50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

ceridwen

Just thought - people might like to view those two blogs I mentioned by a couple of people who are trying to grow food in weensy/teeny little places ...

http://www.eightsquaremetres.com/tag/microgardening

http://greensandberries.squarespace.com/welcome/

twinkle_star_2

Hello ISOM - yes I am a librarian and I'm a bit of a library obsessive as I seem to spend my free time in libraries too!

Ceridwen - thought you might like this link http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/ - sustainable living on 1/5th of an acre!

I'm going to try cooking this recipe later and I think it's really frugal. Will be serving it with garlicky spring greens (also bargainous at this time of the year). My OH is very keen to try it as the word 'mung' makes him laugh. :rolleyes:

Khichdi (mung beans and rice):

• 200g brown basmati rice, soaked for 2 hours (unsoaked cooks longer)
• 150g green mung beans, soaked overnight
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons each: ground coriander and cumin
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 600-800 ml water, and maybe more as needed
• sea salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons of vegan margarine
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Heat the oil and fry the mustard seeds until they start to pop. Then add the chopped ginger and for a few seconds, followed by coriander and cumin, being careful not to burn. Next, add the rice and the beans along with about 600ml of hot water and the turmeric, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and let the stew simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes. Add a little bit of water as needed, but not too much - it shouldn't be a soupy stew.
When the rice is soft, remove the pot from heat, and add in the margarine, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Stir stew briskly with a ladle for a few minutes to mash some of the beans and make it a bit creamier, and then it is ready to be served.

ceridwen

Hi twinklestar

Thanks for the link. Yep - I do like it - I have it on the blogroll on my gardening blog. They have a 9 minute odd video clip on YouTube which features their garden and is one of my sources of inspiration. Of course - the other one is our own Mrs Mcawber - with all her containers of various foods growing in her garden in Germany....

Mrs M's blog is:

http://potioappotment.blogspot.com/

gotta mention that now havent I? - having nagged/wheedled/sweetly cajoled - well...okays then...other words might be used for it to entice her to do a blog in t'first place....

In_Search_Of_Me

oo twinkle star am now wondering (esp in view of your user name!) whether you are my lovely librarian where I live...maybe if you pm which branch you work in and I pm you my real name we'll suss that we know each other...or even if I said that my lovely local librarian let me in early one day and jokingly told me to foff you'll know who I am?!! How exciting...I love books (as weezl will confirm) and my idea of heaven in borders in llantrisant... thousands of books and chai tea all in one place!

In_Search_Of_Me

ceridwen am wonderin whether I could do lots of pots with herbs inside...will investigate! I have 3 little ones but recon that I may be able to do bigger ones! Are ya gonna photo your pots...seeing as youre encouraging everyone else to!! Sorry that the film was such a mare...back to the [STRIKE]wine:beer:[/STRIKE] drawingboard then?...

COOLTRIKERCHICK

twinkle_star wrote: »

Hello ISOM - yes I am a librarian and I'm a bit of a library obsessive as I seem to spend my free time in libraries too!

Ceridwen - thought you might like this link http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/ - sustainable living on 1/5th of an acre!

I'm going to try cooking this recipe later and I think it's really frugal. Will be serving it with garlicky spring greens (also bargainous at this time of the year). My OH is very keen to try it as the word 'mung' makes him laugh. :rolleyes:

Khichdi (mung beans and rice):

• 200g brown basmati rice, soaked for 2 hours (unsoaked cooks longer)
• 150g green mung beans, soaked overnight
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons each: ground coriander and cumin
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 600-800 ml water, and maybe more as needed
• sea salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons of vegan margarine
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Heat the oil and fry the mustard seeds until they start to pop. Then add the chopped ginger and for a few seconds, followed by coriander and cumin, being careful not to burn. Next, add the rice and the beans along with about 600ml of hot water and the turmeric, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and let the stew simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes. Add a little bit of water as needed, but not too much - it shouldn't be a soupy stew.
When the rice is soft, remove the pot from heat, and add in the margarine, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Stir stew briskly with a ladle for a few minutes to mash some of the beans and make it a bit creamier, and then it is ready to be served.

i float back and for and read this thread, but i really do need to make sure i keep reading..lol..

i noticed on the urbanhomstead blog that they have a shopping list of the essentials that they only buy, has anyone got a list like this on file ?

if so could i have a copy, so i could tweak it for our family shopping.

as i have noticed that i am going a bit awol again with my impulse buys:cool:

ceridwen

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

ceridwen am wonderin whether I could do lots of pots with herbs inside...will investigate! I have 3 little ones but recon that I may be able to do bigger ones! Are ya gonna photo your pots...seeing as youre encouraging everyone else to!! Sorry that the film was such a mare...back to the [STRIKE]wine:beer:[/STRIKE] drawingboard then?...

Actually I couldnt do a photo to save my life - and havent got anything remotely resembling a camera - the thing itself or a cameraphone (mine is the simplest possible mobile one could get). Not that it would make a lot of odds if I had one - as figuring out the technology to get it online would be my idea of difficult...technophobe as I am.

Dont see why you shouldnt do lots of little pots with herbs inside - people often tend to advocate buying ready-done pots from the supermarket and potting them on. I've tried to grow basil from seed a coupla times and nowt whatsoever has happened - I gather it may be because I havent been watering it from the bottom....will try again at some point.

I'm majoring in assorted salad leaves - out back now I've got:
- mixed spicy salad leaves (they seem to have been definitely the most successful/easy to grow - that, despite the packet being several years old)
- rocket
- lettuce
- onions
- beetroot
- strawberries
- my coupla miniature fruit trees
- perpetual spinach
- geraniums (yep - they're edible - the petals are anyway and its a good bit of companion planting for my tomatoes I gather)
- nasturtiums
- three types of tomatoes
- peppers
- a jalapeno pepper
- a courgette plant
- a tomatillo plant
- pea asparagus plants (think that twas name?)
- lemon balm (hoping for a bit of drinkable herb tea)
- a comfrey plant
- a mint plant (species unknown - I'm hoping its peppermint - thinking tea again)

Still "cheating" a bit at the moment - and some of this was bought as plug plants - rather than grown on from seed. Early days - I'll get there...


Still very much trial and error here chez ceridwen - ooh...whoops...think I mighta planted some stuff too close together.....:o

You wanna see how much I'm planning on growing when I get going seriously! Only shame is I havent got a decent patch of land - otherwise it would be a case of "dont put it past ceridwen to start experimenting to work out most time-effective way of growing cereals/beans/nut trees" - errrmm....nope..on second thoughts...make that forest gardening. I'd love a forest garden....I gather that once they are established they take only a few hours a week?/a month? to produce LOADSA food - much more than any other form of gardening/farming and much more attractive and much greater diversity of species. Whats not to like in other words?

ceridwen

Anticipating the next question. Heres a You Tube clip about forest gardening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7f8NCh3s8c

taka

Herbs can definitely be grown indoors!

Basil is about the only thing I can grow! :rolleyes: The 1st time I tried to grow it I planted a bit too many seeds and wound up with basil plants on every windowsill in my flat. :eek: I ran out of room and tables near windows to put them on so wound up taking half of then into work where they took over the break room too - I think I supplied my entire department with basil that summer. :rotfl: I never thought I could be sick of basil but I certainly managed it then!

Corriander, however, hates me with a passion and never lasts longer than a couple of weeks.

In_Search_Of_Me

C could you not get an allotment?