May 2019

First salad of 2019 harvested & recipe

Picked our first spinach, rocket and crinkled cress yesterday.

Yummy and fresh.

Now they may look like they are on top of a pile of goo – and it is a pile of goo – but it is very good goo which is meant to look prettier but I cooked it for too long. It is meant to look like this:

(From Banyan Botanicals Website — thank you)

It is kitchari – a traditional Ayurvedic recipe which is meant to be gentle and nourishing for the digestive system. Kitchari, which literally means mixture, is a blend of rice and usually spilt lentils with spices and an assortment of vegetables of choice. A one-pot dish, kitchari originates from Asia and has references dating back thousands of years. The use of spices and vegetables can produce balancing effects for the three bodily dosas in Ayurvedic medicine. Rice and mung dal together create a balanced food that is a good protein combination and is tridoshic. This complete food is easy to digest and gives strength and vitality and nourishes all the tissues of the body.

There are many different recipes with variations and this is just one recipe that I have tried from Banyan Botanicals. It is surprisingly quick and easy to prepare. It can be frozen if needed but best eaten fresh.

Kitchari 

(Serves 4)

• 1/2cup yellow mung dal
• 1 cup rice
• 2tbsp ghee/ coconut oil
• 1tsp black mustard seeds
• 1tsp cumin seeds
• 1 small pinch of asafoetida (hing) powder
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• 1tsp coriander powder
• 4 thin slices fresh root ginger
• 6 cups of water
• 1-2 cups of vegetables (e.g. sweet potato, courgettes (zucchini), squash, celery, carrot, beetroot etc.) cut into small bite-sized pieces
• Fresh herbs to top, optional

1. Soak the dal overnight in water. Drain.
2. In a non-stick pan, warm the ghee/coconut oil. Add all of the spices an sauté for a minute or two. Add the rice and dal and sauté like a pilau for a couple more minutes. Add 6 cups of water and bring to the boil.
3. Cover and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes until the rice and dal is cooked.
4. Add the vegetables half way through the cooking process, stir and allow to slowly cook for the remaining time.
5. Add more water if needed. From Banyan Botanicals: Typically, kitchari is the consistency of a vegetable stew as opposed to a broth. A thinner consistency is preferable if your digestion is weak. You will notice that kitchari will thicken when it cools and you may need more water than you originally thought.

A good vegetable stew that can us homegrown produce. Enjoy!

https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/ayurvedic-living/living-ayurveda/diet/how-to-make-kitchari/

https://www.ayurveda.com/recipes/kitchari

 

Blueberry Lemon Cake

Come on summer…

Blueberry Lemon Cake

-225g granulated sugar -2tbsp lemon juice -180g plain flour -2tsp baking powder -Pinch of salt – 1/2 cup of milk -1/2tsp vanilla essence -3 large eggs -1tbsp lemon juice -1/2 cup vegetable oil -300g blueberries -1/4tsp plain flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 20cm/9inch deep circular baking tin with baking parchment.
2. Mix the sugar and the lemon juice together. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Mix in the milk along with the vanilla essence. Then mix in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice and the vegetable oil.
4. When it has mixed well, add the blueberries with the 1/4tsp of plain flour and gently mix in.
5. Scrape into the baking tin and bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 1hr or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6. Leave on a wire rack to cool in the tin before turning out the cake onto the wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Farnham in Bloom – space2grow 2018

Hello blog. I’m sorry it has been a while but I’ve been busy with university and been spending hardly any time in the garden.

But I wanted to let you know the exciting news about space2grow’s triumph at the Farnham in Bloom awards last week.

Just to catch you up incase you don’t know: space2grow was established in September 2017, a year ago, as a charity garden offering mental support through horticulture for anyone, old, young, people who wanted to interact or take a break from the world, to people with addictions. A year on and the original six of us from the steering group have been joined by 30-40 volunteers.

In July we were judged by Farnham in Bloom. As we had only been running for less than a year, we were not expecting much (except Corin, who was wearing his lucky shirt on awards night). We were awarded an Advancing award in South East in Bloom a week or two previously, but as Farnham is our charity’s location, we were very excited about this awards night. A mixture of volunteers and steering group members turned up on Thursday night at the awards and we were very happy and surprised to be awarded an Excellent for a community project, but to also be the first group to be awarded the brand new Madge Green Community Award.

Madge Green was a influential gardener part of Farnham in Bloom who sadly passed away last year and this award has been set up in her honour.

We had our pictures with the mayor and everyone was really kind to us, telling us how impressed they were with what we have achieved.

So here is to space2grow, starting its second year as a triple-award charity.

Hip, hip, hooray!

Excellent award for a community garden

The Madge Green Community Gardening Award

Check out the official website: https://www.space2grow.space

Update continued…

In my last post I got very excited about making my first preserved chopped tomatoes from our homegrown crop. I will end that little story by saying I used them in a homemade paneer curry last night and it was great – along with homegrown onion, garlic, coriander seeds and mustard seeds in it, and homegrown runner beans on the side, of course. Here is a link to my paneer recipe if you need it, part of my old cucumber post —> Cucumbers

Now that the rain has settled in … 😦 I’ve had lots of time to catch up on making preserves. Spent a busy Friday making two batches of strawberry jam and a chutney – recipe coming soon!

 

But I took the chance yesterday to snap some quick pictures of the garden in the sun before the rain came back and would love to share some with you. Below is a picture of our William red rose. It is the most prolific yet at the moment. I counted 7 flowers and another 8 buds getting ready to open the other day. This after mostly just 3 at a time for the last couple of years. It shows how good feeding a rose is… It is a beautiful, delicious smelling rose I highly recommend.

Next up we have the sweetcorn. It has grown so tall this year – taller than me, which isn’t saying much, but that makes it over 5’3… They have been loving the summer and he sprinkler and are looking really good. Next test will be to see if they have produced any kernels…

I grew most of my tomatoes indoors this year, which I always do because the English weather is often rubbish, but we do always get a few rogue plants in the compost we spread outside. These often come to nothing but this year they are laden with fruit and look stunning!

Below is a photo of the one chickpea plant that decided to germinate. The little brown pods are the beginning of what will hopefully turn into an actual chickpea being grown. Fingers crossed.

Runner beans are doing very well, but I’m going to have to start using a ladder.

Pumpkin!

The other huge plant this year was the courgettes. The actual plants were whopping in size. I should have taken a photo earlier when they looked even more striking, but I got one now to remind myself in the future that courgettes need space!

That’s all for now. Hope you all have a glorious twelfth – oh, fun fact, it is international elephant day on 12th August every year.

 

Update: August 2018

Finally had a little rain which will help the newly planted lettuces settle in nicely today.

I’m so proud. I finally made a homemade version of tinned tomatoes.

 

It has been a dream for a long time. I use tinned tomatoes from the shop so often and I was feeling very guilty. It is so easy to make at home, and yet I have never tried it!

Finally did it today, so I can cross that off my bucket list 😉

Garden is surviving – too many beans to pick 😦 Did not get a lot achieved this week as I ended up helping my mum fix the road (long story) and getting lost on a dog walk with my siblings and carrying a heavy beagle back to the car (long story).

Aren’t these peppers cute? The orange one is a plant donated by a friend of my mum’s so I had to take a picture for him.

And look at this giant onion!

So it is my birthday weekend coming up and to celebrate good old 23, my newest book is available free on Amazon for 3 days, so go check it out.

Happy gardening everybody.

Courgettes, courgettes… update

So it has FINALLY rained.

I don’t like rain, but I am actually happy it is here because it has been weeks without a drop and I am relieved to be given a night off from watering the parched plants.

So as you may have guessed from the title, we have a fridge full of courgettes (zucchini). They are going in everything I am cooking at the moment, such as my dinner from tonight, dahl. For the recipe, check out my Courgettes page, Carrot and Courgette Dahl.

Eaten with, of course, runner beans, and some kale. Using homegrown onion, garlic and mustard seeds as part of the spice base.

Runner beans: froze two bags today, cooked one container that I picked today for dinner tonight, and have another whole container to do tomorrow… before picking the next lot. Does anyone else feel like they have suddenly become blind while picking beans and always seem to miss some that turn into GIANT beans?

Bought a new bean slicer to replace the old one we broke which is making life a little simpler again. Anyone else tried standing there for over an hour slicing runner beans with a knife? I could not move my legs they got such bad cramp…

Pumpkins are beginning to grow – exciting!

Picked the few raspberries that are growing at the moment along with blueberries and wineberries today to eat with homemade cookies and cream ice cream for dessert (recipe on my other blog, here: https://bellasbakingsite.wordpress.com/2018/07/27/cookies-and-cream-ice-cream/ ).

And to top off the day, it was nice to see and get a photo of something other than squirrels at the bird feeders… A nice woodpecker instead.

 

A Jammy Week – update

It has been a week of making preserves here.

Mum made her jostaberry (gooseberry and blackcurrant cross) jam.

I’ve just made blackcurrant jam and more raspberry.

Recipe: Raspberry Jam      Recipe: Blackcurrant Jam

Not much has been going on in the veg patch as time has been taken up with watering and picking, again. The raspberries are nearly over, the strawberries have finished. Now we are onto harvesting potatoes, runner beans and courgette/ zucchini by the bucket-load.

Also picked this week beetroot, broadbeans, cucumber, lettuce, rocket, spinach, first tomatoes, blueberries, blackcurrants, loganberries, boysenberries, jostaberries, redcurrants, onion, garlic.

A much of ALL homegrown produce – cucumber, lettuce, rocket, spinach, potatoes, broadbeans and beetroot. Self-sufficient! 

Bad news is the birds are still being pesky. We have quite a few pairs of blackbirds taking up residence in the acre. They already stripped the morello cherry by sneaking under the netting and stripped a blackcurrant bush yesterday that got exposed. They are not very good at sharing…

Slugs and snails – touch wood – have not been trouble lately due to the hot dry weather but almost had a heart attack when I nearly stepped on a grass snake when I was locking up the other day.

And finally, celebrated my sister’s 20th with a homemade cake which I have to share because it has unicorns on it…

To get the recipe, check it out here — https://bellasbakingsite.wordpress.com/2018/07/18/sachertorte/

Have a good week, everyone!

Update July 2018 – plus recipe!

This week in the world of fruit and veg…

Globe Artichokes donated for the pet pigs by a friend are flowering in the heat wave. Aren’t they just stunning?

Most prolific aubergine plants we’ve had! They are getting bigger…

Same for the peppers. One is starting to turn red.

Last of the strawberries is approaching, but the start of the blueberries. 

From our summer squash mixed seed collection we have Grisette de Provence (front), Di Nizza (circular shaped one) and a Defender courgette/zucchini underneath which was delicious in the recipe at the bottom of the page…

Homegrown Golden Zucchini and a green Defender 

PICKED FIRST RUNNER BEANS OF THE YEAR YESTERDAY. EXCITING.

First homegrown beetroot of the year harvested for lunch yesterday – grated on top of avocado on toast, yum. Bolthardy beetroot variety, very good.

Mum picked lots of jostaberries yesterday. I’ve been converted to liking them stewed.

Due to lack of freezer space, I spent a glorious summer day making raspberry jam and then another day making redcurrant jelly (above). 

Yesterday’s dinner using homegrown onion, garlic, courgette/zucchini, oregano and runner beans. Tomatoes not quite ready yet… Recipe below!

Courgette/ Zucchini Passata Sauce 

(Serves 6)

-Olive oil, for frying (a generous amount) -1 large onion, finely sliced -2 medium sized courgettes/ zucchini, grated -2 large garlic cloves, diced -500g tomato passata (you can use tinned tomatoes but passata gives this dish a better texture) -Handful of fresh oregano leaves -1tsp dark soy sauce -1 1/4tsp Lea and Perrins Worcester sauce -500g spaghetti, cooked -250g parmesan, grated -Runner beans, cooked, to serve

1. Fry the onion in the olive oil in a deep-sided dish. Add the courgette and continue to fry until the courgette is starting to turn crispy and the onions are golden brown.
2. Add the garlic followed swiftly by the passata and an extra cup of water. Stir.
3. Tear the oregano leaves and stir them in along with the soy sauce and the Lea and Perrins. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Serve the sauce on top of cooked spaghetti with a handful of grated parmesan and some runner beans.

If you like this recipe, then you might like this one too: Recipe: Fried courgette-tomato sauce with spaghetti

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: Summer Evening

Ah, what better way to spend an afternoon in July walking the dog, having a swim and then eating homegrown and harvested courgette and peas for dinner while reading a Thomas Hardy novel?

Just the classic easy-go-to-when-can’t-be-bothered-or-am-in-a-rush meal: spaghetti, parmesan, ketchup (because ketchup is good) and the before mentioned courgette and peas.

Does anyone else find it strangely satisfying to pod peas? I feel so proud when I see the little green circles inside the pods.

So: the update for the garden is literally hosing, moving the sprinkler, picking raspberries, picking strawberries, picking raspberries, picking reducurrants, picking raspberries, picking blackcurrants, picking raspberries, planning to pick jostaberries and failing, and, yes, picking more raspberries. The strawberries are nearly over and the raspberries have taken off. Slight problem: way too many to eat, not going to stand in a kitchen and make boiling hot jam in the only heatwave in England I will ever experience in my entire life, but all of the freezers are full except for one, which is typically broken (I mean, broken since last year and still not replaced because that’s how we roll). So it means literally shoving raspberries down other people’s throats before I start tearing my hair out. And stuffing the working freezers so much that it is too dangerous to try and open the doors now.

But today I made sure I picked some redcurrants and made our instant redcurrant sauce (available here at Redcurrants) and my first mint sauce, which I will share soon, for the family’s sausages this evening.

So I haven’t really been doing any proper gardening 😦 just picking and watering.

But I did harvest and eat my first early potatoes yesterday. They were ‘Charlottes’ and they were delicious.

space2grow volunteering

Other news: the charity I’ve been helping with, space2grow, was judged two weeks ago for Farnham in Bloom. We’ve only been working since September so it was pretty amazing to already be showing it to other people and entering these community events. We aren’t getting our hopes up, but it was a great first presentation of the project.

For more information about the therapy or volunteering we offer, visit https://www.space2grow.space

All are welcome to our acre, even Sid the lab.