Month: June 2013

Grrr…


Click on image for high-resolution version

I thought my day lilies weren’t looking as lush this year as they ought to look. This afternoon, I caught this doe eating the blooms right off the stalk like they were popcorn.

2 major TV appearances by Ken

Ken has two major television appearances coming up in the next week. On Thursday, June 20, he’ll be on CBS This Morning. On Monday, June 24, he’ll be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The scheduling of the Tonight Show appearance may change because of the NBA playoffs, so check the Tonight Show web site if need be. He’ll be talking, of course, about his new book, Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road From Debt to Freedom. Ken wrote this book here at Acorn Abbey, and I helped with the editing.

Needless to say, I am very proud of Ken and very excited about the career push he’ll get from this. I’m also proud of his connection with Acorn Abbey and the interesting work that has gotten done here — much to my surprise, really, because I never imagined that my retirement would be so busy and so rich.

If you enjoy Ken’s television appearances, you’ll get some idea of how much I enjoy Ken’s conversation at breakfast and dinner each day.


Ken Ilgunas

More bread portraits


75% whole wheat, 25 percent unbleached bread flour

The sourdough testing continues, using the Tartine method described by Michael Pollan in his book Cooked. I have been very excited by the results and continue to try to refine my sourdough boule technique.

Another virtue of sourdough bread: It keeps longer. Yeast bread normally molds on the third day. I have three-day-old sourdough bread with no sign of mold. I suppose this has to do with the lactic acid in sourdough bread, acting as a natural preserve.


50% whole wheat, 50% unbleached bread flour

Whose hobbit hole is this?

Today while mowing the grass, I found the home of a new neighbor. The burrow is only about 20 feet from the side door of the abbey, in a steep bank above a newly planted deciduous magnolia tree. It looks just like a rabbit hole. But my understanding is that the eastern cottontail rabbit, which is the common rabbit here, does not burrow. Rather, they commonly live in brush piles or other homes that they find rather than build themselves.

I’ve seen many groundhog holes, but this hole is too small for groundhogs. So now I am puzzled. I don’t know if there are burrowing rabbits in these parts. There are rabbits here, that’s for sure, because I see them in the yard every day. But I’ve always assumed that they’re cottontail rabbits that live in the brush pile down in the thicket.

Whoever made the hole is very tidy. The landing is very neat, and they’ve spread dry glass on the floor into the burrow.