This is the first of, I hope, a regular series of brief updates on Los Angeles Bread Baker news and events.

Holiday Cookie Exchange - Erik reports that it went well on the 15th. Though a small turnout, everyone had a good time. Erik spoke to the gardeners and said that we'd try to schedule the next Eagle Rock event -- possibly a pizza party in January -- to coincide with their next work day so more gardeners could participate.

Next Central Milling Order - Just after the holidays, David will be taking orders for Central Milling flour and grains -- as well as for brotforms -- for delivery by mid-January. He'll send out details.

Beginning Bread Class - There's a long waiting list for both of Erik's Beginning Bread Classes in January. Due to the high demand, he promises to open up additional classes. Keep an eye on the Meetup page.

Grain Growing Project - Many thanks to all who helped sow seeds out in Agoura during the past month. As you can see from both Paul Morgan's photos and posts in the Discussion and Photos section of the Meetup site (Thanks, Paul!) the heritage grains are doing quite well, and thanks to Saul Alpert'sLABB blog (Thanks, Saul!) we now know a great deal about what we've planted. We'll be checking on them periodically over the months. Andrea and Nathan are watching over them, though, until they're ready to harvest (in the spring), at which point we'll have a massive harvest party, bringing in the grain before the birds get it (this time)!

Artisanal Flour Milling - LABB member Nan Kohler is scouting Los Angeles locations for her stone-ground flour mill. She's entertaining suggestions for appropriate commercial spaces near downtown. Please contact her if you might have a lead.

California Homemade Food Act - Latest word from the Los Angeles County Department of Environmental Health is that they're committed to a January 1 launch of the program! You can find out more info about their preparations here. They should have model forms from the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health sometime next week. And we should have word from the California Department of Public Health about how the Department intends to deal with the fact that they won't have their required Cottage Food Operators course ready until mid-2013, at the earliest. There's a facebook group devoted to the Homemade Food Act and its implementation. Join the conversationhere. If there's any interest among LABB members, we could have an event in January focusing on those who will be setting up their home-based baking businesses. Let us know if you'd be interested in participating.

And . . . we're looking for someone to teach a tortilla class. If that's you please drop Erik a line atthoughtstyle@gmail.com.

To get announcements about all of our events please sign up for the LABB meetup (http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Bread-Bakers/). Also, if you are signed up for the meetup, please make sure that you have your account configured to receive notices (under Account/Email and Notifications). We don't send out a lot of emails, so don't worry about your inbox flooding with bread related missives.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Post something here, in the LABB facebook page, or in the Discussion section of the LABB Meetup site. Thanks very much. Mark