Summer pours forth its bounty in these waning days of the season. For weeks, we’ve been feasting on Silver Rill corn, tomatoes, beans, blackberries, blueberries and zucchinis. Much of them came from friends and neighbours who’ve toiled in their gardens all summer and are now reaping of the overflow. Today, a friend in the Spalding Valley had us come by and pick a quarter row of this amazing basil!
We’re past the Pender Fall Fair, another celebration of delectable produce from the gardens of Pender. The sun shone on the Community Hall grounds and on the happy faces of all our neighbours. It was a fair in the truest sense, with music, dancing, contests, speeches.
The season of fairs and dances
Yesterday, September 1, the South Pender Growers and Makers Market happened on the idyllic grounds of the Church of the Good Shepherd. The forecast called for clouds and rain, but the skies cleared and the sun filtered through the towering fir and cedar scattered around the periphery of the grounds. It was a glorious day for meeting neighbours, admiring tables of produce, flowers arts and crafts and baked goods. There were even two bread makers … not just the Happy Monk!
I often feel wistful at the end of a season. This summer has been busy for Jennifer and me. The days have been a blur. But these end of summer rituals, the fairs and markets, the shows are a mark of passage for yet another glorious season. I look back on the days and have the sense that life has passed by right in front of our eyes.
We’ve had our fill of sun-dappled days, true. And afternoons by the sea and clear mornings. And the food! I wish Summer could stand still awhile. But that’s because I don’t want it to end! And here we are! Ah, life!
And now Fall beckons
Dylan Thomas’ own wistful poem, “Fern Hill” comes to mind in these days of the waning season. It is somehow more beautiful to look back on the glorious days than forward to the uncertain future.
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
Dylan Thomas, Fern Hill
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.
But I know well that the glorious Fall, stretches out ahead of us. I look forward to the smells and colours. The cooler breezes, the first frosty mornings. And, always, the smell of baked bread coming out of the wood-fired oven!
This is as dark as these loaves are gonna get in the falling heat of Mildrith, the wood-fired cob oven. They’re good enough for me. She’s already baked 53 loaves throughout the morning, and this will be her last labour of the day. Right now, the clay walls are about 420ºF, not enough heat for another load. If I were more organized and more energetic, I’d have a bunch of cookies lined up to bake or, better yet, a few pan loaves of dark rye bread that could bake the rest of the day. She’s a miracle, Mildrith is, and she’s helped feed hundreds of Pender Island residents over the past two-and-a-half years. Saturday is a rest day for the Happy Monk baker and a day of gratitude. And this Saturday, I’m directing my gratitude at Mildrith, the wood-fired oven!
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #clayoven #clayovenbaking #coboven #cobovenbaking #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #seedbread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Moonset and high tide, South Pender Island at 3:50 a.m.
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #clayoven #clayovenbaking #coboven #cobovenbaking #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Happy Monk Tidings - July 21, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Bird Seed Bread; Blog: Rye Bread: The Agony and the Ecstasy [ See link in profile ]
Whole Rye and Spelt Sourdough with generous scoops of seeds and great texture. Mildrith loves these rye loaves … I wish we had smell-o-vision to smell you what I mean.
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#ryebread #wholegrain #wholegrainbread #speltbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #clayoven #clayovenbakery #clayovenbread #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
In the early light of dawn, Mildrith oven-springs sourdough, caramelizes crusts gold and brown and leaves heavenly smells as evidence. Inside her hot clay dome, 12 boules of Salish Sourdough are on the final stage of their journey. Behold the steam rising out of the chimney!
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Happy Monk Tidings - July 14, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice this week: Rye and Spelt Sourdough; Blog: Pleasure and Worry in the Summer Heat; Gratitude for Pender Island Fire Rescue; Happy Monk Search-Ability [ See link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - July 7, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Sourdough Sandwich Loaf; Blog Redux: Aunty Betty's "Brown Bread"; [ See newsletter link in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - June 30, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Spelt and Honey Loaf; Blog: These Waters, This World Around Me - [ See Link in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - June 23, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Deli Rye Bread; Blog: Summer Stars; and Who invented No-Knead? [ See link in profile ]
Dawn at the Happy Monk Baking Company, Friday 4:18 am. Olive loaves tumbling out of Mildrith, the wood-fired oven, and a few beautifully shaped Salish Sourdough.
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #olivebread #olivebread🍞 #oliveoilbread #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breadmaking #breadbaking #bbga #breadbakersguild #breadlove #bread #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Happy Bloomsday from the Happy Monk - June 16, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: An Earthy Olive Loaf; Blog Redux: The Terroir or Wine and Wheat; A Letter from Carrie and Leighton; [ See link in profile ]
Cinnamon-Raisin loaves, they get it on! Can’t keep their hands off each other when they’re a little too close in the oven. Monkey business!
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#woodfired #woodfiredoven #woodfiredbaking #woodfiredbread #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #cinnamonraisin #cinnamonraisinbread #cinnamonraisinsourdough #breadsex #breadporn #showusyourfuckedloaves #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlove #bread #bakery #bakersofinstagram #bakerslife #bakersandspice #penderisland #southpenderisland #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbc #happymonk #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbakery
Happy Monk Tidings - June 9, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough; Blog: Chasing the Perfect Loaf - [ See link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - June 4, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Metchosin Wheat and Honey Pan Loaf; Happy Monk Favourite: Salish Sourdough; Blog: Gratitude and the Joy of Chopping Wood - [See Link in Profile ]
Look what I found in the back of the wood-fired oven last Friday morning. A mighty Seed Feast from last week, no longer so mighty, burned to a crisp. Knew I was one loaf short, but no idea where it went. Mystery solved. The ravens will appreciate it ... it’ll need a hammer to break it up!
Happy Monk Tidings - May 19, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Double Fermented Oat Bread; Blog: Dreams of Bread; Introducing a New Way to Order Happy Monk Bread - [ See link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - May 12, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Rye and Currant Sourdough; Happy Monk Blog: No-Knead Bread Revisited [ See link in profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - May 5, 2021 🍞 - Baker's Choice: Whole Wheat and Spelt Pan Loaf; Blog: This Bread You Eat, This Poem You Digest - [ See link in profile ]
Here’s a Purple Barley Loaf made with purple-tinged barley, soaked in water overnight along with a handful or two of sunflower and flax seeds. So delicious, nutty! The variety is Ethiopian Purple Barley, grown by Against the Grain Farms of Mountain, Ontario. Really happy to be using this heritage grain from a real Canadian regenerative farm operation! Nice to make your acquaintance, @againstthegrainfarm!
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#barley #purplebarley #barleybread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #organicgrain #organicgrains #bread #breadbakers #baker #breadlove #woodfired #woodfiredbread #happymonkbaking #happymonkbaker #penderisland #southpenderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - April 28, 2021 🍞 - Happy Monk Blog Redux: Life in small-town Burgundy: The French Factor; Bread of the Week: Baker's Choice, Purple Barley Bread, PLUS return of the mighty Seed Feast [ See Link in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - April 21, 2021 🍞 – Happy Monk Blog: Read about one of my greatest bread teachers: “A Bread Teacher With No Recipe” Also: This week’s Baker’s Choice: Danish Black Rye Bread.
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#teachers #breadteachers #bread #breadlove #breadlife #norecipe #happymonkbaking #happymonkbaker #happymonkbakery #penderisland #southpenderisland
Raw dough, scored and ready for Mildrith’s heat. A thing of beauty!
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#woodfired #woodfiredbread #bread #breadlove #dough #breaddough #breadmaking #breadbaking #sourdough #sourdoughbread #sourdoughbaking #breaddoughrising #happymonkbakery #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #happymonkbaker #southpenderisland #southpender #penderisland #pender #woodoven #woodovenbread #woodovenbaking #clayoven
G&T and HT - C’est necessaire after a long day and night at the Happy Monk Baking Company.
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#ginandtonic #gin #G&T #BoundaryPass #SouthPender #SouthPenderIsland #HappyMonkBakery #HappyMonkBaking #HappyMonkBaker #cestnecessaire #cestnécessaire #cestnecessaire😍
First attempt at Nina’s Pain Sauvage, wild bread. Borne of simplicity: coarsely milled grain (I used spelt), freshly milled red fife flour, water and salt. No yeast, wild or commercial. A few flax seeds sprinkled on top, baked in bread tins. Tastes of grain and earth. This is Nina Raginsky’s bread. She lives on Salt Spring Island BC in an old house that she calls her Maison Sauvage, and she tends her garden, her Jardin Sauvage. She prefers living with a small footprint; loves the aimless life, but is an Officer of the Order of Canada for her photography. Read the latest Happy Monk blog post for more about Nina. Thanks to Sophie Williams @ravenbreads for sharing about her conversations with Nina back in January — a meeting of like minds and hearts, I think. Today is Nina’s 80th birthday! Happy birthday, Nina!
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#bread #wildbread #painsauvage #baker #bakers #baking #bakinglife #ancientgrains #heritagegrains #yeastfree #nosourdough #tassajara #tassajarabreadbook #edwardespebrown #woodfired #woodfiredbread