slow life

I was going to post about making beer vinegar today.  I am not because I had an interesting conversation with a pastry chef/baker this weekend.  It ties right into making vinegar.

She believes in slow food.  The using of yeastie beasties to make bread.  The putting the pork shoulder on for hours to braise.  The fermentation of mustard to make tastiness and to make other tastiness.  But she does not feel she gets appreciated.  Especially when a whole loaf of bread or a tray of rolls that took two days to bake are gone in 30 minutes.  

I do understand where she is coming from and I understand her perspective.  I also know what has helped to create that perspective because I know some of the chefs she has worked with and what kitchens she has worked in.  She was not appreciated.  Bread was reviewed by diners and food critics and not thought well off.  I have boyos who thank me for every cup of tea I bring them.  I am also told things like my hummus is as good as the best in town.  Koda Bear tells people we do not have a menu but we have good food here.  We can just bake something out of dough.  Or I bake something out of dough with the help of his hands.

We live such a fast life.  A life that if we send the words out we expect to get a response immediately.  This type of life makes it hard to understand that mustard should ferment for three days minimum.  That it takes a month to make beer vinegar.  That it takes six months to make bitter or orange extract.  That you may eat the cabbages right away but they can sit and ferment on the counter months at a time and they are still good to east.

I know I have been talking about food but there is such a thing as slow fashion.  Mend something.  Remake.  Make from scratch and do not even go to a store.  But it is not instant.  There is no instant reaction to what is hanging.  "Oh, I want that.  Now."  It all takes time.  And thought.  Is it really what you want.

My Father loves to point out when I am crocheting that the fastest part of the process is actually making the sweater, hat, mitts, or shawl.  I have not raised the sheep.  I have not shorn the sheep.  Yes, many times I do wash the fleece, card it, and spin it.  It adds so much more time until the garment is finished.  It is why I understand that if a sweater is out grown it should be made in away that it can be taken apart and made into another garment.  Even if a stripe of a different color needs to be added.  This is all slow.  It all takes time.

It adds up to a slow life.  A slow life is always what I wanted.  Where I made or grew most of what was in my life.  I am much closer to that now then I have ever been before.  I still feel like I move to fast some days.  But I keep working on moving slower.  I have people who appreciate slower in my life. 

I just wish more did appreciate the slow.  A slow life is a very good life.