Yay for Yeast

I have officially closed the polls and the answer to the question about yeast is (drumroll please)
TRUE! Yeast is a tiny organism that lives just about anywhere and is especially prolific in the fall and spring, making those the ideal times for "harvesting." And all this time I thought it came from the store. Actually, truth be told I had never thought about it until I read a book in which the author mentioned that he had made bread from yeast he harvested himself. Say What?!?That made me do a double take and I did a little research. Turns out that yeast can be captured from the air by mixing up some flour, water, and sugar in a glass bowl and leaving it out for awhile. Then you have to keep feeding the yeast every day with more of the mixture until the yeast causes the mix to approximately double in size. Then you can do one of a few things 1) add it to your bread dough mix and get a tasty sourdough 2) keep it in your fridge and feed it once a week to keep it active for use in the future 3) fail miserably at the above experiment and resign yourself to dumping the sour smelling mixture down the drain. Theoretically speaking of course :)
There are several reasons for harvesting your own yeast including saving money (though flour and sugar aint all that cheap), the satisfaction of doing it yourself, using what is available, and of course, just to see if you can. But the main reason is that there are different kinds of yeast in different areas. So Utah yeast will lend a different flavor to your bread than say, Louisanna yeast, or California yeast. Or even Southern Utah yeast. Imagine the possibilities : German yeast and African yeast and Brazilian yeast! Oh my!
All of this is of course assuming you have the equivalent of a yeasty green thumb (that just sounds gross), which I have a sneaking suspicion I don't. I guess I am consigned to go on believing that yeast comes from a store and buying mine there. But that doesn't mean that you have to! If you want to try this little experiment just google "grow your own yeast" and get started. (I hereby absolve myself of any responsibility for failure of this experiment and will not reimburse you any flour or sugar should your experiment fail. I will however gladly eat your bread and take tips on how to be a successful yeast harvester) Yay for Yeast!