Let's see, there is so much to cover...

I set up a sourdough starter a few days ago and tried it yesterday.  It was an unarguable flop.  The loaf didn't rise (not enough yeast action) although it DID have a slight sour tang.  I'm not giving up yet, but next time I'm going to let the sponge sit a good long time and then add a bit of baker's yeast.  Yeah, I know it's cheating, but I'm waiting to find a good starter, and this should satisfy my yen to bake a decent loaf of sourdough bread.

My kefir grains are in the mail, woo hoo!!! I've got a bit of organic milk just waiting for their arrival.  I'm figuring it will take awhile for them to ramp up, I've read one doesn't drink the first several batches of kefir until the grains have recovered.  It's getting warm here, I hope they don't cook first!  If all goes well, I'll be giving the dogs and cat kefir in their food.

Speaking of dogs and cat... I'm back to cooking for them yet again.  I've raised several litters of puppies (we used to raise and show our dogs) on home cooked food, and they all turned out just fine.  In fact, our first litter was raised solely on kibble (the only litter to have done so) and they have the gunkiest teeth.  They get tartar so quickly, it's difficult to keep up with it.  Everyone else was weaned onto home cooking, then at about 3 months or so, gradually adapted to kibble.  I go through spurts of getting tired of cooking every day, and we go back to kibble.  Then, for whatever reason I get a bug to cook for them again.  This time it is a part of an experiment hubby and I are trying.  We are watching what we spend and have vowed to eliminate spending on non-necessary items for a week.  I wanted a whole month, but could only get hubby to agree to a week.  Oh well..

But anyhow, it costs us a bit over $2/day to feed our dogs kibble, and about half that if I cook.  I follow Dr. Richard Pitcairn's book, "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide To Natural Health For Dogs And Cats."  Great recipes, lots of good advice.

My mom grew up in a time when there WAS no kibbled or canned food.  Her mother cooked for their dogs, and the animals lived to ripe old ages.  I agree with the idea that one needs to understand the dietary needs of the critters one is cooking for, but the way some of the experts make it sound is that dogs and cats didn't exist before commercial pet food.  Let's switch it a bit... how would people react if they were told the only healthy food they could eat was mass manufactured in factories?  We have guidelines for human nutrition, we have nutritional labeling... if a human can prepare a nutritionally balanced meal for humans, given the proper guidelines, why is it so shocking to assume a human can prepare nutritionally balanced meals for they furry family members given similar guidelines?

One more pet issue and I'm done for today:  this link will take you to a photo of our pet chicken Tammy, it's on one of my favorite websites, maryjanesfarm.com. It's the second post down.