Autumnal Veg Box

Put together a veg box for a friend this week. 

I really was pleased with the colours and the selection.

Clockwise from left to right:

Celeriac,

Lovage,

Patty Pan Summer Squash,

Swiss Chard,

Carrots,

Florence Fennel,

Globe Artichokes,

Tomatilos,

I love how much is available this time of year! 

What would be in your dream box for October?

Escape Artist

The boy has one goal at the moment - to get outside! 

I'm having to lock doors, otherwise he quietly slip his boots on and goes off to see all the chickens, tractors, diggers and sheep. 

Round here is a little boys dream, so he obviously just wants to be outside! Just wish he'd let me know when he goes! 

Garden Club Talks

I did my first paid garden club talk on Tuesday last week.

It went really well and I received great feedback.

I did the talk on unusual fruit, veg and herbs - something I know lots about! 

I got the audience guessing and trying lots of different things, had funny anecdotes to tell along with 30 slides to guess what each one was. I'd also made up some sauce and brought in a some different herbs, flowers and leaves to try. 

Afterwards I had lots of questions as well as people coming to chat after the talk which was really nice and welcoming. 

Doing this public speaking type thing is something I wouldn't have considered before I did my first talk at Hellens but I actually really enjoy it, and although I'm a little nervous before I go on stage the nerves soon disappear, especially as I felt really well prepared and practiced for it. 

I also did an assembly at my wife's school on Friday, a very different audience - 400 children! it went well and although it certainly wasn't as slick as my garden club talk, the children seemed to enjoy it (even though I spilt a bag of wheat on the floor!). 

I think I certainly need to work on my speed of delivery (I talk far to fast in life anyway and I'm worse when I'm on stage!), but I'm sure that will come with practice. 

So I'm going to start putting my name down for being a garden club speaker or for the WI and see how it goes. I've already got another talk booked in February next year on unusual veg again and one for preserving the following autumn, hopefully this will be a way to help make all the gardening I do pay for itself! 

Anyone on here do any public speaking?

What's your tip for the top?

Harvest Festival Assembly

So the deputy Head at my wife's school (she's a teacher not a pupil) has asked me to do a 15 minute assembly on what harvest means to me and why it has been celebrated for so long. 

The school is non religious, so I won't be focusing on religious festivals or any particular faith, more what it means to people in the real world when the harvest is brought in. 

So what would you include in this assembly? 

What does a safe harvest mean to you?

Do you have any interesting harvest stories?

Growing This Plant Can Land You In Trouble

Don't worry, it's not what you think!

Although everyone who comes for a tour round my garden thinks it is and comments on this plant growing quite unsubtly in the back ground. 

You see, apparently, it has certain resemblance to another plant that is quite illegal to grow in this country. But I promise you it's not! One smell will confirm it! 

It's a Peruvian Black Mint, also called "Huacatay", Latin name Tagetes Minuta. Apparently in the climate it grows it can become a weeds (nick named Stinking Roger) but I've yet to have it set seed here so I plant it each time as a annual, an annual that grows up to eight feet high in a season. In fact this year I just planted it in a bed with no compost or recently added manure and it's still eight feet tall!  

So why do I grow it? 

Besides making everyone question what I'm growing, and which side of the law I grow on that is...

It makes an amazing sauce.

Huacatay Sauce (or my take on it)

Take a massive handful of this plant (I tend to pick all the young tips), a clove of garlic, a couple of chillies, a pinch of salt, juice of a lime and enough oil to make a sauce. 

Blend them all together and adjust for taste. 

I think in the original recipe you're meant to add a sprig of mint and use certain chillies but I just use Cayenne's as that's what I've got growing here and I forgot the mint!

I made some up last night to have on top of some homemade Mutton burgers I'd made and froze earlier in the year. Spicy, minty and savoury it's the perfect sauce to have on lamb or mutton or anything really! 

I love it and I think it's certainly worth growing the plant for.

Anyone else here grow it?

Is there a plant you grow just to make one thing that you might only have a few times a year?