Books, books and more books

Books are the ultimate treat for me, a good book is better than
television or social media any time,  a book will make everything
better and a good book will make many things perfect.
The good things in life need a book to make them perfect. Christmas
without a new book is nearly as bad as Christmas without a new pyjama
and holidays without a new book are seriously lacking while even a
stay in hospital can be made bearable with a book. Days that threaten
to go really bad can be survived with a book – like the time I arrived
in a new city and found the student accomodaton a serious disaster.  I
walked the streets until I found a shop that sold supplies and
thankfully also a small array – of actually seriously mediocre books.
With crackers, cheese, a glass of wine and a book , the student
accomodation became a possibility, the first night was weathered and
everything panned out ok and turned out to be one of the best years
spent in college. Books, you gather, are important, books are both
crutch and inspiration, relaxation and – just sometimes - even
education. For some strange reason it is not only the content, it is
the feel of the book, a real treat to read a good hardback. After the
bread round goes with the times – most of the time – and has lots of
books on the phone which is also a good way to read but never the same
as the real thing. Yesterday, on the deck chair beside the forest
swimming pool beside the Steinback brewery ( after the bread round is
on holidays....) holding the phone to read was just not the same.
Can’t read the screen in the sun and the contrary phone always slipped
the screen sideways – just to annoy.
Kilkenny has such an amazing abundance of book shops and a wonderful
library that there is never a shortage of books anywhere and
everywhere there is a wonderful attitude to the seriously long winded
and very undecided browser that needs to read half the book before
considering to buy. I love bookshops, especially bookshops with
chairs.

This year’s holiday book was a very undemanding and
uncomplicated and lovely to read novel called How to find love in a
book shop by Veronica Henry. One of her characters is only just
converted to reading and comes up with this conclusion “ So that’s why
people read. Because books explain things: How you thought, and how
you behaved, and made you realise you were not alone in doing what you
did or feeling what you felt.”Simple, straight forward and not at all
bad.  Books are one of the keys to life and there is one for every
mood and every person. So put down those insipid video’s on your
captivating screens and grab a book. After the bread round has just
finished the morning read. Still waking up early have the sunny
terrace in my mother house – a house full of books – all to myself.

Shall now start the day and go and negotiate with the local baker to
swop recepies. Irish Soda bread against his amazing “Sportler Brot”.
If you’re lucky that could be the start of Speltbakers dabbling with
rye.

More selling …..

Last week, After the bread round was worried about expensive food festivals and unaffordable stall fees. This week, after the bread round, set up a stall at the National Hounds show in Stradbally. Stall fee €40, easy access, setting up after 10 am is perfectly ok and we were involved in choosing stall location as to where we thought we’d fit best. Setting up in front of the van, there was no access hassle, no parking issues, no frazzled wardens – there was in fact nothing but sunshine, horses and hounds and people in snazzy horsy outfits wondering if they could buy a scone for breakfast – and did we have butter?  An experiment in selling locations was underway and the easiest set up ever experienced.

Basically, we wanted to know if we need foody festivals and food orientated venue or will an abundance of people suffice? Will people in any life situation buy bread if it is on offer? For food festivals, people come specifically to buy food and we are surrounded by other food stalls. People who come to our stall most likely are familiar with the benefits of spelt and they know their sourdoughs and yeast loaves. Here, people knew their horses and their hounds, they waited for the lead rein class and the hounds competition, they really came to buy saddles and bridles and halters and when they saw us beside Simon Porter, some meandered over and figured that maybe that bread that they brought for the picnic could do with an improvement. 

Stradbally hall is one of the most picturesque estates I know, a lovely old house and very pretty pastoral land with – of course – grazing sheep. They had set up a vast array of horsy entertainment from pony games and lead rein to horse shows and jumping competition. For more entertainment there was side saddle and hussar riding and dog shows not only for the professional hounds but also for any kind of dog you had. Obviously the show is trying to change from a purely competitive event to a fun show and is beginning to succeed. Now, I love horses and I can easily spend a Sunday sitting in the sun and admiring beautiful horses being shown, jumped or led. I also enjoy all the rest, the hassled mothers arriving late, with nervous kids, nervous ponys and the tail not plaited yet. I love seeing the teams gather around their truck with a long table set with table cloth and flowers - for the lunch and tea. Nearly everyone here was here for the day. I really loved watching the style, the dress of the leaders of the lead rein class, the men with bowler hats running nearly as graceful as the horses they are leading and the kids so proud and the dogs so everywhere. 

I would enjoy a day out at a horse show anytime. In another life, I would have loved to compete and be part of this world but as it is, having a bread table in the middle of it, is good fun too. Good fun and it worked. We sold nearly all we brought, could have sold more of certain breads and will come again now that we realize what is needed, what people know and what they will buy. To give you the figures, I sold 55% of what I would sell at a really, really good day at SAVOUR. Taking the stall fees into account, that number goes up to 70%. Now add to that, that here I am meeting an entirely new customer base, that there was not an inch of hassle along the way, that the nice man at the bar gave me a free glass of wine, that nobody had to carry anything anywhere and that I only started the bake at 3.30 am rather than at 1.30am, you do the maths. I think it’s a no brainer. And as I said, I like horses and because it was my lucky day – just when I was seriously regretting no having brought some butter, Bride Mc Donald set up beside us in a horsebox. She was churning and selling butter……..

Oh, and these kids where the star of the show – pony games: from now on my favourite sport.