About 15 yrs., We were trying to save money and we decided to start making our own bread--by hand. I went to our local library and read up on how to make bread by hand. Did it for a couple of years and then stopped doing it. Now, I have a bread machine that does it. I wasn't that good at it when I did do it, but, it was alright. We eat organic 90% of the time. It's not cheap, but, it is so much more tasty than any store bought/restaurant made food; it is also so much more healthy for you. We just got a 5 week old puppy. We had an older dog for about 10 prior to this puppy. She passed away late last year, and I truly believe it was the cheap pet food(dry)that we fed her every day that helped to kill her. As a result of that, I am going to start making at least some of his food, and buying a good, high quality food for when I am not able to make it for him. It really is scary what they put into our pets food. Bread making in a bread machine, love doing desserts. I also make a very, very good Spanish Rice with all organic ingredients.