Malaysian Pickle - Quick, Low Allergy Acar

As mentioned in a previous post, I decided my life wasn't busy enough so I've started to volunteer at the local Beaver scout group. This has been great fun and with a group of friends its been fun to have a bit of input into what we get up to each week. 

A few weeks ago one of my friends and I got to plan out the lesson on healthy eating. This is a subject I'm quite passionate about and really enjoy getting my own children to help with food. We were constrained a bit though, having fourteen 6-8 year olds cooking at the same time would be hard work and having enough facilities to keep them all occupied would be nearly impossible!

What Would You Waste Less If Times Were Hard?

Of course none of it is really waste!

But when you grow your own and cook most of your meals from scratch it can certainly create some waste! Below are two buckets of "waste" that I created between Sunday and Wednesday! 

This all gets added to the compost pile and in time will really help to improve my soil. 

Because I grow so much veg I can be a little more wasteful with some of the veg, for example we eat a lot of Swiss Chard at this time of year (two times a week) but I never use the stems! We've got so much growing, it just doesn't seen worth it. 

 In the buckets above there are the leaves and peelings from cleriac, carrots, beets, chard, courgette (last one), shallots, onions and gone over apples.

If times were hard, very little of those buckets would be heading to the compost pile. Everything would be used, veg would be scrubbed before being peeled, leaves would be saved and I'd make lots of stock each time. This is potentially something I should be doing away, but there are only so many hours in the day.

The cooked peeling would then be strained, the stock saved for human consumption and the cooked peelings would be given to the chickens or other livestock. Although not with the current laws of course!

So if times were much harder what would you waste less of?

What potential food source do you throw away?

Starting To Gather Squash In

I've started to gather in some of the mature squash so I'm not caught out if there's an early frost. 

One I was particularity pleased with was my Oregon Homestead squash. These seven fruits are off just two plants! They were planted in the top of last years compost and they seem to have done really well!

Can't wait to try them! 

They're monsters! 

All my wife said was "how are we going to get  into those?"

Axe at a guess - I'll keep you posted!

Purple Sprouting

There's not huge amounts to choose from at this time of year in the garden. 

I still have a few leeks left, lots of chard, nettles (hey their edible, they count!) and my love that is - purple sprouting.

Lets be honest, this is not an easy vegetable to grow. I've described it before as the "footballers wife" of the vegatble world.

It's high maintenance, a heavy feeder, in the plot a long time, every insect wants to eat it and every pigeon from miles around can see it and wants to land on it all winter. 

And every year I think it's not worth the effort, until I eat some. Truth be told, I just love the stuff, my one daughter even eats it raw straight out the garden, I'll often find her snacking off the plant! And there is so little else at the moment that I'd be really lost without it. 

So will I be growing it next year? 

Yep! 

And will it cause me so many problems that I think it's not worth it? 

You can bet on it! 

But come April next year I'm sure I'll feel the same as I do now! 

Who else loves purple sprouting? 

What veg do you grow that's loads of trouble and only worth it when you get to eat it?

An Organised Garden

Well almost!

The garden is probably at the only stage in the year where it looks remotely organised. 

Beds are laid out, some of last years crops are still in the ground to be harvested and new ones are nearly ready to be planted. 

As I've got quite a large number of beds laid out this year, I've decided to make sure they're numbered. That way I can easily keep records in my diary of what is planted where and I can also say to my wife that she can pick veg from ## bed if I'm not cooking that night. 

I made the number tags from some off cuts of 6mm (1/4") ply, I painted the numbers on with some black oil based paint and then coated both sides of the tags with boiled linseed oil to give them a bit of protection from the weather. 

I then went and tied these round the garden and realised that the planting plan I'd already drawn up (on the computer luckily) was the wrong way round so needed changing, that's why I've not shared it with you all yet!

The girls and I managed to plant some potatoes today as well, it's a nice first early variety called rocket which will be good with a salad, I know it's still early but I plan to use one of my hooped  frames covered with plastic to make a mini polytunnel. Only one bed planted with them so far - bed 13 - unlucky for some!

Who else numbers their veg beds like this?

Anyone else got their spuds in yet?

For The Love Of Squash

I love squash, it's one  one of my all time favourite vegetables as I many of you know.

I love it almost as much as these guys! 

What this video and I can guarantee it'll make you smile! 

Let me know which veg you love so much you could sing about it (don't worry I don't expect a music video like these guys!)

Children Picking Veg For Dinner

Although I've not been able to get into the garden as much as I would like lately I have been enjoying seeing the girls in the garden picking stuff for tea.

Our back garden is like a building site at the moment, it'll look much better next year! 

 These are pictures from Monday when they went to pick the veg for a tea, My wife said she's not had to pod a single bean yet, they love sitting there and podding them all and then eating them a little while later once cooked. 

So proud of their pickings. 

They did make me laugh last night when my wife had to do an extra vegetable with tea, because while she was picking some herbs they were pulling up carrots on their own! I love the fact they know which were carrots just by looking at their leaves (they're only two and four). 

Carrots harvested by themselves! 

My eldest was also making me proud the other night when we were at my brothers and she was naming all the herbs and strawberry plants on his patio. 

It's amazing how much they know already! 

Don't let these girls into your garden if you want any veggies left! 

First Kohlrabi

 I harvested our first kohlrabi this week. I've never grown or eaten it before so I was keen to try it. 

The seeds were brought from the real seed catalogue and they germinated and grew well - like most brassicas do in fact.  

I started them off in cells and then planted them out in the garden a few months ago. They've grown well and not suffered from pests much at all even though I didn't bother to net them (too early for cabbage whites I think).

Good sized - not too big

To cook them I peeled, chopped and steamed them before roasting them in the oven for 45 minutes. 

Growing

I served them with some home made savoury rice and chopped pork covered in paprika. A really great meal and I'll certainly be growing kohlrabi again. 

Low maintenance, fast growing and tasty - what's not to like? 

Does anyone else grow this odd looking veg? What are your thoughts on it?

Kitchen Garden Tour - May

I had intentions to do these videos once a month but it hasn't happened. I'll try to do them over the summer months to give myself a record of what's growing. 

Hopefully the video gives you a good feel for what's going on in my kitchen garden, next time I'll include Long Furrows as well.

Sorry if it's still shaky - it must just be how I am! 

Let me know what you think.

Veg & Fruit Garden Tour - Video

I thought I'd do a little walking tour of my garden so you'll have to excuse my goofy voice and silly hat! 

there's much I've missed off this video but it gives a good feel for the garden. When I say "next year" I mean this year but next growing season, otherwise I just sound stupid! If people like the video I could do more - let me know what you think!

Celeriac - love or hate (or indifferent)?

I grew some celeriac for the first time this year. 

My mum got me some young plants from a plant sale so I stuck them in next to my leeks and they've been growing happily since the spring.

 Just lately I've started to use them and I must say that it's a difficult vegetable to fall in love with. There seems to be a lot of waste from the roots, the slugs have been at them as well, so I've had to cut quite a bit away inside leaving a lot in the sink - although this may be to do with the fact I've just left them in the ground until now and they might have been best lifted and stored somewhere

. To be honest I'm just not a very big fan of celery and that's essentially what they are - the smell puts me off! 

On the other hand when I've been adding them to stews it has given over a really nice flavour and they help to bulk out a stew and add another vegetable to it so it can't be bad for us.

I did buy some seeds to grow my own this coming year but now I'm in two minds. I know space isn't that much of an issue with me, but it is another vegetable to look after all year, although growing a few probably wouldn't hurt.

What's everyone's opinion on celeriac? 

More Unusual Seeds Ordered And Thoughts On Hybrids

I know I shouldn't be buying things for the garden so close to Christmas but I decided that there was no way anyone was going to buy me these - Yacon, Oca And Fat Baby Achocha! Tubers and seeds to get planting next year. 

I'm blaming James Wongs book and Dawn's blog the other day for showing me her Oca harvest (view Dawn's post here) for buying these and a few more!

I found a small seed growing company on the internet that sold Oca and after reading a bit about them decided I really liked their ethos. They're called the The Real Seed Catalogue and they've got loads of interesting and unusual seeds for sale and none of it is hybrids or modified. In fact they send instructions with every pack so you can save your own seed and not have to buy from them again! 

They don't sell a large selection of each type of vegetable, just ones they grow and know work well for them and ones they think taste good.

Their site is really interesting and I think you should all check it out regardless of where you live. There's instructions on there for saving all sorts of seeds, how to stop cross pollination or to cross pollinate to create new stains (for squash and others) and how to build a seed cleaner with free plans.

They also talk a little about the terminology used by seed catalogues and how to read between the lines. Phrases like "Good For Freezing" mean that it all ripens at one time so it can be mechanically harvested and we'll be left with a glut, the other they picked out was "straight long shanks" usually means 'bred to fit the packing machine".  I had a look in a seed catalogue as I was writing this and found one straight away "excellent fruit uniformity" not much use for me but the seed producers have bred it for the supermarket where uniformity counts and taste is a secondary concern. 

Up until a while ago I guess I always thought that having F1's (hybrids) seeds was a good thing but the more I think about it the more it means we're being controlled by someone else, and having to buy new seed year after year. I will post about my seed swap soon to anyone that's still interested, I haven't many types to offer but they're tasty! 

What does everyone else think about F1's and hybrids?

We Need Some Cold!

My brassicas are looking so good in the garden, I'm really proud of them this year. 

But I looked a little closer and I could see that my hungry gap crop, purple sprouting broccoli, was doing a little too well! 

It had started to produce the flower buds that we eat about 5 months early! I'm gutted really, although we'll still enjoy eating it, as it's a crop that is perfect for when there is little else about. 

I put it in no early than any other year, but it's been such a good year for growing that it seems to have run away with itself! I could do with a good cold snap now to slow everything else down.

Anyone else had crops when they shouldn't this year?

This Years Squash Harvest

This years squash harvest has been particularly good and on Sunday Ev and me set about collecting them all up. I wasn't disappointed with the numbers!

A good number harvested! Should keep us going for a while!

All of these squash were grown in two 4ft by 10ft beds (although they do spread everywhere) with sweetcorn growing between them. I put down plenty of manure before planting but I only watered them when I put the plants in, which I started from seed in the greenhouse and I never fed them all season. 

I grew ones with smaller fruits this year as large ones have a habit of getting way too big, although some of these have gone the other way! One or two should make a good meal for our little family though.

These small ones have a really tough skin so they should keep well

 I've been talking to a number of bloggers lately about growing the staples we eat and the numbers we need to support us. I know I'm always going on about how wonderful squash are but I think we underestimate how important these veg were before the potato. 

The bigger ones on another bench

 We've got a great supply now that should see us well into the hungry gap, although I need to find somewhere to store them all first.

How has everyone else done with squash this year?

Preserving Sweetcorn - Drying

The Freezer is full. I long to have our large chest freezer back but we have nowhere dry with power  to keep it, so I'm having to look at other methods of preserving any gluts we've got at the moment.

Trying with five corn on the cobs to start with

 The sweetcorn is tasting amazing at the moment, We all love the stuff but I planted far more than we need and I want to catch it while it's still sweet and not gone too starchy. Ideally freezing the whole cobs would probably be the tastiest way to preserve them, but like I said we've no space for that at the moment, so I decided to try drying them with our old polish food dryer.

Blanching them for 7-8 minutes to start with

All the corn is cut off the cob and spread out to dry on the trays

8 hours later the corns have all dried up

Sealed in a kilner jar for when we next want them, they should keep along time like this

The dried corns still taste super sweet when you have a chew on them, they should keep ages like this and five cobs worth takes up very little space. I'm not 100% sure what we'll use them for, I'm guessing we can rehydrate them and use them in stews and I did read that you can make really tasty fritters from them as well. 

Hopefully next year I'm going to grow popcorn as well as I fancy having some home grown snacks, although they'll have to be some distance from my sweetcorn so they don't cross pollinate. Does anyone else grow much sweetcorn and popcorn and how do you preserve it?

A Low Meat Summer

I always used to joke with guests that there was a vegetarian option in our house - they could #@$* off!

But our ideas on food have been changing a lot lately. 

We've not been basing our meals around the item of meat we have with it. Instead we've been looking at what vegetables we've got and going from there. The internet is great for ideas, as are other blogs and recipe books.  

So now when we sit down for tea we're not saying it's such-and-such meat with veg for tea, we're making a much bigger deal about he veg we're using. 

It's been a great few months eating like this, although I'm not sure our butcher would agree.

What's everyone's favourite vegetarian meal?  Mine is either my wife's tomato tatin (posted on here last week) or a peach and chickpea curry from "A girl called Jack" cookbook.