There has been much excitement in our home - ok well, by our home I mean Lizzie, myself and the kids - as DH is very much preoccupied with a mission to be accomplished; - our green beans, carrots, spinach and baby marrow are showing promise that maybe, just maybe, in the longterm, we'll be harvesting most of our own veg after all - infact we harvested 1 x baby marrrow today, and just like my butternut, she was A BEAUT. I am BESIDE MYSELF HAPPY, as I really always believed I could never grow ANYTHING - especially not anything remotely edible. However that said, harvesting the butternuts we grew a few months ago gave me "faith like potato's" that maybe, just maybe, I could do this, and if I couldn't, well I was certainly going to die TRYING! LOL!
From the butternut, I ventured onto lettuce, and expanded my herb garden - and the rocket, which much to my delight, took off like one!!! I couldn't believe it! So a few delicious salads and butternut bakes later, I am really trying very hard, to take it step by step and continue on this journey of going organic - slowly but surely, because that's where my heart is. A success story - magical marrows!
I wouldn't say I've always been a natural, "earthmother type", but farming, and eating and drinking "weird stuff" like chinese teas and sprouts is DEFINITELY in my family. So I guess over time, watching my mother use herbs for medicinal purposes and consume weird and wonderful things, that never killed her, I couldn't help but come around to appreciating this wonderful, wholesome approach to food and nutrition, and then came the MSG and pesticide tirade and well, the rest is HISTORY. My friend Lindiwe (Lindy) recently inspired me even more, by presenting me with a recipe book that screamed and jumped out at her off the shelf, professing to be mine, and boy oh boy has it kept me busy in the kitchen - much to my DH husbands delight! I suppose you can't blame him seeing as his mother was an INCREDIBLE Greek cook, and my sister Louise has followed in her mother's footsteps, so I figured a long time ago that I would always live in awe of these two incredibly talented women in the kitchen, and stick to ...well .....another aspect of good housekeeping...like BLOGGING! LOL!..SO boyfriend is just loving this whole, "spending hours in the kitchen making things from scratch" thingie that I've been doing - dare I say it, "like his mother used to"! EISH!
But to end off this post, I just wanted to share the synopsis from my wonderful recipe book called "Harvest - recipes from an organic farm": In a secret valley near Worcester, in the Western Cape, untouched by pollution and city rush lies a farm so heart-achingly beautiful it will compel you to reassess what life is really about. If the view doesn't mesmerize you, the lifestyle of organic farmers Christine and Mark Stevens and their two sons will get you thinking.......
Oh wow those biscuits do look yummy and always fun when the children are around to help. With mine grown up now, it is my doggies that do the bowl licking - he he cute to watch and they know to wait round my feet too!!
ReplyDeleteGlad your veggies are growing - probably taste 100 times better than from the shops.
Please send me your biscuit recipe - scrappywalker@gmail.com
Keep well, just got up here in San Francisco and off to see the sights!
B - your blogs are an inspiration..... 'you should write a book'
ReplyDeleteLove R
I am also going to try my hand at veggie gardening gf, although mine is going to be in little pots on my new verandah.....I am so inspired by Jamie Oliver's garden recipes (I think that is what it is called) and am dead keen to try and grow something I can actually eat.
ReplyDeleteIn England you get things called "veggie doctors" who will advise you on how to grow veg to sustain your family so I am busy checking out their websites for bits of advice.
xxx
A
Growing your own veggies, baking biscuits, chasing chickens... you are turning into a regular Martha Stewart my dear!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your thriving vegetable garden, I have a herb garden that I planted for DH {he LOVES cooking with fresh herbs} but you've inspired me to try my hand at growing some veggies too - watch this space... :o)