After unfortunately allowing my starters to become totally disgusting
and tossing them into the trash, I was getting ready to begin
attempting to hunt yeasties from scratch, a trip to Kenyans Mill was in
order for some freshly milled rye. I suddenly remembered that had saved
the empty plastic bag that my Carls OT had arrived in the mail,
somewhere in the bottom of a drawer. After a quick search, the little
baggie was found with a little sticker on it that states:

Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Packed Jan. 2005 Cultured
by Charles Perry )

Looking into the baggie, I noticed 3 very tiny little dried out crumbs.
I added them to 1/2 cup of flour and water mixture yesterday morning,
and last night thought I saw some little bubbles. Today (maybe 24 hours
later) there is definately activity and big bubbles going on, and when
I open the container air pressure escapes. I cant say that this is
definately the Carls Culture growing, but I used a new container, kept
tightly covered, and just some KA unbleached flour. So if this is the
OT, it sat dried out in my bottom drawer in my un-airconditioned
sunroom for ten months dormant through the hot summer. This is either a
testemant to Carls OT or to Charles Perry's drying technique (more
likely both) but it looks like I will be back in business soon. My
breads have definately suffered from using commercial yeast as of late,
I tryed not to notice but I have been told as much, and we are really
looking forward to a return of sourdough bread on our table.

Great story !!
Now take some of that newmade starter and dry
it out for a backup.

Yes I plan on making backup this time once this starter is well
established and I have used it to make some bread. I am still not 100%
sure it is Carls or even a good starter....


hutchndi

Hmmm. A few days into this starter now and it is acting very
un-Carls-like. After the first flurry of activity, it is nowhere near
as vigorous as it was earlier, and much less so than I remember my
original Carls OT. Daily care and feeding as always, but it has sort of
petered out, perhaps the minute bit of OT in the mix didnt make it?
Sort of smells cheesy now too. Carls had a fresher scent, if I
remember. New order in the mail to Carlsfriends but that can take
weeks, luckily a friend a few states away is sending me a glob of
something good.

hutchndi