Magical 24 hours

Apr 1, 2020 | Articles

Sometimes less than 5 minutes is enough and the thing is ready. Good coffee, a delicious sandwich, a refreshment in the shower, or a phone call to share essential information. Even though 5 minutes is very useful and effective, I love especially the magical 24 hours.

What does that mean? With the haste of our lives, I often tick during the day, what I did. I mostly make hooks in my head, but sometimes I just need to write them down so I don’t forget anything. There are days when I am extremely capable, sometimes a little less. That’s when I learn to hear myself first and listen to my body, which is slowing me down for a reason.

It can only remind me that I need to drink enough, get a little relax, or maybe just let dive into the music and go for a short walk. If I can, I take body’s suggestions for the sacred. This does not mean, however, that the things that need to be done are lining up. More and more like making hooks, the rhythm between work and rest is important to me.

This kind of rush and haste can be quickly translated into all possible activities and become too superficial. Quickly jump for coffee, quickly do your homework or lunch. Quickly call your friend and quickly tell her something she has never heard before. All with some vague sense in the background that I’m going to miss something important that drives me around or pushes me to speed.

 

Traditional time

In contrast, I really prefer slowness. Slow and long conversations. Just similar walks. A slow morning awakening. And preparing lunch. When I say to myself: I have enough time. When I indulge in the flow and just work at my own pace. The beginning of the day is much more refreshing, the conversation is invigorating and lunch is the sweetest. That’s when fresh ideas come to me, thoughts are clearer, and I notice things that are too often overlooked.

Having a time reminds me of some old times when things went slower. It reminds me of my grandmother who considered the right time to harvest herbs, all the drying needed, and prepare for their later consumption. It took quite a while to be able to drink her delicious home-made tea later. Or when she made homemade cheese, for example. At that time, she took into account all the time needed for the ripening and the formation of cheese cultures, so that we could eat it finally for a breakfast.

All good things last, don’t they?

Let me share my 3 things that I always leave at the mercy of magic for 24 hours. At that time, I give every opportunity to nature to do something that I am not able to do it. I can say that such procedures are traditional because I devote more time to them. This is when nature actively intervenes and works miracles with its invisible processes!

 

Henna hair dyeing

The first thing is henna. Well, I like soaking henna for 24 hours in the required amount of water. In the meantime, henna releases its colorant in a container specially used for it. It does this at its most natural pace without haste. Maybe in between resting or chatting of henna, anyway, the color is finally ready to be applied to the hair. In my observations, this makes it more intense and even more radiant than it used to be.

 

Making cold-precessed soap

The second thing is making soaps. After preparing and mixing all soap ingredients and pouring them in a mold, I wrap it with warm blankets for 24 hours to start with many processes. Due to raising its temperature, it goes into the gel phase and then begins to cool and solidify. Only after at least 24 hours is the soap hard enough to cut it into desirable pieces and prepare it to mature further.


Baking homemade bread

The third thing is more or less new for me, I started practicing it just recently. This is bread making. Well, I’ve been baking bread for years. However, a new technique that differs from the previous one in terms of time of production and quantity of yeast.

For such bread, all I need is:

  • a ball of 0,5 cm yeast (not the whole cube),
  • I add it to any flour (430 g) and salted water (300 g),
  • then mix everything together and close it tightly in a container. Of course, in 24 hours. To avoid moisture escaping and to have a constant temperature for the party that follows.

 

Until the next day, whole colonies of yeast develop from this small ball of yeast, which ultimately makes my freshly baked bread soft, fluffy and firm after a few days. With this recipe, I avoid overuse of yeast adn get delicious bread. I admire the power of yeasts, in which even a small amount of yeast is sufficient to multiply. But it takes time.

My enthusiasm for the 24-hour process is so big that I try to do as many things as possible with extended hours. Of course, where it’s possible 😊

In a viral period, though, we have much more time than we have ever had in last decades. It is an ideal opportunity to experience the magic of home for 24 hours.

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