Chiggers and sourdough

The blueberries I picked had a little surprise for me. They were being protected by chiggers. I didn't know I had gotten biten by chiggers though. When I was ready for bed, I took my socks off and my ankles instantly started to itch like crazy. I ran downstairs and slathered them with a baking soda paste. It helped somewhat. In the morning, they were still really itchy. They looked like hives though. I was curious why I still had hives. They never stay that long. But as the day went on, they started itching worse and they were getting bigger. My ankles swelled up with water retention as well. I was miserable all day. The next day, the bites had gotten so big that I decided I would either have to kill myself to put myself out of my misery or pop all the bites to get some relief. Well, seeing as how I love life, I decided to pop them. It did offer some relief...now instead of being horribly painful and itchy, now they were only slightly painful and itchy. Mike lent me his flip flops so that I could wear something that didn't touch the bites and also wouldn't have to wear socks which were sticking to the sores and causing a lot of irritation. They were huge on me though and really hurting me. Lanette had a pair that were mostly big enough for me so I traded Mike's for her's. I don't know how anyone can wear those things out of more than absolute necessity?!? It is so uncomfortable to have something smashed between your toes! And they offer no support of any kind. Not my cup of tea, for sure. I will celebrate when I get to wear real shoes again!

This is today, day 4. They are looking a lot better than they were and are oozing a lot less as well but haven't stopped yet. Lovely, huh? I get to show them off at church tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago, I had started some sourdough starter. Every morning, I have to stir it, then discard a certain amount, then feed it so it can continue to grow and mature. About a week ago, I started taking the cast off and making things with it. I made sourdough pancakes, then sourdough brownies, sourdough cornbread and sourdough blueberry pancakes. I decided that it seemed ready to make bread with so I finally did that today. It is so good!

sourdough blueberry pancakes

sourdough cornbread soaked in milk and drizzled with honey. Adam really likes his cornbread this way. I stuck my nose up to it for a long time but I really like it and love having it for breakfast when we have some leftover.

Rustic Country Sourdough Bread. It was really good. I'll have to post the recipe another time since my computer doesn't let me paste and copy anything. The rest of the stuff I didn't get any pictures of.