Heads up

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Slowvelder

Some of you may remember that I was rather stressed about my brassicas not performing in the vegetable bed. They were growing very well but not making heads. Around that time I made a new friend who is a veggie farmer who kept on urging me to just wait. I read up about them and decided that I would have to pull them all up and start again. I was again urged to just wait.

My new friend came to visit me recently, and walked into my veggie garden and yanked a complete broccoli plant out of the ground. I nearly hit him over the head!

He showed me where I had J-rooted the plant but kindly (and probably because he saw my face) replanted the plant in the same spot. I did not hold out much hope for it though.

Well today I can announce that my brassicas all have heads and I will be getting some cauliflowers, broccoli and cabbage. Yay!

Some pictures from the beds

As you can see – I am loving my new camera. So many new things in my life right now. This is good. 🙂

Harvesting

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Slowvelder

Starting to eat more and more of my garden. I have the brassica blues though. I think they are all going to bolt without heads. Any tips?

amaDumbe

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Slowvelder

Recently, my friend Vanessa and her husband Gavin sent me some strange looking brown tubers in a parcel (full of other lovely goodies for me too). They turned out to be amaDumbe, or more commonly known as Madumbi here in South Africa, or as Taro elsewhere.

amaDumbe
Scientific name: Colocasia esculenta

This ‘‘potato of the tropics’’, amaDumbe (Colocasia esculenta) is found all over the world in subtropical regions and is cooked much like a yam. amaDumbe, originated in
Oceania and South East Asia. It was spread by human settlers eastward to
New Guinea and the Pacific over 2000 years ago, where
it became one of the most important food plants economically and culturally. It is believed that amaDumbe has been cultivated for over 6000 years.

The mature corms and young shoots of amaDumbe are mostly used as boiled vegetables, but the corms are also roasted, baked, or fried. Roasted or boiled corms can be eaten alone or with stew. amaDumbe corms are very rich in starch and they are a good source of dietary fibre.

I got six tubers in my parcel and instead of popping them into the oven, I have planted them so that I can harvest many more in 8-10 months time.

The plant looks just like an elephant ear and the young shoots and leaves are also edible. I hope they grow.

It’s all about food…..

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Slowvelder

Everything I have been doing lately is all about food and it has been so much fun. My first batch of vegetables are finally planted. This has been two years in the planning so it’s a big thing for me. They are all safe and sound, away from browsing animals and the baking sun in their little cool cloth house. I made raised beds using recycled broken vegetable crates with shade cloth liners.

Functional but not very pretty. I will be cutting off all the excess cloth to neaten things up a bit.

My whole food healthy eating plan is continuing well and I am feeling a difference already. yesterday we had this super fritata for breakfast

and made some homemade cold drink using rosella flowers and lemon grass. It turns bright red once it has been in the fridge for an hour or two, sweetened with a touch of honey and absolutely delicious.

so much food on my mind, I even painted a cabbage 🙂

This painting is one of six macro paintings I am doing to hang as a group in my kitchen. They are on stretched canvas so will not need to be framed. I have also completed one of a slice of lemon but I am not happy with it.

I wonder how many other people have ever painted a cabbage 🙂