A Year of Gratitude – February 28, 2024

It was a rainy, dreary day here at the farm. I couldn’t find my gratitude in a sunny, beautiful day like I had the last few days. I had to look elsewhere. So, I did.

Fortunately, I had planned to bake a few loaves of sourdough bread today. Baking bread usually lifts my spirits, and it certainly did today. It also gave me something to be very grateful for: fresh, warm bread.

I woke up and remembered that I had dough proofing in the refrigerator. I will admit that I was excited at the thought of turning out those chilled loaves, scoring them, and prepping them to bake in a hot oven. I love to bake for my family, so it was an easy reason to be happy about the day ahead.

There’s something magical about baking, but bread baking in particular. No matter how many times I do it, I marvel at the fact that I can turn humble ingredients like flour, water, and salt into something so delicious and beautiful to look at. It really is amazing.

I haven’t made as much traditional sourdough bread as I would have like to over the past few years. It takes time. You have to make time for it and I haven’t done that as much as I wanted to. I’m going to try and be better about that going forward. I should make time for it because it feeds my family and also feeds my soul in the making of it. It’s worthy of my time and I know that I will be glad that I have carved out enough time to make it regularly.

Today’s loaves came out beautifully. They were nicely browned. The crust was firm and crisp. The crumb was open and chewy. It had that delicious sourdough flavor. With a thick pat of butter, it was such a treat.

Today’s gratitude was in the making of something for my family, in knowing that they would enjoy what I made and know that I made it for them because they are so important to me. You don’t make something by hand, from scratch for any reason other than because you love the people you share it with.

That’s a lesson I learned from my grandmothers. One of them made pie that was held together by her love. The other one made bread every week to share with us. She was so proud of those loaves, of being able to make bread for us. I felt that pride today. It’s such a good feeling to make something just to share it with someone.

That’s a feeling I want more of in my life. So, I am going to make time to bake sourdough more often, to share it with people I love, and to feel that wonderful feeling more often. I’m going to make the time and not feel guilty about the other tasks that might have to wait.

For me, making time for more bread baking means that I am inviting more joy into my life. That’s something I shouldn’t feel guilty about. The chores will wait. I’ll get to them in due time.

So, here’s to making time for joy, to enjoying warm bread with cold butter, and to making things to be shared. There’s gratitude in each and every step of that.

I hope that you made time for joy today and that you found something to be grateful for.

This post is part of our A Year of Gratitude Series. You can find the introduction, inspiration, and entire year’s gratitude’s posts here.