FatVeg

Save Our Allotments!

2011-05-01T10:43:00.000+01:00

I was horrified today to find a link on twitter to this article in today's Indy. The government (in the delightful form of Eric Pickles) wants to "free councils from the bureaucracy" of providing this statutory right. This right has already been eroded, by councils giving out smaller and smaller plots. The size 10 rods (253 Sq m) is not arbitrary but was chosen as it is the size needed to sustainably feed a family of four. Most councils now only give out half (such as my local council) or even quarter plots, making self sufficiency less and less likely. Worse is that this hits the news after the consultation has closed. I am a plot holder and I had no clue about this, and I'm guessing many others, and the 1000s on the waiting list didn't either. Both Landshare and the NSALG are campaging against this but why have we only found out when its too late? Why are these consultations not publicised more widely?

I guess I'll put in some late comments, but as the consultation is closed I'll write to my MP a) to object to this and b) to object to the way it seems to have been kept quiet. I hope some of you will do the same, after all they work for you.

As I read about this I was listening to the latest BMJ Podcast (easy to listen to for non-medics, honest!) all about the problems with the rising cost of food. The rising cost of food is hitting us in the UK too and I think the recent growth in the grow your own movement is partly a reaction to this - its a hobby that saves you money!

I feel odd talking about this, not least because we have decided to get rid of our allotment in the autumn. This was a tough decision, but when we got the allotment we were in a flat, now we have a garden, perhaps a quarter of the size of the allotment, but its handy location makes maintenance easier and through polyplanting I hope to be reasonably productive. I am worried about how I will grow my beloved curcubits, onions and potatoes which all take up a lot of space. I think allotments are one of the ways we will survive into the future, we need to keep fruit & veg gardening available to all in our society, and while I'll miss the allotment, I know I'll make two waiting list dwellers happy.

2011-02-12T16:31:00.000Z

I was intrigued by the time stealing device that is twitter into a debate about feminism. I was struck by the views outlined on half the world is watching and on It's Mothers work. I'm guessing i fall mid-way in age range between these two women and it gives me a different perspective. For a start I don't think I've ever met a man who openly self-defines as feminist, even if on discussion that's how their views pan out. If challenged about feminism most men I know might mumble "yeah I belive in equality and stuff like that " and then wander off. So i was struck by Soph's experience of men calling (or indeed believing) themselves to be feminists, as essentially, a pulling tactic. My experience is of calling oneself a feminist a great way to get rid of unwanted admirers (they still assume feminist means man hater, sigh).

I can honestly say, if any of my friends of any gender call themselves a feminist I don't know about it. Too many people I know believe the fight for equality is over and done and that there is no point in being a feminist in the 21st century. I bloody wish. Facts are the pay gap is going nowhere fast, the Cabinet has more men who went to Magdalen college, Oxford than women, and basically its still a patriarchy, yeah.

Soph's blog post also talks about feminism being used to sell sexism back to us as empowerment. This is such a thorny issue. Basically I think it stinks, but I know plenty of people who reckon pole-fit classes are 'fun and empowering' rather than glamorising and sanitising an often repressive sex industry. I certainly haven't made my mind up on these (or indeed many other issues), but I'm glad to see people (of all genders) talking about these issues.

2011-02-07T17:46:00.003Z

Hmm I thought I'd blogged before about detergents but seems I've just talked about various laundry balls i wanted to talk about the boring topic of laundry, mostly because my long held traditions have changed. In the post about balls i talked about the magnoball and laundry balls as well as dryer balls. Well dryer balls are the only ones I'm still using.

I didn't get on with laundry balls because I'm a bit dyspraxic so my clothes do get mucky and need real detergent. I'd been using ecover laundry products and washing up liquid for years, bought on-line, in bulk from wiggly wigglers. I've also tried faith in nature and BioD and found them all much of a muchness. I also tried the Method laundry detergent which is fab but prohibitively expensive. Towards the end of last year I'd ran out of laundry liquid and in the shop noticed that the ecover product was nearly 3x the cost of the supermarket own brand. I bought own brand and have ever since, I'm not sure I'd say it was better, but it sure as hell is cheaper, and I can't see me switching back anytime soon.

Then between Christmas and new years we had a crisis of washing up liquid (No dishwasher here :( ). I sent husband round the shop and he returned with a bottle a fairy liquid. Well it was a 650ml bottle and we are only just over halfway through it, we would have used a litre of my usual brands by now. Is it better to use a smaller amount of less biodegradable detergent, or more of a more biodegradable detergent? There is a stream near where I live with hideously foamy water and I'd hate be contributing to that. But I need clean, clothes and plates and so on without breaking the bank. What's a girl to do?

On a cheerier note, I would still heartily recommend dryer balls. Noisy buggers but they make things softer and dry in less time, and believe me I have done a lot of tumble drying this winter.

Does anyone have stong feelings about laundry they want to share?

An Invite from Ed Milliband?!

2011-02-05T17:41:00.002Z

Was very surprised this week to get a letter from Ed Milliband (s press machine). I've been invited to meet Andy Burnham at a top secret location on Friday as part of the fresh-ideas.org.uk campaign. Not really sure what to think about this, I mean how do they know who I am? Why pick me? Exactly what have I been invited to? I'm guessing this sort of 'engagement event' is about mining for ideas to reshape Labour policy.

As fortune has it I'm off on Friday, so I'm gonna schelpp along and see what its really about. I'm a little concerned my head might explode. The ConDems are making great haste in wrecking this country, and the opposition Labour are providing is pathetic. There are so many things that make me crazy (in no particular order):
The Health Bill
Changes to disability living allowance
Library Closures
Threats to bookstart
Replacing nurse - led NHS direct with NHS111 with 1 nurse per call-centre
Forest Sell-Off
The 'Universal Credit'
Cuts to all areas of local authorities particularly, children's (and adults) social services
Decimation of Sure Start
Removal of public transport subsidies

There are probably a ton more, that's just off the top of my head. It upsets me when people's main response to this is "well what would you cut?". These cuts are not an economic necessity, they are an ideological assault on all of us. This brilliant video from the blog at False Economy, explains it well. Its said you should judge a society by the way it treats its most vulnerable members. Many of these cuts target the most vulnerable whether that's children, people with disabilities, older people, the long term unemployed etc etc.

So what do I say? Where do I start? Do I bring my list of vitriol with me? The opposition Labour provide has to step up a gear, or we are all lost. Sadly I just don't see it happening. Many of the ConDems ideas are building on the 'work' of New Labour.

I will report back on what happens, I hope I will come home happy and convinced Labour speak for people like me. But I seriously doubt it.

My Vegetarian Preganancy (no not mine!)

2011-01-30T08:58:00.004Z

I am feeling just a little smug as last night I found out my letter was published in latest edition of Vegetarian Living magazine. I wrote in about an article in the January edition called "My Vegetarian Pregnancy". I was one woman's experience, and, undoubtedly she did have a bad experience with her health visitor, who told her she had to eat meat. Because it was one woman's story there was no explanation of why we weigh babies and worry if their not gaining as much we would expect (clue: it's because there's something wrong!).
Reading the article, it struck me that if I wasn't a student Health Visitor, this article would totally have put me off seeking advice from my HV (er, if I had a baby, which I don't); hence the writing in. Very happy to see my letter published in an issue which also gives some very sensible vegetarian and vegan weaning advice; a teensy bit disappointed to have lost out on letter of the month to a finalist of Miss Teen GB (really? they want to endorse beauty pageants?).

2011-01-19T15:39:00.001Z

Its been nearly a year since I posted here. The reasons are many, some will become clear. I think this blog is goin to have a change of direction though

2010-02-22T13:55:00.008Z

Long time no post, I know, I know ...

So what have I been doing? Working, reading, forgetting to take my camera to the allotment, the usual really. One of the books I've read is Free: Adventures on the Margins of a Wasteful Society by Katherine Hibbert. I read about the book in The Guardian's G2 section (which Katherine has written for) and it piqued my interest enough for me to buy the book (and yes I realise the irony of buying a book about living for free). It's her true story about how when she lost her job, instead of doing normal thing like moving in with her parents, she decides to leave her flat, start squatting and not work for a year. I did wonder while reading it if she did it all just so she could write a book about it, but I'm not sure that it matters ultimately. I knew nothing really about squatters and the way they live, and found this an interesting and enlightening read. Alot of the points she makes in her book are about squatters can live so well in the UK (or parts of it) today is because we are so very wasteful as a society. Almost everything she needs she finds in skips and bins, just someone else's rubbish. This really made me think about waste, as a society and on a personal level. I've certainly thrown away fully functional things I could have donated to a charity shop or freecycled, and thanks to this I probably will in the future. Overall I would say It's a good and thought provoking read.

A book I bought at the same time was The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less by India Knight (I know what king of sucker goes out a buys a book about thrift and one about living for free). I love India Knight's writing style and have been a fan of hers since I was given The Shops
for Christmas a couple of years ago. The Thrift Book is a fab, honest book about living thriftily and brilliantly has at the end of each chapter a list of "What not to scrimp on". What I love most about this book though is it's re-ignited my interest in craft (in my case specifically knitting) and lists blogs India recommends, so another thing I've been doing is looking at craft based blogs - an even better found a local craft group. Some of the craft and general thrift blogs I've found and really like are Angry Chicken , Apron Thrift Girl, EcoCrafts (from Emma of Coopette.com I think), Frugal Queen, Jane Brocket, and posie gets cozie. There are probably thousands out there, but these are the ones I've found and like.

I finally, after two years of walking past it joined my local library. I think libraries are a truly wonderful thing. One of the first books I borrowed was How Can I Stop Climate Change: What is it and How to Help: What Is It, Why It Happens and What You Can Do to Help. This I think is quite simplistic, and obviously somewhat biased as it is published by Friends of the Earth. It is good though, it goes through what climate change is and why it is happening. What you can do on a personal level and how to influence your company, your local council, and the government.

A book I bought a while ago, love, and don't think I've yet mentioned is The Edible Garden: How to Have Your Garden and Eat It by Alys Fowler of Gardeners World fame. This is a lovely book about growing vegetables and edibles in a visually pleasing garden. It's a great book and is a TV tie in, I think the series is on next month and I'm very keen to see it. I think it's great because most of us have small gardens (if we're lucky enough to have a garden), and we don't just want to use it to produce food. So many people think they can't grow food because they don't have enough space, this book shows you can grow edible plants in your border alongside decorative ones.

Talking of TV one of my favourite shows on at the moment is My Dream Farm on C4. It's hosted by Monty Don (my Husband's hero) and every episode makes me want to go and start my own smallholding. The premise of the show is bit like Property Ladder for farmers with Monty as Sarah Beeney (i.e. the oft ignored expert). I love it. And while we're talking of Monty he's on both sides at the mo, presenting Mastercrafts on BBC2.

On the allotment we've planted some parsnips and a mixed bag of onion sets in a raised bed made of an old bookcase, and started some leeks off indoors in loo roll innards; but more of that stuff later.

Robin Hood Tax

2010-02-10T18:22:00.003Z

Ok, not really a proper post here. Just a shout out about this Robin Hood Tax

Early sowings

2010-02-09T18:02:00.003Z

Hmmm forgot the camera again.

Planted up the bed I talked about preparing last time - 'Solent Wight' garlic and 'Yellow Moon' and 'Jermor' shallots. I was keen to get them in (esp. the garlic) while it was still cold. We also prepared a bed for parsnip sowing, and started compost trenches in the bean bed.
I'm looking forward to seeing what results this produces, as it was mostly filled with used rabbit bedding, which I have an almost unending source of (my beloved mischief). I'm also being given a cat this week which i'm very excited about but I can't compost it's poo or feed it things from the allotment (mischief is currently existing off sprouts (stalks n'all) and kale (as well as hay, water, and bunny nuggets of course).

As I was (ahem) studying hard today I came across the transition Southampton website and found out about a seed swap this very weekend. Very exciting indeed!

Talking of seeds we sowed outdoor cucumbers and Brussels sprouts last week. I now think it may have been a bit early (note to self read books before sowing) but I guess i'll just have to pot them up indoors until they're ready for the great outdoors. Mind you i'm counting my seedling before they've germinated there.

2010-01-30T15:20:00.003Z

Oh sorry, I forgot the camera :(

On the upside no longer horribly waterlogged (woo); on the downside too much to do (boo).
We focused on preparing a bed for us to plant shallots in which will go in next time (don't know when that will be though). We used the raised bed but without edging reccomended by Bob Flowerdew and used by our neighbours on the allotment (who inspire a lot of plot envy!) we'll let you know how it goes, it looks quite good now though! The best thing though was finally having some of our own home made compost to dig in (after 2 1/2 years). It looked good and felt nice to be using it instead of relying on bought in stuff. I am hotly anticipating the spring with so many ideas I'll never fit them all in, I think it was ever thus.

The impossible hamster

2010-01-29T16:04:00.003Z

Point well made methinks

Also go here and watch this

I'm Back

2010-01-28T15:54:00.002Z

Okay so I've had an extended leave of absence prompted by my wedding and laziness.

But I am back!

This weekend I went to allotment for the first time since xmas - snow stopped play :( to find it, well, deluged. Really I nearly lost a welly in the mud (thats clay soil for you I guess). I'm off down there on Saturday, and i'll take my camera I promise

2009-04-29T16:03:00.004+01:00

Sorry about the extendend absence. Here ars some photo of what I been up to:

Potatoes growing well without me

My Beautiful Fig tree

My herb bed I am a luch girl not onlt was this built for me but so was ...

... My cold Frame! (shown here with the lid (actualy an old cloche) off)

I am lucky :)

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Has spring yet sprung?

2009-03-24T20:24:00.005Z

Whoo hooo! I finally found the battery charger for my camera. How cool. So heres a pic of my allotment:

Its not much to look at but I do love it. As you can see we are cultivating a great crop of black plastic ;)

The garlic is growing well, and I can't wait until the time finally comes to eat it. We are growing the garlic lovers collection from the garlic farm. I've planted out broad and runner beans and have courgettes and sweet corn coming along apace at home, reay for May.

I've also been thinking about yoga. I think I need some. It's the only thing that streches me out and stops me seizing up after a day at work, and it think does that same thing for me after a day's digging.

It's really beginning to feel like spring now, I'm off to search the net for climate info, and see if there's anything that can tell me when the last frosts are likey to be.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

A farm for the future?

2009-03-18T13:06:00.003Z

Wow. I've just watched a farm for the future, which I was alerted to by the excellent the gardeners world blog. This a great film about farming and peak oil (i.e. it's running out), and looks at both the problems and the possible solutions. Radio 4's Food Programme recently had a great show looking at Cuba and how they coped with their 'special period', and London and whether it can be made more self sufficient. It does strike me that we have massive areas in our cities that could be used productively, although as the owner of a spoilt pet rabbit I do not think we should keep them to eat! A newspaper article recently alerted me to incredible edible Todmorden, the town is basically attempting to make itself self sufficient in vegetables by 2018. this seems like a great idea. I wish councils would plant more fruit and nut trees for example instead of those that are, well not edible.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Who gives a fig?

2009-03-16T09:12:00.005Z

Well. Last year I ordered a fig tree (why, Brunswick, as you ask) and 3 random trees. My 3 random fruit trees (2 vines and a kiwi tree) turned up and the fig never did and eventually I forgot about it. So when my mum rang to see if I had sent a 'big plant' to her house I denied all knowledge. Two days later she rings me and tells me that it's a fig tree. Suddenly everything clicks into place. I'm guessing i must have ordered it at the wrong time of year last year and they've just sent it out (it looks a bit healthy for having been in the post for a year). Now deciding where to site it. I'm thinking of pot growing it as apparently they are very vigorous, and also that makes it easier to move it somewhere safe in the winter. I've recently picked up Carol Klein's Grow your own Fruit, which is a lovely book. I've not read her grow your own veg but I like this and hopefully can use it help make Mr FatGirl build the fruit cage he's promised me.

I think I've killed my worms. again. I think is over feeding and over sogginess. But before i clean out the can-o-worms and start again I'll leave it a month as I've thought I'd killed them all before and I hadn't.

Yesterday's Independent on Sunday had a good article on water scarcity (sadly on-line lacking the insane graphics that print in the paper. It seems that while everyone talks about CO2 no-one wants to talk about water. I know it rains a lot but be waste massive amounts. I live on the south coast where hosepipe bans are a yearly occurrence, yet still we think we can just, well, er, chuck it down the toilet. I've briefly chatted about this issue before. I'm like anyone but why aren't new houses built with say grey water diverters or rainwater harvesting as a matter of course. They should be. It should be obvious.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

All gone wrong again

2009-03-08T21:14:00.000Z

Well the whole faux green house thing didn't go well. After blowing over three times in the winds this week it ended up at the bottom of the garden in bits this morning. So I have abandoned the seedlings and sown some simple stuff by a sunny windowsill.

I have also ordered a selection of vegetable plug plants. I think this will hopefully take some of the leg work out and give me a good chance. I also think with that that I can hopefully plant up the whole plot (dun, dun, dun!). Last year we only cultivated half of it (black plasticking the rest), and was expecting to do the same this year. The selection of plugs I have ordered is brassica heavy so I've stared some sweetcorn, and courgettes inside and sown in situ some broad and runner beans. I'll get some winter squashes and more roots too.

The bokashi is amazing. Dug my first pickled batch in under a good spit of soil this weekend. Lets see how it rots down. I think (again) I've killed the worms. There is a fluffy mold growing in bin, I'm sure that's not a good sign, and i can only see dead worms. Oh dear.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Sowing Season, yeah

2009-02-26T18:03:00.000Z

Today I are been mostly sowing sweetcorn, tomatoes, celeriac, Brussels sprouts and walking stick kale. Excitingly Mr Fatveg bought a bought a little faux green house thing for us to bring on our seedlings in, which we have propped against a south facing wall at home. Sadly there has been too much vandalism at our site to make it an idea to put anything there. Not just the normal break ins to sheds and thefts and but now arson to sheds and green houses, on two separate nights in one week. Weirdly nothing actually appears to have been nicked, just burned.

I'm using biodegradable seed pots this year, it just seems like a much better idea. Exciting times. At home Mr Fatveg had started a beautiful herb bed with hitherto unknown skills. Our first harvest of worm compost went into filling the new raised bed. After thinking I'd killed them all this was a delight, the worms are alive and the wormery is working. I used a ton of worm tea as fertilizer down on the allotment (diluted 1in 10ish). I didn't transport it in a properly air tight container and had an in - car spill! (if you have ever smelt worm tea you will know why this is so bad). The first bucket of bokashi has been filled and sealed, lets see how that goes. Will let you know how it all goes.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

yummy Brighton

2009-02-24T16:50:00.000Z

So I went to fair Brighton for a day out yesterday. I love Brighton it's fun, has the funkiest shops, and has so many veggie places to eat it is a total delight. Much to my disappointment The amazing Terre á terre is closed on Mondays, If you go to Brighton and it's not a Monday you simply must go to this place it's great. So seeing as it was closed I lunched at the Infinity foods cafe which is great. I shared the mezze platter with my beloved and it was really delicious, it is just a lovely little laid back cafe. While I was lunching I overheard some well travelled vegans saying how easy it is to be vegan in the UK compared to other countries, I think if they are living in Brighton they are definitley having a head start :)
Afternoon tea was in the choccy woccy doo dah's bar du chocolat. this was amazing. i has a white chocolate hot chocolate, with all the trimmings and a lemon cup cake. I'm guessing this combo probably had wayyyy more calories than my lovely mezze and was so rich I just couldn't finish. I love choccy woccy doo dah and they are making my bespoke wedding cake. Their creations are just stunning and taste amazing.
Dinner before the drive home was in food for friends. Yum yum yum. I love this place. I had the stuffed portobello with sweet potato, fine beans and pesto which was delicious, and my fiancee had the stuffed butternut squash filo parcel, I'm guessing it was good ... when i asked for a taste it had all gone. We shared the stuffed peppers with goats cheese (yes please).

I wish I lived somewhere with so many great veggie places to eat out.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Back to the land

2009-02-24T15:44:00.000Z

After a good (weather induced) rest i got back down on the allotment today. The garlic I planted back in November looks to be doing well. I've planted the Garlic Lovers collection from The Garlic Farm and am quite excited. Last year being a newbie I planted my garlic in the spring instead of in the autumn, If you do this, you end up with just an eye wateringley enormous clove rather than a head. I've since learned its frost that make the garlic head up and we sure have had enough of that I think.

Today (a little later than planned) onion and shallot sets went in. Shallot sets are a ton of fun, you plant one and you just get loads and its definitely low maintenance. I hope it's as good this year. Also going on the ground were potatoes Maris Peer (second earlies) and Maris Piper (Main crop). Actual proper seed potatoes, not like last year when my beloved planted a bunch of Desiree that had chitted in our cupboard, although that did work much to my surprise.

Sprouts (Brussels), sweet corn and tomatoes I plan to all sow indoors this week, wish me luck :)

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Three Bean and Vegetable soup

2009-02-09T16:14:00.000Z

I haven't written in ages, I know. No I haven't been snowed off the Internet just been nesting. No visited to the allotment as it's been to cold to go in the garden! Much to my surprise having written them off as dead my worms are thriving, just making their way though the waste slooowly. I've made some good soups, it's a winter thing I think. Made a lovely 3 bean one in the slow cooker and a butternut squash and sweet potato one which I definitely over gingered, it was H O T. My lovely mum made me some amazing butterfly cakes, which I will definitely do some of myself soon.

Three bean and Vegetable Soup

1/2 a cup each of mung, black and aduki beans
1 big carrot
2 celery sticks
125g (ish) mushrooms
1 pepper (any colour it's all good)
1 onion
2 l vegetable stock

Soak the beans in cold water overnight
Rinse thoroughly, pop in a saucepan and cover with cold water, bring to the boil and boil fiercely for 15 minutes
Rinse thoroughly and pop in the slow cooker
Chop all your veg, add to the slow cooker and add the stock. Cook on low for six to eight hours, until the beans are tender
Allow to cool a little, then blend
Bring the boil, season and serve

Serves four to six

Any combo of beans or veg I imagine word have a similar effect and a diced chili would spice it up up nicely. How much you blend depends on how chunky a soup you want. being the saddo that I am I took ages trying to blend the veg but leave most of the beans intact which looks cook but is a hell of a faff. For stock I cheated (as usual) and used marigold. I used their organic stock and it was amazing, am not sure if this is because it was organic or just much fresher than my old tub.

As soon is the ground is not quite so frozen my shallots will go in, I am really looking froward to graong these as they were such a success and so easy last year.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

mmm tasty

2009-01-25T14:59:00.000Z

Oooo, I just made Gino's Herby Potato Cakes with Bubbling Goat's Cheese, form the February edition of Cook Vegetarian magazine. They were lovely, really good. This has made me think of two things. 1. Why don't I use fresh thyme more? It's a great herb with a lovely, lovely flavour. and 2. How great is it that there is an entirely vegetarian cooking magazine out now? I love food mags, and buy too many, and get frustrated that at least half of their content doesn't even apply to me. So go out, buy the mag and make the potato cakes, alright?

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

SWEETcorn

2009-01-23T16:24:00.000Z

Oh, in reference to the last post, I totally forgot to say, sweetcorn is so easy to grow and freshly picked corn tastes like nothing you can buy in a store. People tend not to think of grown sweetcorn but even if you only have a limited space for growing, do look at it, it is easy and well worth it. Yum.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

mmm, corny

2009-01-23T16:04:00.000Z

So first up I made a great sweetcorn soup last night and I thought I'd share the love with you all.

2 cobs of sweetcorn, stripped
1 300g tin sweetcorn
1 400g tin of creamed corn
1 red pepper, diced
1 red chili finely diced
4 spring onions, sliced
1 small red onion, diced
1 tbs dark soy sauce
1 tsp marigold swiss bullion powder
1 litre of water

Okay so put the corn no longer on the cob, the pepper and nice green bits of the spring onions in a bowl. Put everything else in a slow cooker, then add half the pepper / corn mix. Pop the slow cooker on high for 2 to 4 hours (I guess you can do this on the hob for 1 hour but you would probably need more liquid). Now blend (carefully, it's hot) the soup mix and put in a saucepan. Add the rest of the pepper/sweetcorn/spring onion mix, bring to the boil and serve in warmed bowls. Serves 4.

Also I used for the first time a cake mix in the bread machine. I used Wright's ginger cake mix. This for no effort made a surprisingly good, slightly sticky ginger cake . I do enjoy baking, but say if I was busy and had guests coming for tea, I would definitely think about throwing one of these in the machine to serve with a morning or afternoon tea.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Obama takes the cake!

2009-01-20T14:04:00.000Z

Well the 44th president of the USA is inaugurated today and on cupcakes take the cake (a blog guaranteed to make you drool) has a cool display of some of the Obama cupcakes on offer. I just couldn't imagine that ever happening with a prime minister in this country - could you?

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Bokashi

2009-01-20T13:36:00.000Z

So last night I finally took the plunge and ordered my bokashi buckets. I will let you know how it goes ...

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Moments of Truth

2009-01-12T20:09:00.000Z

So the Raw Food Life Force Energy Plan ... well i thought it was going quite well. I'm enjoying it, my mood is brighter and I'm definitely less bloated and having better digestion. Therefore imagine my surprise when I stepped onto the scales yesterday and discovered I'd lost seven pounds, 7 lbs! In one week! I nearly fell off the Wii in surprise, too good to be be true surely? But no apparently not, a diet that's fun to follow and really works? Well I never thought such things existed.

Just thought i'd mention yeterdays lunch which was courgetti with pesto (from Shazzie's Detox Delights) which I really, really love. It's so simple and so lovely. I wish I could find the battery charger for my camera so I could share pics with you all.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Mischief and raw food life force energy!

2009-01-07T14:19:00.000Z

Okay so I started writing this post on Monday but then I went and got a bunny! A beautiful new boy called Mischief, he was up for 'adoption' as he beat up all the other Bunny's his last owner had! He is beautiful, cute and eating all my curly kale, he is still only a baby though.

So on Monday I started the Raw Food Life Force Energy 21 day programme. It's actually going pretty well so far. The life force power-ade I had for breakfast the fist two days was amazing. I have had unpleasant experiences with green juices before but this tasted amazing. really really zingy and nice, not what I was expecting at all! Today I made The Great Eliminator which was also good. Lunch on the first day was the Cleansing Corn Chowder which was delicious. I've had raw-avocado based soups before and this did not disappoint. I then froze it and took it to work for lunch the next day. Freezing juice works fine, freezing the soup ... not so good, it separated so I had the less than ideal combination of baked potato with cheese for lunch. Dinner the first day was non wheat pasta with vegetables in a tomato sauce, I've come to rely on Parmesan for flavour and forgot just how a good an unadorned pasta dish can be. Yesterday I had a goats cheese salad for an early evening snack at work (i was there 'till gone 9 (although it was only supposed to be 8.30) and then sweet potato wedges at home. I think I left enough time between them for it to not be a combination.

I'm really enjoying this diet, much to my surprise, the food is great and the 21 day programme has lots of little things every day to do so you move and detox more.

Raw Food Life Force Energy: Enter a Totally New Stratosphere of Weight Loss, Beauty, and Health

What a lovely new year's gift

2009-01-05T14:30:00.000Z

No not from me old scrooge that I am, but from the Raw Food Coach Karen Knowler! She's giving away a fab eBook called 13 Wondrous Ways to Wahoo Your Way into 2009! Thanks Karen!

Talking about eBooks that are free and fabulous I have to mention squawkfox's Frugal Food and Fitness, a credit crunch classic.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

NY Resolutions

2008-12-30T16:44:00.000Z

And it's only the 30th! Well I got Raw Food Life Force Energy: Enter a Totally New Stratosphere of Weight Loss, Beauty, and Health by Natalia Rose for xmas and starting next Monday I'll be following the 21 day programme she outlines in it. Why? Well I really need to lose weight; and although I'm not unwell I'm looking to feel good all the time, despite working a rotating shift pattern, which mucks up my digestion and I'm sure exacerbates my migraines. What I like about this is that looks realistic for me. She recommends Green and Black's chocolate and goats cheese for goodness sake. It looks like a plan I can do and stick to, and 21 days is enough time for me know whether it is likely to work for me. And I'll tell you all about it.
I've really enjoyed reading about Erin Pavlina's 30 raw trial, and in her posts on it, the fact that she can do it because it's only for 30 days often comes up. Well what I'm doing is only for 21 days so surely even I should be able to do (right?). (I also enjoyed reading about Steve Pavlina's Juice feast but don't quite feel up to that yet!).

What else? To try a new recipe every week. To go running with my young man every time we both have a day off, to do half an hour of cardiovascular exercise every I'm off and on my own, and to do half an hour of yoga on the days I work normal (8 hour) shifts; I'm giving myself the days I have 12 1/2 hour shifts off (ho ho ho). To do my Msc dissertation. To professionally practice Reiki.

Wish me luck, I think I might need it.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

OOooooo

2008-12-22T18:19:00.001Z

He he, I just saw that the google ad that popped up was for www.shazzie.com I Love Shazzie and think you all go there even when google doesn't tell you to!

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Big Sticky Choca-Choca Brownies

2008-12-22T16:23:00.000Z

Billionaire Brownies or Big Sticky Choca-Choca Brownies

This recipe is in 3 parts, because there are three key stages to making it. Make sure you’ve read it through and know what you need first. *Heath warning* This recipe contains over half a pound of butter and nearly a pound of sugar, never mind the nearly a pound of chocolate! This is not healthy eating recipe so don’t eat them all *Health Warning*

Make sure you have read the recipe and are ready
Pre heat the oven to gas mark 3
Line a tin (8 X 8 or 8 X 12) with baking paper and get ready …

Brownie Layer

7 Oz Unsalted Butter
2 Oz Cocoa Powder
11 Oz Caster Sugar
2 Large, Organic, Free Range Eggs, Beaten
8 Oz Plain Flour
3 1/2 Oz Chocolate (buttons chunks or a smashed up bar)

(Oh I suppose the eggs don’t have to be organic but please get free range, if you use eggs from caged hens not only must you live with yourself but Chickeno the Chicken god will peck you)

Melt the butter (in a small / medium size saucepan)
Stir in the cocoa powder and sugar and mix until smooth (well as smooth as you can get it)
Remove from heat
Stir in the eggs until completely combined
Stir in the plain flour until completely combined, this will take some mixing
Stir in the chocolate pieces
Pour into the prepared tin, shake to level and pop in the oven (at gas mark 3) for around half an hour until firm on top

Take out and leave to cool in its tin ideally for at least half an hour

Caramel Layer

4 Oz Unsalted Butter
3 Oz Caster Sugar
2 Tbs Golden syrup
1 x 379g tin of Condensed Milk
100g Chocolate (buttons chunks or a smashed up bar) or Nuts (optional)

Make sure you are ready! Once you start making caramel you can’t stop, or pause, and be careful because it burns. Also make sure you have condensed milk, not evaporated milk, they are not the same thing (although they do both come in tins). Hazels or pecans toasted make good yummy additions to this layer.

Melt the butter (in yer saucepan)
Reduce the heat and add the condensed milk, sugar and syrup, this mix will be a pale creamy colour, viz:
Stir and do not stop stirring for about half an hour until it goes a dark caramel colour, if you stop it will catch and burn.
Remove from the heat and stir in your optional goodies
Pour on top of the brownie layer and leave to cool

Chocolate layer

7 Oz Chocolate

Bash up your chocolate if it is in a bar and melt over boiling water or in short blasts in a microwave
Pour on top of your caramel layer, leave to cool
Pop in the fridge and leave for a couple of hours to firm up before you cut it up

Balls!

2008-12-17T20:54:00.000Z

Balls of the washing kind that is. I've recently got a magno-ball, which has the same sort of effect as calgon tablets (i.e. stopping your washing machine becoming utterly clogged with limescale, if, like me, you happen to live in a hard water area). It seems to work but I guess I'll only really know when in fails to break in a few years. If you can notice something not breaking down. I've also got some eco-balls which are like flying saucers you put in the washing machine instead of detergents. They seem to be working quite well, and allegedly last for up to 1000 washes. They also eliminate the need for rinse cycles and fabric softener. Dryer balls I have had almost as long as my tumbler. They bang about and make a noise and in the process bash your clothes, softening them, making them dry faster, and reducing tangles. I have read that tennis balls will work as well, but I haven't used them personally. On drying, if you like those scented sheets you chuck in the tumbler, rags (5x5 bits cotton preferably, old t-shirts or jeans are good) with 5 drops of your chosen essential oil and kept in a Tupperware box work well to give your laundry a nice scent if you chuck in the dryer like those commercial sheets you can buy. One of things with using the washing balls is you laundry smells of nothing, literally nothing which can be a bit odd, although possibly better than the weird synthetic scents like purple diamond and cake flower that purveyors of detergent seem to think we want to make all our clothes smell like. The rags can then be laundered after use and re-scented.

As i type I've been watching Nigella. Looking at her rocky road and the sheer amount of salt that went on that beef I wonder if she's trying to ensure coronary artery disease for all the Christmas.

Here are some links to get you balls off amazon Dryer Balls by Ecozone, Eco balls, Water Softening Magnoball. But they are reasonably widely available in shops and from places like Wiggly Wigglers online (which is where I got my balls (oo er!)).

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Wake up and smell the veggie burgers

2008-12-16T22:33:00.000Z

Here, here, and here, everywhere people are finally talking about the massive negative environmental impact of eating meat. Finally.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Cleaning out my closet

2008-12-16T21:42:00.000Z

Hmm, I have some pics of my breadmaking efforts but have now managed to temporarily mislocate the cable thingy for the camera so that will have to wait for another time ... Have been having buckets of fun with it still though, particularly making seeded breads. I'm currently psyching myself up to attack a cake recipe in the breadmaker.

The worms are still alive, if not quite thriving in the cold wet weather. They eat human hair right? I gave Mr FatGirl a trim while tipsy at the weekend so that should keep the little ones fed for a little while anyway.

I've spent today spring cleaning my kitchen (yes, I realise its mid-winter but I can't rely on having the time or motivation come spring). Oldest date? October 2003, on a jar of cumin seeds. I actually turned out to have 3 jars of cumin seeds (one of which was in date!). This is why i decided to do this, when making some of the aforementioned seeded bread it came to my attention that I had 3 packs of pumpkin seeds, I'd been buying them thinking I had none and I had loads, just right at the back of the cupboard. I've been ruthless chucking out anything out of date even if its something like dried beans that I think shouldn't really have sell by dates anyway. The best thing is having been able to rearrange everything so I can actually see what I've go instead of blindly groping in the cupboards. Joy.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

2008-12-10T19:36:00.000Z

Well, It is jolly cold here. The last few winters have been so mild, not used to this frost stuff! So stay in and cook something nice and stodgy that still makes you feel a bit more Mediterranean like this. Mind you I do love goats cheese. And red onions. And Rosemary. I have to say I do totally love the good food website it's such a great resource; if you are ever stuck for what to have for dinner, this is the site you want.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Bread of life

2008-12-08T13:18:00.000Z

Well maybe not of life. I've inherited a bread maker. it came with a lack of instructions, so I was bit scared but it seems fairly straightforward and Mr Fatgirl was easily able to make lovely loaf while your author was sleeping off her night shifts, thanks to the book Breadmachine Easy by Sara Lewis. I've got one of those mixes you get in the supermarché in there now, will let you know how it goes.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Killing worms

2008-12-07T19:50:00.000Z

Back to the can-o-worms. Well I thought they were all dead. After some advice i think they were not but I bought some more who seem to be eating the moisture mat on the top rather than the food but there you go. I have gleaned from what I have read that they take to settle in and become efficient. Tonight and last night have been below 0 (C that is, I'm in UK) so I'm thinking that is slowing them down. I've debated bringing them in the garage but i think i might crash into them every time I park (not a big garage, a Peugeot 106 fits in tightly) so I'm not too sure. I made some food I wanted to put on here but temporarily mislaid my camera and felt the pics would really help explain what I'm on about. I've located my cam so just need make it all again.

I'm debating going in for bokashi. Why? Well I'm dead keen on home composting, all my growing occurs om my allotment maybe 3/4 of a mile away. At this time of year I don't even get there once a week really. One of the main reasons people tend to bokashi is to get rid of dead animals (meat) and so on. I don't eat dead animals so most of my cooked food could venture to the wormery. But they are too slow (at the moment anyway), and don't like onions and citrus (I do!). I think if I went in for bokashi-ing I could bokashi food worms wouldn't like, I could take it down the allotment when its pickled, in it's lidded container (not my stinky, open top compost collector I use now), then either add it to my existing heap or use for trench composting. Hmmm anyone bokaski?

I'm also debating either starting a new blog or expanding this one. Why? Well I'm hooked on several medblogs, I'm a nurse and I want to talk about that. Also I'm starting a business as a complimentary therapist and want to talk about that. Is this the appropriate space for either of those. or should this just be a kitchen garden place (with the emphasis on kitchen)? *sigh*

Ahhh, I'm also desperate to buy a dehydrator. I know many raw people are a little down on them, but I think if I had more denser 'raw' stuff I could munch on I'd probably eat more raw foods. I mean check out this amazing recipe from Shazzie. I mean raw crispy pancakes! Yeah I can go for that.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

In Praise of Chard

2008-11-25T12:53:00.000Z

I'm not, nor have I ever been, the biggest fan of Swiss Chard. However I am getting more and more impressed with it. I sowed some in June and again in August purely because we had been given some seeds. It's still growing. It seems to be less popular with the slugs than the other leafy greens on my plot (which have been devoured). You can put the young leaves in salad (although I wouldn't, eurhg!), but it is amazing in soups and stir frys. And (as I think is self evident in my success in its cultivation) is fairly idiot proof. Just be careful who you give your excess to. I have friend who gave away some ruby chard, which then got put into a crumble. Honest.

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

More on worms

2008-11-24T19:21:00.000Z

Okay, so my wormery is now up and running (no thanks to the royal mail, who despite the note on the parcel telling them where to leave it, took my worms back to their delivery office). I think they are doing alright, I definitely saw one wriggling through my rotting pepper yesterday. I am worried about the weather though, it's very wet. The contents of the wormery don't seem over moist though. Hmm...

How To Get Started With Raw Foods

What not to wear?

2008-11-18T14:21:00.000Z

Ok so I've just listened to wiggly podcast 0158. In it, Heather talks to fellow nuffield scholar Louise Manning about water, water footprint (er, like a carbon footprint but y'know, for water) and so on. In it Louise points out that it takes 11,000 liters of water to make a pair of jeans. Heather muses over whether in the future we will go to wearing more locally produced wool for example. I'm not really sure what to think about wool. I do wear it (but wool next to ones skin is notoriously itchy) but should I? I am a vegetarian and have been for maaaaany years. But I only stopped wearing leather maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I still have leather items I've not chucked out, but I don't buy it. Bizarrely I now have a leather sofa - it was going for free, but free-ness aside I wouldn't have one. I actually fought off many very cheap offers from people for leather sofas but when it comes to free, I relented.

At this point you are probably wondering what the hell I am on about animals have to die for leather, but not for wool right? Well look any vegan literature and you'll see its not that simple, www.savethesheep.com is a place to start. Shearing Is not necessarily the nice 'haircut for sheep' that we tend to think of it being. Also this shorn wool is in contrast to the pulled wool, that is pulled form sheep in the slaughterhouse. It's virtually impossible when clothes shopping to discern the origin of the wool in these terms.

So cotton is too water hungry, and too far away, wool is local but potentially to cruel. So what is the answer? Hemp is often touted as a great alternative to cotton, and it has tons and tons of uses but I don't know if it can be grown locally (it might be - I just don't know), or the sort of environmental impact it has (i know is supposed to be low impact, but again, I just don't know!)

What are the answers? I have no clue!

While on podcasts though, Just wanted to say how great the Mitch Benn podcast is (in content anyway, the quality tends to be um, scratchy).

Curious about raw? Check out Karen Knowlers top eBook - How To Get Started With Raw Foods

Quesadillias

2008-11-14T18:58:00.000Z

Following on from the last post's Mexican theme I thought I'd follow up with some gloriously inauthentic quesadillas. I love these. When I first made quesdillias they were cheese filled wheat tortillas - deep fried. Then I realised I'd like to live beyond 50 so I worked on my own version. I love them, I hope you do too.
They are easy and fun and er, best served with guacamole, salsa, and all that lovely stuff.
The recipe says corn tortillas but that's just 'cause they're my favourite, any old tortillas will do.

Corn tortillas (usually come in packs of 8 or 12)
Small tin of sweetcorn (or stripped from 2 fresh cobs), drained and rinsed
1/2 to 1 bell pepper, finely chopped
125g of mushrooms, sliced
50g cheddar (or other hard cheese, not too mature), grated
1 ball mozzarella, chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 chillis, finely chopped (adjust to taste!)
3 tbs rapeseed or other cooking oil

Heat 1 tbs of the oil in a pan and gently fry off the onions, when translucent add the mushrooms and bell peppers, the mushrooms should reduce in volume by about half then toss in the drained corn. When some of the corn begins to look toasted, pop into a mixing bowl to cool a little.

Chuck the other ingredients except the tortillas and oil into the mixing bowl, and mix it well.

Pop 1 to 2 dsp of the mix into the middle is of a tortilla, then fold it into half or a quarter (or stuff it between two tortillas, all depends on how much filling to how many tortillas, really). You are supposed to at this point, be able to seal the tortilla using a dab of cold water. All I can say is make sure you have some cocktail sticks to hold them together.

Once you've made all the tortillas you can brush them with oil (optional) and pop them in the middle of a pre-heated oven at gas mark 6 (200 degrees C I think) for 10 minutes.

Eat, and try not to burn yourself on the hot filling!

Guacamole

2008-11-13T19:25:00.000Z

Mmm, Guac. I decided to put this up here after discovering that several of my boyfriends colleagues genuinely thought that guacamole is made using mayonnaise. Mayonnaise. The mind boggles. Sorry for the crap photo but this glorious green dip, in all the many recipes I have seen, does not include mayo. Nope never. Ever. So here is my version of guacamole, which i utterly love:

2 medium ripe Avocados
2 limes juiced
1 chili, finely chopped

Pop the avocado flesh, lime juice and chili in a blender. Blend. That's it! So simple. Most versions include chopped tomato but i never have tom's in my fridge so I don't put them in generally. You can vary the amount of chili to your satisfaction, sometimes if I just want something cooling to go with a hot, spicy dish i just leave it out entirely. My other tip is I find this easier to make with a stick blender rather than a jug blender, but that may just be my equipment.

Happy dipping!

Also how the hell do you get into a (old) brown coconut? I resorted to throwing mine from a first floor window onto concrete. Twice. worked but there has to be a better way, doesn't there? (I did have mucho fun, though)

Worms!

2008-11-10T20:04:00.000Z

So my can-o-worms arrived today. Am very excited but haven't really got a clue about wormeries so this may be trial and error (think of my poor wormies!) It seems great because worms can compost stuff you can't compost otherwise, and do it quick(ish)ly (i hope). I have two 'dalek' composters at the allotment but this is the first composting thing I've got home. (hopefully this will reduce those stinky car journeys taking stuff down for the heap. Anyone know about vermiculture? (Is that the word? I'm not too sure.)

I also got a catalogue with it and as I've been thinking about seed potatoes anyway the salad blue really caught my eye. I confess I am a total sucker for novelty and comedy veg (whats the point of growing stuff it it doesn't amuse you?). But not just for the fun of having blue mash (you know it would be cool) eating a wider variety of colours means you get a wider variety of phytonutrients (so we're told). In Kate Magic's amazing superfood book Raw Magic she talks about not getting enough purple foods in out diet. She's right, I'm not sure I eat many purple foods do you? But how many naturally blue foods do you eat? Blueberries maybe? Anything else? As one the UK's raw food gurus Kate probably wouldn't approve of my blue potatoes though. You can eat them raw mind. You probably wouldn't do do it twice though.

FatVeg

2008-11-05T19:56:00.000Z

Okay. So I'm here to talk about my life of growing vegetables, cooking vegatables and eating vegatables. Hopefully it will turn out more exciting than it sounds right now ;)