Dig for Victory - Mark II

ceridwen

Well - I guess I dont go in personally for concerns about G.D.P. or tax on goods sold or anything. I just tend to operate on the basis that there are stomachs to be filled - so lets fill them the best way we can. After all - consider the amount of money that would need to be spent on keeping "social order" if people arent even getting something as basic as a full stomach and the amount the NHS would have to spend on the resultant health problems if people arent eating adequately - not to mention that I dont wish to see someone looking at me with hungry eyes because they cant afford to eat.

RAS

mardatha wrote: »

I hate vegetables. I only eat them in soup. So apart from potatoes, is it worth my while going to all this bother, I wonder.

What's wrong with soup? Read a good soup cook book and grow stuff you want to eat as soup. And perhaps read up on disguising veggies for children to eat, then do the same thing for yourself?

Lotus-eater

mardatha wrote: »

Ok. I'm all for growing more veg here and have a biggish plot earmarked for this summer. BUT. always a but eh !
I hate vegetables. I only eat them in soup. So apart from potatoes, is it worth my while going to all this bother, I wonder. Carrots are cheap, onions I like but dont eat many of, ok a lettuce is nice in salad in summer, but for me thats it. The tomatoes I did like, they will grow inside on the windowsill. So half of me is getting all excited and Victorian Farm , and half of me is thinking oh god I now have to eat the bloody things...

So, I don't get this, why do you want to grow what you don't want to eat?

So what do you eat?

mardatha

We need to eat veggies for health, so I make a lot of soup. But apart from that I hardly eat any. Some cauliflower, some broccoli, but I dont want to try and grow them, it seems too much trouble and work. We can't dig.
I was just wondering if I was getting carried away with an idea and not the reality...
but I will do some. Carrots and spring onions and potatoes..

Primrose

Mardatha - if you don't like veggies, do you like fruit? Perhaps you would get more pleasure growing soft fruit - raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, or even have a grape vine if you have a sunny fence against which to grow it?

Larumbelle

Mardatha - I don't think there's any point in growing what you won't eat. On the other hand, my OH eats some of my homegrown that he'd never eat if it were bought from a supermarket. Brassicas spring to mind. He used to despise cabbage and sprouts with a passion, but for some reason he happily eats what I've grown. It is worth trying just a few of some of the veggies you don't eat at the moment, and seeing if your attitude towards them changes. I'm quite happy to put a little seed pack together for you

I've just been over to Ryton (Garden Organic HQ) for a Valentine's potter about with Dave. We had the place to ourselves and it was peaceful and secluded, quite romantic, really. I went a little bit mad with the seed potatoes. Oh well, I got a good deal and supported a good cause, plus they gave me some plastic baskets and hessian sacks for free as well

While I was there I picked up Home Farmer and one of their news stories was about some comments Monty Don made. I found them very interesting, I hadn't seen them before, possibly because they were made in the Mail on Sunday. I've found the article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gardening/article-1110803/Dig-way-recession-Cut-food-bills-growing-veg.html He echoes a lot of what we've discussed on this thread, I wonder if he's lurking :rotfl:

I had a fairly heated discussion at a dinner party last weekend with a casual acquaintance who believes it's our duty to spend our way out of recession. Aside from the fact that it was people spending beyond their means that caused a good deal of this crisis in the first place, I fail to see how increased spending by those already in debt or with precarious finances could ever be a good thing. All that leads to is insolvency, bankruptcy and further poverty, which isn't going to improve things anytime soon. I start from the viewpoint that by producing what I can, and bartering my surplus for other things I cannot produce, I am partaking in capitalism in its purest form. While I might not be helping shops to fill their tills, I am making informed, safe decisions, and that will always be good for the economy. The 'spend to restore the economy' argument is the political equivalent of doing what ostriches do. It implies that so long as most of the population feels able to go out and spend, spend, spend on consumer goods, everything will be fine. I'm not buying it

(Recession, depression, downturn, correction, whatever. According to this aticle: http://economics.about.com/cs/businesscycles/a/depressions_2.htm a depression involves a decline in real gdp of at least 10%; if it's less than that, it's a recession).

rhiwfield

Mardatha, OH is not a great veggie/fruit fan but she's tried, and enjoyed, several new things since we started growing our own in earnest. Her likes/dislikes are listed below and she surprised herself with some of the ones she now looks forward to. Why not experiment with several small crops and see what happens?

Didnt meet taste test: Turnips, sweet corn, radish, runner beans, broad beans, gooseberries, mint, cucumber

Try at a pinch: lettuce, salad leaves, rhubard in crumble

Happy to eat processed: tomato puree, parsley wine, rhubarb wine, blackcurrant jam, sage (stuffing), chives and bunching onions (for stocks), garlic, oregano, bay, basil (flavourings), apple pies, courgettes (stews/lasagne)

Absolute new hits: Young leaves from cabbage and sprouts, kale, swiss chard, leaf beet.

Absolute old hits: peas, new potatoes, onions, carrots

Waiting for grower to get a decent crop! raspberries, cooking apples, swede, asparagus, gage, blueberries, jostaberry

The other thing we've noticed is the difference between the taste of some veg when grown in the garden. Carrots home grown are a world apart from the ones in the shops.

One of the most satisfying meals we had last year was pizza with dough from breadmaker (OH) with tomato/garlic/herb topping from garden plus cheese/chorizo. Absolute magic

mardatha

Yes, never say never ! I have a friend organized to get me some stuff so will give it a try. Tomatoes last year were amazing so I'm doing a lot more of them, onions a few, carrots a few, herbs yes I have already. kale I bought seeds and will plant inside soon. I just wondered if I was getting all carried away with the theory and not the realism...:)

ceridwen

A tv programme coming up here of interest - 8pm, Friday, 20 February on BBc2 - A Farm for the Future.

Its about Rebecca Hosking - the inspirational woman behind the anti Plastic Bag Campaign and how she plans to transform her family farm into a "farm for the future".

Theres an article about her in todays "Mail on Sunday":

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1145431/Now-farm-help-teach-world-live-oil-says-woman-banished-plastic-bags-town.html

Now - if I was her mother I'd be one proud woman.

Lotus-eater

rhiwfield wrote: »

Didnt meet taste test: Turnips, sweet corn, radish, runner beans, broad beans, gooseberries, mint, cucumber

Try at a pinch: lettuce, salad leaves, rhubard in crumble

I can understand some of that list, I don't like broad beans and radish much, so don't grow them. But sweetcorn! are you sure, it's one of the top crops from the garden. I suspect you might not have harvested them at the right time. What did they taste like to you?

Try lettuce "little gem" absolutely gorgeous, also some hotter peppery leaves like oriental mixed salad leaves, i think she could be brought round to eating home grown salads, but many people I find grow tasteless green pap.