So many new things!  Years ago, I read that the key to staying vibrant was to keep learning new things.  That thought has always stayed with me, and encouraged me to not just learn something new, but to also challenge the “same ‘ole way” I thought things should be done. This would be the instigation behind my dabbling over the years in learning how to knit, challenging myself to run distances, to try yoga, to start a business, and now, to go to another country to experience an immersion in slow food culture. 

As of this past week, my “something new” now includes foraging for mushrooms, milking a cow and making sourdough bread!   Now, since it took me until the age of 50 to do these things, I will describe them to you….  And to those of you who have done these things already, maybe you will find my explanations to be that much more amusing!  

Foraging.  What a thing! To wander about a field or the side of a road and find food was quite fascinating.  NOTE: It would be wise to forage with a knowledgeable friend.  “Anything is edible once” is not something you want to find out the hard way!   Late last week Darina Allen, our Head Mistress, excitedly took several of us eager students out to the field to hunt for mushrooms.  Weather conditions in Ireland this year have yielded an abundance of field mushrooms, and according to Darina, this happens only once every few years! If you could have only seen seen her excitement!  I for one, being a devout mushroom lover, was over the moon thrilled for all the mushrooms that were incorporated into our recipes!  So, here we were, walking out to the field – Darina and a group of seven eager, foraging rookies.  We get to the first of two large metal fences, and I sort of expect Darina to unlock and swing the gate open.  Nope.  Not Darina.  This spunky 70-year-old climbs up the fence, swings one leg over, straddling the fence, then swings over the second leg, and hops down the other side.  Well now! That’s how it’s done! Of course - we all followed suit and scaled the two fences.  Well, let me tell you, foraging for tiny edible delights in the pasture was not nearly as exciting as witnessing Darina scale a fence.  Note to self: THAT is precisely how I want to be when I grow up!

Milking a cow.  Can I just tell you how beautiful these sweet creatures are???  They have the sweetest, most gentle eyes and such a playful, curious nature.  I honestly think that if you’re a milking cow, living on the Ballymaloe Farm is akin to cow heaven.  For starters, they get to eat the most beautiful grass you’ve ever seen. Ahem!  Ireland is not called the ‘Emerald Isle’ for nothin’! They have the gentlest of handlers - the two people in charge of milking them are so calm and peaceful.  The cows are each called by name and are talked to and treated so tenderly.  It’s no wonder that the Ballymaloe milk, cream, yoghurt, and cheese are so delicious!  I got to milk a divine, tiny brown cow named Peaches.  We bonded!  Anyway, I must have looked completely enchanted by the whole process, because I was invited to come back on Saturday next for a longer stint!  Happy me!

The art of baking the ever-elusive sourdough bread.  Ahhhh, Yes… sourdough bread.  Last weekend, I spent an hour taking in the bread making process in the Ballymaloe Bread Shed, and with the kind help of the baker in charge that day, made my very first sourdough starter.  A starter begins the whole process, and it takes a week of constant care and feeding to have the starter develop into a sponge.  Yesterday morning, I had a lesson with the supremely talented artisan baker Tim Allen, who happens to also be Darina’s husband.  Tim is the son of the late Myrtle Allen, head chef and co-owner of the Michelin star-winning restaurant The Yeats Room at Ballymaloe House.  She was the beloved matriarch of everything here, and she died recently at the age of 94.  What a legacy she has left behind! ….I digress.  Back to the bread!  Yesterday Tim sanctioned that my starter’s sponge status had been successfully achieved, and took me through the final “pre-baking” steps.  Today, under Tim’s patient tutelage, I turned a goodly portion of my sponge into dough, shaped my dough, and set it to ferment for the next 72 hours in the Bread Shed refrigerator.  Baking day is Tuesday, and I am giddy with anticipation!   

So. Many. New. Things.  

I am excited to see what this week will bring – I can confidently guarantee that it will start with making butter for my bread!  

Wishing you a wonderful day of trying something new!a mot