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Page 6: Urban Farming
Home 2. Paintings 3. Conceptual 4: Memory Flinch p5 Photographs
21 June 08-
Gardening for Change
"New beginnings are in the offing" (Joseph Beuys)
IN VIEW OF changing priorities and rethinking of global food, supply and energy matters; in an attempt to learn, encourage and educate, I begun urban gardening using windowsills and the tiny concrete yard behind my flat. In some ways, continuing a work begun by artist Joseph Beuys in the 1960s.
This is an experimental step towards localised economies and healthy diet. We should prepare to self support as communities in order to promote ecological balance and free ourselves from over-dependence on corporate control of our food needs.
I believe we must reduce our dependency on oil, and that localised economies and urban farming are a key element in such action. If it means we don't have to import so much food, it means less oil consumption. There is a heavy political/social price to pay for oil.
BBC NEWS HOMEPAGE June 08 article URBAN FARMING
11th July 08: Radish, basil, lettuce, tomato- things are
coming on a bit
THE BEGINNINGS; 21st June 08
tomatoes, lettuce, spinach beets,
radish, cauliflower, broccoli,
wild rocket germinating
My first tomatoes
The yard...
three or four square metres of enclosed concrete with little sunlight
DECIDED TO TRY nettle soup. So went walking with plastic bag and gardening gloves to gather nettles. Took only tops, leaving rest for insect habitat. In kitchen stripped a good amount of leaves from stems with gloves, being careful not to include any flowers. Apparently it's best to pick them earlier in the season when not flowering, but I ignored this*. It means the stems are too tough to cook, so it means extra effort picking the leaves.
* I later read that mature nettles can irritate the kidneys but experienced no discomfort
While I plucked the leaves I had some garlic, onion and diced baby potatoes with skins sautéing in soup pan. After sautéing I added all the ingredients to a plastic bowl with water saved from potatoes boiled earlier in the day. I included a vegetable stock cube then covered bowl with a soup dish and put in microwave for fifteen minutes (bonus-you get nice hot dish to serve up in). I then run it in the blender till fine.
The resulting soup was delicious; like creamed spinach but nicer. I reserved half the soup in a container and returned rest to microwave but adding diced salami, giving it four more minutes. I now have veggie and non veggie options
---------------------- 
Fresh nettles and reserved veggie version of soup -----------------cooking in microwave; fast, excellent, saves much power
Ingredients-
Freshly picked nettles, strip leaves, discard flowers
Sliced baby potatoes in skins
Chopped onion
Garlic cloves to taste
Vegetable or chicken stock cube
Water reserved from boiled vegetables if available
Salt
Black pepper
Diced salami or bacon (0ptional but delicious)
Nettle stir fry
INGREDIENTS AS SEEN below, include wok-ready noodles in
sachet (behind orange capsicum). Red object issalad washer
for rinsing nettles. Chinese container- regular soy sauce used as
sautéing liquid, added copiously shortly after the noodles
The white vegetable in front of the orange capsicum is a skinned
and halved onion the other half of which was sliced and included
in the recipe
Nettle Curry and Cous-Cous
AN EXPERIMENT in which the ingredients included potato, onion, garlic, palm oil, fresh coriander, dried coriander, coriander seeds, grated ginger, cinnamon bark, salt. The same batch of nettles from 3 days ago, starting to wilt slightly but no rotting.
Curry served with cous cous instead of rice. It's light, won't
bag you up, requires minimal fuel. It's also cheap and
there appears to be no shortage
Cook the cous cous in a Thermos container-
with a nob of butter and some salt; pour boiling water
into it, to twice the volume of grain, affix lid, lay on its side
and leave for minimum five minutes: Stays hot and ready to
serve for a long time. Very fuel efficient**Opinion- VERY GOOD but lacks something. Perhaps more nettles but trial and error will produce an excellent dish.
If it contained chick peas and was cooked in ghee or vegetable ghee this would be exceedingly tasty.
Nettles might also work well in curried lamb or goat.
Search for nettle curry recipes online.
** Don't fill a kettle for one cup of tea, only boil what's needed: Freshly boiled, NOT reheated water makes superior
tea. Reheated water loses oxygen
23 June 08 New seedlings appear in their containers:
LETTUCE, RADISH, spinach beets, basil, cauliflower; the radishes appeared overnight
and were the fastest of all to develop. Leaves are relatively large for fresh growth and are
red tinged. Lettuce buds are tiny but the basil sprout is very tiny. Excepting the basil, which
took a while, these things were planted only 2 days ago. Capsicum and coriander are slow
developers: They were planted perhaps 3 weeks ago and took over 2 weeks to germinate
24 June,
MORE SEEDLINGS including quite prolific wild rocket, more lettuce and spinach beet.
The radishes have really come on superfast
SOYA BEANS
WHAT A RICH discovery- I bought a 25p (50c) bag of organic soy beans, probably half a kilo intending to make tofu and soy milk.
There were byproducts in the process, all of which were edible and gave unprecedented depth of flavour from seasonings and other foods the byproducts are cooked with. One 25p bag inspired much experimental cooking and contributed so much by way of bulk and flavour enhancement, that it has provided delicous, nutritious, top quality food for nearly a week, that may have cost me around £4 ($8). I have at least another day's worth of soya food to get through yet
It is notable that soya beans do not appear to cause a flatulence problem.
I have learned something about tofu making. It is much tastier fresh; I know now how to make it more successfully and in proper quantitiy next time.
Here are the dishes I recall enjoying- I noticed a considerable increase in the flavour and quality of my cooking during these processes. Could my love and enthusiasm have played the biggest part? I can't decide, perhaps if you try it you could let me know what you think.
Soya milk milkshake with honey and carob (vanilla essence would improve this but I'd run out)
Scrambled tofu on home bake bread toast, with rosemary, parsley and thyme
Fried vegetables with creamy tasting soya mulch left over from milk making
Soup from above and the leftover bean crumbs, included capsicum, potato, onion, herbs
Soup made from the whey left from tofu making plus bean crumbs and vegetables
Veggie burgers made from the bean crumbs, with egg replacer to bind
Mexican spicy beanburgers made from bean crumbs
Both above served with excellent home baked burger rolls
Spaghetti Bolgnese using soya crumbs- totally champion! Served on wholewheat spaghetti topped with olive oil, sea salt, pepper and cottage cheese. I used yeast extract to beef up the taste
I still have a large pot of great soup
a veggie burger and a bean burger
SOME GARDENING NOTES... LEARN AS I
GO.... THE TOMATO CRISIS
think i figured the tomato problem.... by studying online. Most likely is magnesium deficiency.. but also likely because i was late in starting the toms...
and when transplanted, the soil may have been too cold: this too can cause bloom end rot...
and that is what we have.... for sure now.... i can see how it has developed... it is typical in some types of case that only the earliest fruit rots... so far this is exactly so. The way leaf discoloration is depicted for mag defic... looks accurate...
so... bloom end rot and yellowing dying leaves indicate mag defic...
one treatment for immediate action... foliar spray of epsom salts...
so happened to have just that in the house...
so have given the plants a heavy misting of solution of epsom salts...
let some into the soil too...
not a radically strong solution... see if this works...
chances of fruit ripening this late... not sure... has been little bright sun for the past month... now autumn is creeping towards us...
it can be felt in the stiffness of the weather... not cold yet... but not summer anymore...
glad of opportunity to learn...
i still must find more wild foods....
i will try some clover soon...
plenty around in country...
i got some blackberries...
i may try and find a lot to make preserve....
i have indoor chili plants flowering...
discovered aphids all over them... sprayed with soapy water... that's meant to do the trick...
will check tomorrow and see.. but looks good...
have to now stimulate the flowers to get fruiting.... working on it....
was concerned tomato disease cld get chilis... but it seems it isn't viral but physical cause for toms...
i am learning... it is good that i am aware now of infection and hygene...
hope the chillies ripen up good.... next year will plant earlier...
basil is massive and fragrant...
the chilis and a tomato plant... all in stages of blossom are in my bedroom
i have developed of late an irriatation of the sinuses and back nasal throat area...
i thought perhaps was getting virus of respiratory system.... felt like early onset of that...
had mild breathing irritation that mildly disturbed sleep in night....
i am guessing that either this one tomato plant is causing it... or.... since chili is an irritant...
and they started blooming so lately... it is in fact more likely to be chili pollen causing discomfort...
so they will have to migrate rooms at night at least... but shame because they love the bedroom windowsill
and with the curtain drawn it traps and reflects heat in the window area and they love that...
it would be the way to bring fruit on them...
but... ok... lesson... when in bloom... they probably aren't good to share bedroom with...
the yard has attracted various bug life...
this is a nice feeling.... lot of spiders....
we need them...
and a lot of hover flies were drawn to the flowering coriander... they love that and did a great job of pollinating it...
the tiny fruits on the coriander taste exquisite... a poweful but delicate burst of flavour...
they will soon harden into round seeds....
the hover flies are.. i read.. supposed to love hunting and eating aphids... but maybe there is a different species for that...
ladybugs are what are required for the job...
not a slug in sight all this time...
there may not have been anything for them over the years... ever... so no colonies here....
but there are wild weeds up on the roofs of an obselete bit of the building... hope they're not infested with slugs
but like i say.. none at all... i expect it takes them days to migrate and it is not easily accessible for them here...
I saw swarms of those busy little flies of the evening that look a bit like midges but I think are not sanguivorous... they were busily
oscillating four feet above the centre of the yard right in the middle. I have created a little micro ecosystem, I find beauty in it.
Home 2. Paintings 3. Conceptual 4: Memory Flinch p5 Photographs 6. Urban Farming
21 June 08-
Gardening for Change
"New beginnings are in the offing" (Joseph Beuys)
IN VIEW OF changing priorities and rethinking of global food, supply and energy matters; in an attempt to learn, encourage and educate, I begun urban gardening using windowsills and the tiny concrete yard behind my flat. In some ways, continuing a work begun by artist Joseph Beuys in the 1960s.
This is an experimental step towards localised economies and healthy diet. We should prepare to self support as communities in order to promote ecological balance and free ourselves from over-dependence on corporate control of our food needs.
I believe we must reduce our dependency on oil, and that localised economies and urban farming are a key element in such action. If it means we don't have to import so much food, it means less oil consumption. There is a heavy political/social price to pay for oil.
BBC NEWS HOMEPAGE June 08 article URBAN FARMING
tomato flowers, pollenated, soon to drop
11th July 08: Radish, basil, lettuce, tomato- things are
coming on a bit
THE BEGINNINGS; 21st June 08
tomatoes, lettuce, spinach beets,
radish, cauliflower, broccoli,
wild rocket germinating
First life- late June coriander........Basil
and capsicum seedlings
and capsicum seedlings
My first tomatoes
The yard...
three or four square metres of enclosed concrete with little sunlight
Potatoes, coriander, French beans, garlic, lettuce, peppers, chilli, radish,
not only a source of excellent food but transforms this this ugly yard
not only a source of excellent food but transforms this this ugly yard
Wildness in the kitchen...
Home-made bread
Home-made bread
DECIDED TO TRY nettle soup. So went walking with plastic bag and gardening gloves to gather nettles. Took only tops, leaving rest for insect habitat. In kitchen stripped a good amount of leaves from stems with gloves, being careful not to include any flowers. Apparently it's best to pick them earlier in the season when not flowering, but I ignored this*. It means the stems are too tough to cook, so it means extra effort picking the leaves.
* I later read that mature nettles can irritate the kidneys but experienced no discomfort
While I plucked the leaves I had some garlic, onion and diced baby potatoes with skins sautéing in soup pan. After sautéing I added all the ingredients to a plastic bowl with water saved from potatoes boiled earlier in the day. I included a vegetable stock cube then covered bowl with a soup dish and put in microwave for fifteen minutes (bonus-you get nice hot dish to serve up in). I then run it in the blender till fine.
The resulting soup was delicious; like creamed spinach but nicer. I reserved half the soup in a container and returned rest to microwave but adding diced salami, giving it four more minutes. I now have veggie and non veggie options
perhaps best soup I've ever tasted.
Diced bacon in place of salami should be as delicious if not more so.
Cooking things in a microwave is quicker and uses far less power.
Cooking takes the sting out of nettles
nettle and salami soup with home baked
bread- delicious, nutritious
Cooking things in a microwave is quicker and uses far less power.
Cooking takes the sting out of nettles
nettle and salami soup with home baked
bread- delicious, nutritious
---------------------- Fresh nettles and reserved veggie version of soup -----------------cooking in microwave; fast, excellent, saves much power
Ingredients-
Freshly picked nettles, strip leaves, discard flowers
Sliced baby potatoes in skins
Chopped onion
Garlic cloves to taste
Vegetable or chicken stock cube
Water reserved from boiled vegetables if available
Salt
Black pepper
Diced salami or bacon (0ptional but delicious)
Nettle stir fry
INGREDIENTS AS SEEN below, include wok-ready noodles in
sachet (behind orange capsicum). Red object issalad washer
for rinsing nettles. Chinese container- regular soy sauce used as
sautéing liquid, added copiously shortly after the noodles
The white vegetable in front of the orange capsicum is a skinned
and halved onion the other half of which was sliced and included
in the recipe
.
The empty dish speaks for itself
Nettle Curry and Cous-Cous
AN EXPERIMENT in which the ingredients included potato, onion, garlic, palm oil, fresh coriander, dried coriander, coriander seeds, grated ginger, cinnamon bark, salt. The same batch of nettles from 3 days ago, starting to wilt slightly but no rotting.
Curry served with cous cous instead of rice. It's light, won't
bag you up, requires minimal fuel. It's also cheap and
there appears to be no shortage
Cook the cous cous in a Thermos container-
with a nob of butter and some salt; pour boiling water
into it, to twice the volume of grain, affix lid, lay on its side
and leave for minimum five minutes: Stays hot and ready to
serve for a long time. Very fuel efficient**
If it contained chick peas and was cooked in ghee or vegetable ghee this would be exceedingly tasty.
Nettles might also work well in curried lamb or goat.
Search for nettle curry recipes online.
** Don't fill a kettle for one cup of tea, only boil what's needed: Freshly boiled, NOT reheated water makes superior
tea. Reheated water loses oxygen
Nettle notes- Uncommonly nutritious, would deliciously enhance
fish
chicken
lamb
goat
ricotta pastries
quiche
pasta
curry
veggie burgers
tofu
and much more
fish
chicken
lamb
goat
ricotta pastries
quiche
pasta
curry
veggie burgers
tofu
and much more
23 June 08 New seedlings appear in their containers:
LETTUCE, RADISH, spinach beets, basil, cauliflower; the radishes appeared overnight
and were the fastest of all to develop. Leaves are relatively large for fresh growth and are
red tinged. Lettuce buds are tiny but the basil sprout is very tiny. Excepting the basil, which
took a while, these things were planted only 2 days ago. Capsicum and coriander are slow
developers: They were planted perhaps 3 weeks ago and took over 2 weeks to germinate
24 June,
MORE SEEDLINGS including quite prolific wild rocket, more lettuce and spinach beet.
The radishes have really come on superfast
SOYA BEANS
WHAT A RICH discovery- I bought a 25p (50c) bag of organic soy beans, probably half a kilo intending to make tofu and soy milk.
There were byproducts in the process, all of which were edible and gave unprecedented depth of flavour from seasonings and other foods the byproducts are cooked with. One 25p bag inspired much experimental cooking and contributed so much by way of bulk and flavour enhancement, that it has provided delicous, nutritious, top quality food for nearly a week, that may have cost me around £4 ($8). I have at least another day's worth of soya food to get through yet
It is notable that soya beans do not appear to cause a flatulence problem.
I have learned something about tofu making. It is much tastier fresh; I know now how to make it more successfully and in proper quantitiy next time.
Here are the dishes I recall enjoying- I noticed a considerable increase in the flavour and quality of my cooking during these processes. Could my love and enthusiasm have played the biggest part? I can't decide, perhaps if you try it you could let me know what you think.
Soya milk milkshake with honey and carob (vanilla essence would improve this but I'd run out)
Scrambled tofu on home bake bread toast, with rosemary, parsley and thyme
Fried vegetables with creamy tasting soya mulch left over from milk making
Soup from above and the leftover bean crumbs, included capsicum, potato, onion, herbs
Soup made from the whey left from tofu making plus bean crumbs and vegetables
Veggie burgers made from the bean crumbs, with egg replacer to bind
Mexican spicy beanburgers made from bean crumbs
Both above served with excellent home baked burger rolls
Spaghetti Bolgnese using soya crumbs- totally champion! Served on wholewheat spaghetti topped with olive oil, sea salt, pepper and cottage cheese. I used yeast extract to beef up the taste
I still have a large pot of great soup
a veggie burger and a bean burger
SOME GARDENING NOTES... LEARN AS I
GO.... THE TOMATO CRISIS
think i figured the tomato problem.... by studying online. Most likely is magnesium deficiency.. but also likely because i was late in starting the toms...
and when transplanted, the soil may have been too cold: this too can cause bloom end rot...
and that is what we have.... for sure now.... i can see how it has developed... it is typical in some types of case that only the earliest fruit rots... so far this is exactly so. The way leaf discoloration is depicted for mag defic... looks accurate...
so... bloom end rot and yellowing dying leaves indicate mag defic...
one treatment for immediate action... foliar spray of epsom salts...
so happened to have just that in the house...
so have given the plants a heavy misting of solution of epsom salts...
let some into the soil too...
not a radically strong solution... see if this works...
chances of fruit ripening this late... not sure... has been little bright sun for the past month... now autumn is creeping towards us...
it can be felt in the stiffness of the weather... not cold yet... but not summer anymore...
glad of opportunity to learn...
i still must find more wild foods....
i will try some clover soon...
plenty around in country...
i got some blackberries...
i may try and find a lot to make preserve....
i have indoor chili plants flowering...
discovered aphids all over them... sprayed with soapy water... that's meant to do the trick...
will check tomorrow and see.. but looks good...
have to now stimulate the flowers to get fruiting.... working on it....
was concerned tomato disease cld get chilis... but it seems it isn't viral but physical cause for toms...
i am learning... it is good that i am aware now of infection and hygene...
hope the chillies ripen up good.... next year will plant earlier...
basil is massive and fragrant...
the chilis and a tomato plant... all in stages of blossom are in my bedroom
i have developed of late an irriatation of the sinuses and back nasal throat area...
i thought perhaps was getting virus of respiratory system.... felt like early onset of that...
had mild breathing irritation that mildly disturbed sleep in night....
i am guessing that either this one tomato plant is causing it... or.... since chili is an irritant...
and they started blooming so lately... it is in fact more likely to be chili pollen causing discomfort...
so they will have to migrate rooms at night at least... but shame because they love the bedroom windowsill
and with the curtain drawn it traps and reflects heat in the window area and they love that...
it would be the way to bring fruit on them...
but... ok... lesson... when in bloom... they probably aren't good to share bedroom with...
the yard has attracted various bug life...
this is a nice feeling.... lot of spiders....
we need them...
and a lot of hover flies were drawn to the flowering coriander... they love that and did a great job of pollinating it...
the tiny fruits on the coriander taste exquisite... a poweful but delicate burst of flavour...
they will soon harden into round seeds....
the hover flies are.. i read.. supposed to love hunting and eating aphids... but maybe there is a different species for that...
ladybugs are what are required for the job...
not a slug in sight all this time...
there may not have been anything for them over the years... ever... so no colonies here....
but there are wild weeds up on the roofs of an obselete bit of the building... hope they're not infested with slugs
but like i say.. none at all... i expect it takes them days to migrate and it is not easily accessible for them here...
I saw swarms of those busy little flies of the evening that look a bit like midges but I think are not sanguivorous... they were busily
oscillating four feet above the centre of the yard right in the middle. I have created a little micro ecosystem, I find beauty in it.
Home 2. Paintings 3. Conceptual 4: Memory Flinch p5 Photographs 6. Urban Farming
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