher her. We put her on the scales and she weighed 170 pounds live weight and after taking pictures and I had to eat part of its heart raw and I did because of tradition. After we cut the deer up and packaged her, I had to go to bed because the next day I was going to try to get another deer.

     Sunday morning we woke up and it was raining very hard. After the rain stopped we went back to Mr. John’s farm. It was still cloudy and looked like it was going to rain again. We went to the same stand and about 30 minutes later it started to rain so I put the rifle under a rain jacket and then I put a rain jacket on. It stopped raining about an hour before dark.  Thirty minutes later, I see a 4 pointer standing near the same spot were the doe had stood. I took the .243, cocked it, took the safety off, and shot.  When I shot him, he fell, got back up and RAN.  Then it really got hard because I had to track it through some very thick bushes in the dark. Levi brought flashlights and I had to find the blood spots and Levi stood at the last place I found blood. After 60 yards I found my first buck and that buck made me even happier than the doe that I got. Levi got his dad and Mr. John to help us and we finally got it to the 4-wheeler. It was hard work to cut it up and get the meat but it was fun and I got to fill out 2 tags in 2 days which made me happy.
     Deer hunting in Kentucky was amazing and I want to thank God for the 2 deer that I got during that weekend. Deer hunting in Kentucky made me so happy I will never forget everything I did there.  Deer hunting in Kentucky was really fun and I hope to hunt there again someday.

End Note by Mr. Gus...
I'm really proud of Harley, not only for this story he submitted and his successful deer harvest, but also for his completion of his Hunter Safety course where we met.  He and his Dad are also strong supporters in our 4-H club, the Mosquito Lagoon Muzzleloaders.  Stories submitted by guest writers are not edited for content, punctuation or length, because it is their story!  If you have a story you would like to have us share with the world, please let us know.

Honoring a Hero, Malala Yousufzai

I just cannot help but depart from my regular outdoor stories to honor a hero among young people and fellow blogger, Malala Yousufzai.  Malala is the 14 year old girl who was shot in Pakistan earlier in the week because of her cries, to among other things support a woman's right to an education.  I work with young people daily and admire the tenacity they sometimes have, to stand up for what they know is right, like a dog on a bone.  May our thoughts and prayers be with her - but more than that, let us all take a stand in our own way to support the rights of others.  Photo Credit © 2012 Associated Newspapers Limited (Picture: Reuters)

From Metro UK - They fired on Malala Yousufzai on her school bus in the volatile Swat valley.  Doctors were  struggling to save Malala, who suffered head and neck injuries. Two other girls were also wounded. 

Her classmates told police the gunmen had arrived at school and asked for her by name. They attacked her on the bus after she came out of class. 

Malala was known for speaking out against the Pakistani Taliban and had a blog published by the BBC when she was 11. 

The Islamist group called her work ‘an obscenity’ and claimed responsibility for the shooting. A spokesman said: ‘She was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling president Barack Obama her ideal leader.’ 

The attack in the city of Mingora followed a number of threats against Malala for her activism. She is also famous for her work promoting the schooling of girls – something the Taliban strongly opposes – and was nominated last year for an international children’s peace prize award. Read the October 9, 2012 story here.

Malalal is expected to survive, and if she does, she'll have a long road to recovery.  For the latest news (as of 10/15/12) see, "As teen recovers from Taliban hit, Pakistanis demand answers" by By Shaan Khan, CNN.  This article also has links to petitions to arrest her attackers and other worldwide outcrys for justice.

 Malala's Facebook page is here. 

In A Downward Spiral of Regrets

In A Downward Spiral of Regrets

In a downward spiral approaching the vortex.
The light at the end of the tunnel is dimming.
Dreams not achieved, bridges burned.
How do I know when my life turned?

It turned when I caved to peer pressure.
And when I gave up on my dream.
It turned when I groomed my dead father,
And said goodbye to my devoted mother.

It turned when I traded in my virtue,
For friendships superficial.
Not realizing the most important ones in life,
Are family, my children and wife.

Now I arrive at a turning point.
Which path am I to choose?
The downward path that leads to death,
Or toward His love which gives life new breath?

For this moment I'll choose to continue,
But I don't know for how long.
Every day I work behind the wire, encouraging the inmates
To better themselves and rise above their past.

Sometimes I wonder if I've sentenced myself to prison,
Daily incarceration with men of a similar vision.

Loving an Addict, Guest Story

Being the spouse of an addict is probably one of the toughest things I have ever been through, and I have been through a lot. To love someone so much and to see what substances do to them can be completely heart wrenching. But when you love someone enough, the way that God loves us, you stick by their side. You accept the circumstances and you support them as they go through their addiction and try to overcome. You don’t get upset because they slip up. You continue to love them and give it to God. After all, if you ask, you will receive. It may not be when or how you want it to be, but it will be how and when God wants it to be.

My husband has cursed me out and said the most horrible things, all because he wanted some beer. I would get so upset and he would make me feel so guilty, that I would cave and get him what he wanted, just because I did not want him to be upset with me. After all, he worked so hard all day and he deserved it, right? Plus, he would apologize later and everything would be okay in his eyes. It wasn’t okay though. Our marriage was falling apart because of his alcoholism and the fact that instead of helping him get through his urges, I was enabling him. I began praying to God every day and night. When he wanted a drink, I would hide the keys and block his way from getting out the door. But the addict in him always found a way to get a drink. I refused to give up though. However, instead of trying to stop him, I let him do what he wanted. I began to focus more on my children and myself and let God handle my husband. I still kept praying and believing, but I knew I would not be the one to make him stop drinking. It was between him and God.

On December 31, 2011, my husband made the decision to go into the New Year sober, to recommit himself to our marriage, family, and most of all to his Lord and Savior. It has been over three months since he made this decision and I must say it has been a very rough three months. But through the grace of God, he is finally overcoming his addiction. I see him get stronger every day. That craving is still there, but with God by his side and with my love and support, he gets through it. I thank God every day for helping not only him get through his addiction, but also for giving me the strength to be able to stay in the marriage and get through it with him.

- By Dawn

Fly Tying Adventure, Guest Post - Rodney Smith

A story by good friend, author, publisher and conservationist Caption Rodney Smith of Coastal Angler Magazine -

Rodney kissing his prize catch!

Photo credit to Addictive Fishing Television

Looking back some twenty years ago to the first fly I tied brings back fond, humbling memories. My first fly was an extremely weird looking thing that didn’t resemble anything I’d seen before or since! It was a colorful combination of deer hair and meager chicken feathers wrapped around the shank of a silver hook. It was loosely wrapped with of a wad of yellow sewing thread.

I can still recall my pride afterwards. Even though I had a long ways to go before I’d show anyone my flies, I knew I was on to something much bigger.

I attended a fly tying class that was being offered by a local fly fishing club, Melbourne’s Backcountry Fishing Association. Not long afterward, under the supervision of master fly tier Tom Lentz, I started getting the hang of it.

In class, we tied simple and effective fly patterns. We learned classics like the Clouser’s deep water minnow, foam spiders, ants, and Lefty’s Deceiver. In no time, I was catching redfish and spotted seatrout in saltwater, and  bream and bass in freshwater on my creations. Learning to tie flies and catch fish with those flies lead me down a more copasetic path with nature with my fishing experience.

Learning to tie and catch fish with my own flies has been very rewarding and fulfilling. Besides learning new skills, first-time tiers become acquainted with the aquatic ecosystem. This brings awareness of important conservation and environmental issues.

Capt. Gabe Nybald with a silver salmon

caught on the Goodnews River in Alaska

Kids who want to learn fly tying need to become familiar with a few basic tools and materials. They’ll need an inexpensive fly tying vise, a bobbin with thread, scissors, hooks, and tying materials. These can be purchased in a beginner’s kit or separately at a retail sporting goods store, fly shop or on-line.

Today learning to tie a fly has become as easy as turning on one’s computer and googling fly tying. But, if you are fortunate enough to have a local fly club in your community contact them to see if they offer classes for beginners. These classes can be a wonderful gateway to an extraordinary adventure.

About Rodney - A Florida native, conservation advocate, and lifetime angler with an in-depth understanding of the economical and environmental impacts of Florida's recreational fishery.

Married thirty years, father of four, and community leader, for fifteen years Rodney has been the publisher of Coastal Angler Magazine, which focuses on fishing, boating and conservation.

Rodney's also a member of the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council's Grouper /Snapper Advisory Panel.

Wanna be writer or have a story to share?

Are you a blogger, expert or have something to share that relates to kids, families and educators in the outdoors? Perhaps you're teenager with an aspiration to write?? I would love to host a story of yours!

Starting in January, I introduced my Guest Blogger series of experts in their field to share their insight. If you would like to participate in this, or give a recommendation please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me a message.

It needs to be about 250-300 words, include a nice picture or two, have a snappy title and be an interesting topic on one discussion point. This blog is geared to the youth 6th grade and up, their parents, and folks like me who are somewhat of a nature freak - short, interesting, humorous and to the point. I’ll also need a short bio to introduce you.

I have invited one guest blogger recently to write a story on “God said I can only take 1 fly with me to Heaven” (about fly fishing). This article highlights the single most useful (or 2-3) freshwater flies. Another colleague is writing a blog on the fascinating stories of the Louis and Clark journals.

Hope to hear from you! - Mr. Gus

Evolution Of This Blog

Thousands of years ago our ancestors etched messages into the sides of a caves, mountains or rocks - the ancient blogger.  Now we see it and wonder, “What’s this about?”  Since day one of Confessions of an Outdoorsman, I’ve asked myself the same question.  Today my purpose is to share things that will help individuals and families cultivate a greater interest in the outdoors and a desire to be there.  Why?  Because outdoor involvement stimulates a healthy mind and body, brings an appreciation that helps to preserve our environment, connects us with those from the past who once lived there in the harsh elements, and helps us, even to a wee degree to develop a bit of self reliance and many other healthy virtues.  My specialty is youth development and the shooting sports, but my experience base is very broad in outdoor education.  Week to week there may be topics on everything from trapping, shooting, hiking, navigation, star gazing and more.  It will always be clean and family oriented but, you can for sure bet to see an occasional yarn, tall tale or perhaps a critique on some aspect of our culture.  I hope you enjoy.  Photo credit: Don Gennero, 2009 

Are you a blogger, expert or have something to share?  Starting in January, I will be introducing my Guest Blogger series of experts in their field to share their insight.  If you would like to participate in this, or give a recommendation please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me a message.