The Sourdough Experiment

Since I have revived my sourdough starter, I am faced daily with its care and feeding, like it is another child added to the roll call! It's simple to take care of, and I love having it around. It doesn't talk back to me, and it always does what I ask it to do, usually the first time, a very easy child.

Well, last week I had this silly idea to put some of my starter on my local Buy Nothing group, just to see what would happen. I have seen crazier things there, so what could it hurt. I didn't realize what an impact a simple jar of starter could make. In two days, I gave away 7 jars of it. Now I am seeing pictures of loaves of bread pop up on my news feed. Good, homemade, nourishing bread. That makes me so happy. I plan to do this again soon. I realize 7 jars is just the tip of the iceberg; what if I made this a weekly or monthly give? How many people would learn something new, bake their first loaf of bread, or just have a new recipe to try? How many friends could be fed? How many people could I connect with?

All fed and ready to go to new homes 

Happy Starter!

The Buy Nothing project is really an amazing community. It is what it says it is. There is no money involved. You ask for what you need or want, and you offer what you have. It is not even a bartering system. Used properly, it engenders the desire to give back as you have been given to. I have witnessed so many times what a generous, thoughtful community I live in. People are generally so kind and helpful. A few examples:

My washing machine broke. Within one or two days, I had a replacement from a family that lived 5 blocks away. They had one just sitting in their garage. We helped them by taking it out of their place, and they helped us by giving us that washer. To boot, I found a little money in the rubber gasket. As hard as I tried to give it back, they insisted we just keep it. Bonus!

A few weeks ago we were cleaning out the garage, and I had a ton of nice kitchen stuff to give away. So on to Buy Nothing it went. People were in and out of my driveway for days picking up things they wanted or needed. One morning, I noticed one of the ladies stopped on my porch listening to my son practice his violin. She was so touched by his music that the next day she showed up with a cherry tart, warm from the oven! Long story short, she ended up coming back a couple more times. I finally just invited her in for coffee. See, life is about so much more than stuff. My stuff became useful to someone else, and I made a new friend or two in the process.

I hope my kids take these memories with them their whole lives. I hope we learn to be more generous every day. I hope our music continues to touch people in a way words can't. I hope we always give as we have been given to.