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March 2010

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VEGAN VEG

We are Lonnie and Richard Morris. We live in East Sussex and have boring day jobs, but whenever we get the opportunity, I escape into the garden and Richard into the kitchen. We have a wonderful family of three cats, five hens and three sheep.

Learning from our experiences

Kitchen Garden

If you’re anything like me you make the same gardening New Year’s resolutions as last year with good intentions but the same reasons why you broke them again.

Looking back at the last year, I can see that the problems I encountered on the plot were mostly self-inflicted. Not getting the watering right was a problem but mostly the crops were forgiving. The pest problems were flea beetle early in the season, cabbage white butterflies later on, a growing number of slugs and, in later months, moles some of which Lilly brought home. Many pests stayed away confused by garlic, garlic and garlic. I feel the garden is largely protected by garlic, with help from seaweed, comfrey and good husbandry; all vital on the organic plot.

Failures included some tomato blossom end rot in the greenhouse, the basil went into the ground too late to establish well because I didn’t have enough space when they needed to go in, some of the seeds sown late and successionally were dug up by the cats and I still haven’t learned how to pull up potatoes without stabbing my fork right through some of the best ones. I’m happy to make mistakes because, after all, we don’t learn much from our successes.

Successes last year had to be amazing crops of celeriac, sweetcorn, artichokes, gherkins, aubergines, chick peas, dried beans and pumpkins. We came up trumps at the local show (try it, taking part is great fun!) and, more importantly, Richard and I managed to eat some eighteen kilos of spinach and we have a variety of fruit and vegetables to last us until the new season. We kept cropping records and found the plot almost pays for itself. But you can’t put a price on the enjoyment it brings and Rich says the money counts for nothing any way; it’s just wonderful having fresh and sumptuous produce on a daily basis unlike vegetables left sweating in plastic under hot lights before you purchase them. We now have vegetables and fruit hanging in the garage, tucked away in drawers, in a clamp and in the freezer.

New Year’s resolutions should be realistic and achievable: Mine are to sow more under cover and plant out established plants to dupe the cats and to be much more organised about successional sowing (definitely one I made last year!).

This year I’m rethinking how I use the plot. We all choose our own priorities and set our own standards in gardening as with everything else. Organic gardening has numerous benefits that we are all aware of but it is not enough on its own. Organic standards allow or even promote the use of products such as blood, fish and bone in a variety of guises. For us, that’s wrong so I’ll be exploring veganic (vegan organic) methods in much more depth as part of our cruelty-free lifestyle.

But veganic gardening is more than just not using slaughterhouse by-products. It’s not about what we don’t do, it’s about what we do do and it offers positive ways of using plant-based manures and mulches and enhancing biodiversity by reducing soil disturbance. It presents ways of making and maintaining beds, improving rotation plans, reducing weeds, conserving water and preventing pests and diseases. I’ll be using these methods to make new beds and I’ll be rethinking what I grow and how I grow it.

One simple way I’ll be starting next month is growing potatoes in bags. Veganic gardeners offer more sophisticated ways of 'zero tillage' growing but I’ll maintain the soil structure, have a better choice of varieties for the show, I’ll not put my fork through them and Richard will be able to harvest them more easily if he just needs a few.

The freezing, drying, pickling and other processing is complete for another year and now we can turn to that store to take us through the long dark nights of winter. Rows of bottles full of dried beans and airtight containers full of cornmeal might provoke thoughts of dull, heavy stodge that seem to mirror the January weather. Treated correctly, however, these ingredients can bring a little Mexican sunshine in the form of a Chimichanga, a fried burrito that can be as much fun to make as it is to eat.

Mixed bean chimichangas

Tortillas
200g cornmeal (or a mix of cornmeal and plain flour, which is easier to handle)
Water and salt

1 Mix the cornmeal and salt with enough water to make a firm, sticky dough.
2 Form into four balls then flatten each out with the palm of your hand. Roll into circles and cook in a dry pan over a high heat for 1-2 minutes, turning once. Set aside.

Filling
1 small onion (chopped coarsely)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 small dried chilli (crushed, optional)
200g mixed beans (borlotti, cannellini etc, soaked and boiled) see point 7 below
2 tablespoons frozen coriander leaf (chopped)
300ml vegetable stock, salt (to taste)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 Lightly fry the onion, garlic and chilli in the oil. Add the beans, coriander and stock. Simmer gently until reduced, stirring occasionally, before adding the salt, if required.
2 To assemble the Chimichangas, heat 2tbsp oil in a wide shallow pan.
3 Put a spoonful of the filling on each tortilla and wrap into a parcel.
4 Fry gently on each side and serve accompanied by:

5 Warm tomato salsa (200g skinned, chopped tomatoes, finely chopped onion, garlic and basil, 1 tbsp oil – using a shallow pan, fry the onion and garlic briefly in the oil, add the tomatoes and basil. Cook over a gentle heat, until the mixture has reduced)

6 Hummus (200g cooked chick peas, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp oil, salt, lemon juice, paprika (all to taste) and water – blend all the ingredients, except the water, to a smooth paste. Add water gradually until you reach the consistency you prefer)

7 Handling dried beans. Most beans will need soaking for 6-8 hours in cold water. Adding bicarbonate of soda can speed up the process. Do not add salt as this will toughen the skins. Drain the beans and simmer in fresh water for an hour, they are then ready for use. (Some beans such as Soya and red kidney beans require longer because of the toxins they contain).

For more see this month's issue, available to buy online!