Kale buds, cabbage buds and Lucky (our dehydrator)
I had no idea that you could eat kale buds until Margaret Thorsom who writes this blog alerted me to the fact on a comment on my latest purple sprouting broccoli post. They are absolutely delicious and we are mixing them with our PSB. And Margaret Thorsom’s blog is pretty good too – she is a weaver and crafter and her husband is a vegetable farmer using hoop houses. I’d love a hoop house – they are really nifty. I’d also like to make rag rugs in the future when normal energy returns. Yesterday I spotted that a lot of the cabbages...
read moreDehydrator update and The Waiting Room game
Our cheap and basic dehydrator continues to delight us. I’m reaping the rewards of dehydrating fruit and vegetables when they were on offer or marked down on the CFC. As all the chopping and preparation has been done prior to dehydrating a slow cooked meal can be prepared very quickly. This week I had to go for blood tests. I think that the doctors in Newmarket might be suffering from blood testitus as the clinic is always packed and you have to arrive early to get in the queue. I wanted to make our slow cooked skirt of beef stew but...
read moreTales of a busy dehydrator: Experimenting with rehydrating food
“Can I eat any of this food when it’s fresh or does it all have to be dehydrated?” Danny examined the bulging carrier bags carefully. I’ve been discovering the delights of buying fruit and vegetables on offer to dry for use later in the year. This will have an enormous impact on our food bills and will guarantee that we have the best seasonal foods available all year. We’ve also been dehydrating a lot of our own tomatoes, summer squashes, apples and pears. So for the first year ever there’s no waste. It makes fast work of drying...
read moreTales of a busy dehydrator: Celery
Well the Westfalia Food Dehydrator finally arrived from Germany. It took two weeks rather than the ten days stipulated on the website but it is the cheapest dehydrator on the market and I’m thrilled with it. OK it’s a very basic model with no temperature control. It’s marketed as being perfect for the beginner. More advanced dehydrator folk run machines built like tanks and called Excalibur. I hadn’t even considered home dehydrating until I read about them on various American websites. Dehydrate2Store.com has loads of web videos...
read moreIt’s my seventh week off work. Discovering great blogs and dehydrators.
I’ve been put on a two week course of antibiotics as the last course didn’t clear the kidney infection and I’ve finally been referred for a scan. Still in bed for most of the day, feeling peaky. I do get up in the afternoons and potter about. So I’ve had the chance to do much more harvesting this year. I’ve developed a new plum chutney recipe, a good mango chutney and a tasty chow-chow (piccalilli). The recipes for the last two will appear on the site shortly. Being home alone has meant that I have been visiting more sites and...
read moreWe are now the proud owners of a Kelly Kettle
Suddenly at the Milton Keynes get together, Jean and Roy (aka Gottaknit and Seth) stepped forward and offered me a large mysterious object – wrapped in a dustbin liner with a very tight knot. “Here is a late birthday present Fiona. You’ll need this on the allotment!” The package was bulky. As I struggled to open the parcel I wondered what was inside. I could feel cardboard and something hard. Could it be metal? Some sort of feeder? Imagine my delight when I finally peeped inside the box and found a Kelly Kettle lying on a nest of twigs...
read moreI long for a courgette/zucchini glut
I used to agree with Gilbert. Courgettes just didn’t appeal. Perhaps it was an overdose of badly cooked ratatouille back in the seventies – the new craze in the UK at the time. “It’s the French method for vegetables.” The hostess would chortle. Back then I was certain that the French would be enraged that this concoction could be claimed to be a cross channel influence. It was vile. Almost enough to put off a vegetarian from being vegetarian. A similar experience forced Gilbert to ban courgettes, along with their beefier relations...
read morePlotting, planning and planting for a future
“You’ve been led astray by Mark Diacono.” “No. He’s just shown me new ways of investing in our future!” There’s no sensible repost to that. If being led astray means that we have harvests of great edibles in the future, count me in. Gilbert agrees. At the moment he’s doing the same, buying trees, fruit canes and shrubs to fill the gaps in their range of fruit. He’s also bought some nut trees as they are a great source of protein. Nuts will have to wait until next year for me as the coffers are not quite as full as I’d...
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