Good morning everyone.
Wow, it feels like it's been a long time since we last spoke.
It's spring here in these mountains.
Yesterday I walked outside and the sun was shining and it was warm, like it was really warm.
And there is nothing like the feeling of that first warm day in spring.
It kind of feels like the sun thaws our hearts a little bit.
And it's almost the new year, the real new year, the spring equinox, when the time of day and the time of night are exactly the same.
Traditionally, that is the real start of the calendar year.
And it feels like it, you know, like when the sun starts coming out after a cold, dark winter, it kind of feels like we're being reborn, you know.
Today is March 11, 2026.
I'm finally feeling better.
I was sick for so many weeks this winter.
It honestly felt like an entire winter of sickness.
And it's hard being alone and sick.
The days feel rather lonely.
The full moon came and went in early March and for a while it felt like we were getting an early spring this year.
The snow had completely melted from the mountains, and the days were rainy and full of fog.
I could feel it happening slowly, the beginning of spring.
And with warmer days, the rivers were starting to rush.
And there was this warm breeze in the air.
I felt it on early mornings drinking coffee at the top of the mountain.
This week I got my seeds out and dug up some soil from the garden and started planting my starts.
It was exciting honestly to begin to imagine the garden this year.
I want to grow a lot of herbs and flowers too.
I have this vision of planting a huge flower garden outside the kitchen windows of the house I'm building.
I think it would be so nice to be washing dishes and looking outside the window to a huge field of flowers.
And it really felt like spring had finally come to these mountains.
But then we got a snowstorm.
And this past week I watched as the snow piled high outside my window.
At first I was a little sad, if I'm being honest.
I'm just so excited for the change of seasons.
But I think this storm was also a reminder to stay present in my life.
It's easy to imagine a future that feels better than the one we're living.
And I think the real challenge is remembering that the future is only imagined.
It isn't guaranteed.
And the only thing that's real is right now.
I think this snowstorm reminded me of that.
You know of how often I rush past the life I'm living, always looking ahead to the next thing instead of paying attention to what's already here, right now.
This week it was funny, I had all these plans to be outside.
I wanted to do yard work, plant some fruit trees and rebuild my garden fence.
But then it snowed.
I think that this world gives us exactly what we need, even if we maybe feel like in the moment we didn't want it.
Oh my gosh, you guys, I cannot believe how much it just snowed last night.
I woke up and looked outside my window and I was like, I couldn't believe it.
We really haven't gotten much snow at all this year.
This is like the first real snowstorm.
And it's the middle of March.
Next week it's gonna be spring!
And it's snowing!
I mean, look at this!
Look at this, you guys!
Living up here in the mountains, I've really learned how important it is to take care of myself, not just mentally but physically too.
One of the hardest parts of living so remotely is that even the basic things like seeing a doctor can take so much more effort than they should.
It's not always easy to find care nearby.
And when I do, it usually means planning ahead, driving a long way and hoping I can make the timing work.
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So this week I've been working on developing a recipe for a 100 home milled sourdough loaf of bread.
So basically a loaf using only flour that I milled myself with ancient grains.
And the reason for this is actually because of one of you guys.
The other day I ran into someone in town who watches my videos and she told me she's very excited for when I start selling bread, because She wants to buy some.
But then we continued talking and she told me that she has trouble digesting gluten and that wheat just doesn't sit very well with her.
And the thing is, I've heard that a lot before, people struggling to digest bread and assuming they're gluten intolerant. but the thing is so much of the bread people buy at the store is made with modern wheat and highly processed flour and modern wheat has been bred over thousands of years and refined for yield shelf life and industrial baking And it's just a lot harder for our bodies to recognize and digest.
Ancient grains are older varieties that are closer to the original grain, like the original grain from thousands of years ago.
Einkorn berries, for instance, which is what i'm using today, is one of the oldest wheats humans ever grew.
It started as a wild grass in the fertile crescent around 10 000 years ago, And a lot of people, myself included, just feel like it's so much easier to digest ancient grains, especially when they're used whole and fermented into sourdough.
I actually used to think for a long time that I was gluten intolerant as well, but then I started making bread myself and milling it fresh, and I just started digesting it so much easier.
So anyways, that conversation got me thinking about offering a loaf for sale at my bakery that's made with 100 ancient grains and milled fresh.
One of the biggest benefits of milling your own flour is that you're using the whole grain in its full form.
A lot of store-bought flour has been stripped down for shelf life, especially white flour, which means parts of the grain like the bran and the germ are removed.
And the thing is those are the parts that contain a lot of the fiber and oils and basically all of the nutrients.
So when you mill the whole wheat berries yourself, you get all of it fresh with nothing taken out.
The tricky part is, however, that baking with home-milled flour is very challenging.
I don't know why it's like a lot denser and it's kind of more coarse.
It just behaves a lot differently from white flour.
It took me quite a few tries to get this recipe right.
At first I tried making it as a traditional sourdough loaf, but it was just not working the way I wanted it to.
So I switched to making it as a sourdough sandwich loaf in a bread pan.
And that turned out so much better.
Oh my goodness.
I actually think this is the best loaf of bread I've ever made in my entire life and ever eaten in my entire life.
It tastes so good.
I just could not believe it.
So I'm definitely going to offer this loaf of bread in the bakery.
Also, can you guys believe how much snow we're getting here?
It's actually...
So crazy.
I made a decision a couple weeks ago that I wanted to eat all of my meals outside from now on for the rest of summer.
I had not anticipated, however, that it would start to snow again.
But it actually was really nice sitting outside in the snowstorm with a warm cup of tea and two of the greatest slices of bread I've ever had in my life.
So I woke up this morning and I looked outside.
And I could see stars for the first time in what feels like weeks now, just because it's been either snowy or cloudy every day.
So I'm going to walk up to the top of the mountain and Watch the sunrise.
And I'm very excited.
Oh, I'm so excited.
It's like already getting late, so I feel like I might be a little late, but oh well.
So I've been walking up this mountain almost every day for six years.
And you'd think by now I'd be bored of it or numb to it somehow.
But every single time, every single time I am still so in awe of this world.
The walk almost feels like a ritual now.
Like my own little good luck charm.
Like if I keep coming up here every day, good things will happen.
And I feel like these trees and these mountains are my friends now.
Together.
We have been growing alongside each other for the past six years, through the hottest days of summer and the snowiest days of winter.
We are so much more connected to nature than we realize.
We are nature.
And this connection is in all of us.
I wonder sometimes if the reason we are all so confused and lost and depressed is because we're too far away from nature.
We spend more time in front of screens than we do with trees, the moon, and the stars.
That hike was so much harder than I remember it being in the snow, as it's just straight up the mountain, you know.
And when there's a lot of snow, you kind of have to just scrape and crawl your way up to the top.
But wow, was it worth it?
I mean, look at this.
The sun is rising.
The sun is rising.
And I feel like I waited for this moment all winter and it never came.
We never got this like really deep snowstorm.
Oh my gosh, i can't get over it.
I just can't get over how beautiful this is and i almost didn't come up here.
You know, i was laying in bed this morning feeling very cozy.
My alarm was off, going off at like five but the cat was all snuggled up with me and i thought oh, going out there in the snow.
But I knew that it was going to be a clear morning.
And wow, I am so grateful I came up here.
So much of life is just doing the thing that is uncomfortable, but then you get the best reward.
That's like everything in life, you know?
The uncomfortable thing, the thing that challenges us, the thing that makes us suffer a little bit, always gives us the best reward.
It's the instant gratification, the easy stimulation that will lead us down a hole of despair.
It's a pit of despair, and to crawl out of that pit we turn our phone off for weeks at a time And we just do the thing.
Do the thing.
This is your sign right now to do the thing in your life that you want to do.
That you really want to do.
Write that book.
Go out and hike up a mountain at 5am to watch the sunrise.
Buy that camera and start filming yourself.
Do the thing.
Buy the plane ticket because you only have one life.
And I know that's corny and cheesy but you really do.
And it's passing.
It's passing right now, you guys.
And we need to remember that.
And I know that's a corny thing to say, but We all need that reminder.
I need that reminder constantly because sometimes I can just sit in this routine of just going through the motions of life and I didn't need to come up here this morning.
But wow, I mean seriously, look at the sun!
It's rising!
It's rising!
Oh my gosh!
Anyways, you guys, thank you all so much for watching this video.
And yeah, I'll see you all next week.
Okay, bye-bye.
