Brother AnselmBread, Garden and Store
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A Practical Household Almanac

The calendar on the wall is useful, but the soil under the nail is wiser.

Learn how to tend a kitchen garden, bake sturdy work-day bread, and keep a winter store room. This book gathers four decades of plain monastery practice into one year of quiet attention.

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72pages
14chapters
40years of practice
Brother Anselm
We do not store food because we are afraid. We store it because February comes every year.Brother Anselm
01

A record of ordinary keeping.

This is not a book of clever methods. Cleverness is a thin blanket in February.

Cover of The Monastery Year

I wrote this calendar because the ordinary work of feeding a house has been forgotten. I have spent decades between the stone bakehouse, the herb beds, and the cellar. I do not offer miracles. I offer the plain habits that keep a monastery fed through the thin months.

You will learn to read the soil with your finger before you lift a watering can. You will learn to bake a six-grain loaf that feeds working men, and a feast bread for December. You will learn to dry herbs in the warm shade and salt beans for the winter pot.

Most of all, you will learn to look at your store room truthfully. A household is not saved by abundance alone, but by attention. What goes in must be named, and what is damaged must be used or thrown away without romance.

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Read the calendar
02

Two ways to keep a household.

A full store can make a fool of a man if he does not pay attention.

The careless way

Waste

  • Watering sage by the calendar1 dead plant
  • Sowing seeds in cold mud0 useful lessons
  • Storing an uninspected windfall apple1 ruined crate
  • Throwing out stale bread0 thick soups
The resultA store that goes silent in February

The attentive way

Measure

  • Testing soil to the first knuckle2 inches deep
  • Brining cucumbers with weighed salt30 grams salt
  • Packing winter roots in damp sand1 inch of sand
  • Saving bread crusts for the pot1 sturdy meal
The resultBread enough for the day
03

What you will find in this calendar.

Fourteen chapters covering the soil, the dough, the harvest, and the shelf.

01

Follow the four rules.

Begin with poor soil, let patience do work, waste nothing fit for use, and taste before trusting a batch. Ask the ground three questions before adding compost.

02

Take a January inventory.

Empty one shelf at a time. Put the oldest sound food at the front, with its date facing outward.

03

Thicken thin soups in February.

Use dry stale bread to thicken pottage. Hard-dry bread keeps and thickens cleanly without molding.

04

Sow seeds with restraint in March.

Use clean pots and seed compost, not rich garden soil. Press the compost level but do not ram it hard.

05

Test the soil before watering in April.

Push a finger into the soil to the first knuckle. Water only if the soil is dry at root depth, not merely dry on top.

06

Harvest leaves without harming the plant.

Cut outer lettuce leaves one thumb's breadth above the soil. Leave the central crown whole so the plant keeps working.

07

Bake a six-grain loaf in June.

Use wheat, spelt, barley, millet, lentil, and bean flour. Knead eight to ten minutes by hand until the dough is tacky.

08

Dry herbs in the warm shade in July.

Cut stems after the dew lifts and dry them thinly on cloth or reed trays. Do not dry herbs in fierce heat or they will stew.

09

Weigh salt for August brines.

Use thirty grams of plain salt for one thousand grams of cold water for quick cucumbers. Leave the jar at 18 to 22 degrees Celsius.

10

Sort September fruit carefully.

Leave stems on apples meant for storage. Do not wash cellar fruit, only wipe dirt away with a dry cloth.

11

Pack October roots in sand.

Trim carrot tops to a quarter inch and lay them in one inch of clean, slightly damp play sand. Store at 32 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

12

Stretch the November bean pot.

Soak dry beans overnight in three times their volume of cold water. Add vinegar only when the beans are tender, because acid tightens their skins.

04

Pages from the calendar.

This is exactly how the book is set down.

Interior page from The Monastery Year
A paragraph explaining how to work wet clay, followed by instructions for seed trays, peas, onions, and greens.
Interior page from The Monastery Year
Cooking instructions for a pot herb broth, warnings about bitterness, and a story about slugs in the cloister garden.
Interior page from The Monastery Year
Five numbered steps for quick brined cucumbers, followed by a warning on when to throw a spoiled jar away.
Interior page from The Monastery Year
Advice on keeping potatoes away from light, curing winter squash in warmth, and checking the seals of jars on shelves.
05

About the author.

I am an old monk showing what I have seen with my own hands.

Brother Anselm in the monastery store room

I have spent most of my adult life inside the same monastery walls. I work between the garden, the bakehouse, the store room, and the kitchen. When I came to the garden as a young man, I was corrected by an older brother who tended the beds before me. I have now kept the herb beds and baked bread for about forty years.

I started writing this because many people have forgotten the practical things that monasteries once treated as common knowledge. I know when to sow, how to feed soil, and how to store seed, mostly because I have made every mistake a man can make. I once watered the sage until its roots rotted, and I once let the wheat bin fall to a hand's depth in winter.

I am not a doctor, a scientist, or a horticultural consultant. If you are ill, I cannot offer you medical cures from biblical herbs. I can only offer you the daily practice of a household that means to greet winter without fear.

Brother Anselm
06

Questions about the book.

Plain answers about what this calendar contains.

Is this a book of medical herbalism?

No. I write of foods, herbs, storage, and household practice, not cures. I include safety warnings for plants when relevant, especially comfrey: it goes in the barrel, never in the pot, never as a drink, and never as a body remedy. If you are ill, ask a qualified doctor.

Will these methods guarantee a perfect garden?

No gardener knows what the weather will do. These are practical habits for planting, thinning, and watering. Wet weather makes fools of all barriers. The surest guard is daily looking.

Do I need a traditional stone cellar?

No. A cellar is just a room where light, warmth, and wet are managed. Even an apartment cupboard can learn some cellar manners if you understand what roots, squash, and onions need.

What measurements are used in the recipes?

I use cups and spoons for work-day bread, but I use exact grams for salt brining. A tablespoon of coarse salt and fine salt do not weigh the same, so a scale tells the truth without argument.

Do you use modern tools?

Yes. A modern pen is no sin for labeling jars. I also recommend a thermometer for the oven and the cellar, because memory and pride are poor judges of heat and cold.

What is the main rule of the store room?

First in, first out. Bring the older jar to the front and put the newer jar behind it. Store what you truly eat, and eat what you have stored.

The Monastery Year

Begin with the soil under your nail.

Read the calendar, count your store, and learn the plain habits that keep a house fed through the year.

$27
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