Olive oil and apricots. Where do yours come from?

I love fresh tomatoes and lettuce with olive oil in the salad dressing. My daughter enjoys dried apricots as a snack. If you buy these, watch this video and you'll be prompted to go through your kitchen cupboards and check packets and bottles to make sure the transport and production of them are not harming hard working fruit and veg growers like ourselves.



Added later:
I know readers are interested in this (see the comments below) - so am posting this extract from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign about labelling. Copy follows:

Decisions are being taken in April on the labelling of goods in supermarkets from illegal Israeli settlements - write to Hilary Benn TODAY

Lawyers from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the Food Standards Agency (Minister- Hilary Benn) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Minister- David Miliband) are right now drafting new guidelines on how goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories are labelled and sold in the UK. These guidelines are crucial in that they determine how supermarkets label produce form the illegal West Bank settlements.

Feedback from the supermarkets makes it clear that consumer action is having a significant effect on their attitude towards settlement goods. It is therefore urgent that we keep up the pressure on the government during the next 2 weeks. In particular we must pressure the Government to obtain, and publish, an expert legal opinion on whether or not trading with the settlements is itself legal.

Please write immediately to Hilary Benn (Hilary.Benn @defra.gsi.gov.uk), copying your letter to your MP, demanding that the labelling of settlement produce clearly indicates its illegal origins. There is a model letter available which includes the postal address. See Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Overwintering vegetables

Don't suppose any of you will be braving it out to the garden today. Absolutely freezing here. Stuck my nose out as far as our tiny courtyard though, and found some nice surprises.

The vegetables in this post started life in late OCTOBER 2008 in my three, small plastic greenhouses. True, they've all been neglected over Christmas. But they're holding their own, so this post shows what CAN be done to get a head start on Spring. After all, it's only January.

First up we have broccoli - grown in a blue plastic builders bucket. Used a knitting needle to make holes in the bottom for drainage. Broccoli is my little girl's favourite food (honestly!) and though there isn't a vast amount, there'll be some for a few nutritious snacks for her.

Then there's a new variety of lettuce: WINTER GEM. Specially bred to withstand winter in a cold greenhouse I'm happy to see it looks fresh, crisp and healthy. Won't be too long before that's salad material.

Last but not least there's GIANT WINTER SPINACH(below). A few weeks ago I thought I'd lost these to the heavy frosts but here they are, bouncing back. Soon the leaves will be big enough to add to a creamy, comforting pasta dish with home grown garlic.

Christmas Day Vegetables

After the lights went out around 8.p.m last night due to a fault (no chance of getting anyone out until Boxing Day) and I woke up to a blocked sink I admit Christmas stress started to get to me...

My three year old daughter and her beautiful smile saved the day. Looking at her I feel humbled, she is still totally happy with quite simple things.

Oh and then there's the prospect of fresh organically grown vegetables for Christmas dinner.

What's on the menu?

- A little home grown Giant Winter Spinach.
- Leeks (we have enough to last until February)
- Brussel Sprouts reared in pots
- Fresh Sage for Sage and Onion Stuffing
- Potato Dauphinoise with plenty of home grown garlic from the store

Didn't grow the carrots in the picture, great colour though. Maybe next year.
Enjoy yours and Happy Christmas all.

Success Story. Winter greens.

American Land Cress. Looks succulent and delicious, doesn't it?

Tastes very similar to water cress but (being land cress) you don't need water to grow it.
I mean - you need some water obviously, to water it - but you don't need to grow it in a stream or anything like that.

I sowed this batch of seeds in my plug planter back in September this year and planted the seedlings out when they were about two inches tall.

Looking forward to using it in salads, (egg?) sandwiches - I'm on the look out for new recipes too. Soup might be good - posh starters for a Christmas dinner perhaps...

Took this picture on one of the coldest days this week - so I know this crop will withstand a frost - in Cheshire at least. Seems like a really useful thing to grow. Especially since a small bag of organically grown water cress will set you back around £2 these days. If you can find it, that is.

This is the second time I've tried sowing land cress this year. The first batch I put in back in March - but those went to seed (bolted) almost immediately and we couldn't eat them. Land cress seems to prefer colder conditions and some shade. So now I know. I'm better off sowing these in September and keeping them for winter and Christmas greens.

Success story!


UPDATE: Just found this link for a watercress soup recipe - using the white parts of leeks and cream. Enjoy!

Red

There are times when a simple surprise blows you away.

On a cold, November day I venture out to the allotment. Cycling through some very large puddles I arrive there. Soaked to the skin.

Decide to pull up some raddichio. Wet, wet, wet clay soil clinging to the leaves - awful. Tatty and awful. Set off home again. It gets dark early - 4. o'clock in the afternoon. Geesh. More rain. Is it all worth it? At home I put the fire on and examine the sad specimens on our kitchen table...
Wait. The roots look long and strong. It doesn't seem to mind our heavy soil..

Peeling off the outside leaves unearths a slug-free gloriously crisp sea of crimson. I'm so glad I bothered. Lovely to see such colour now.

VERDICT:
(I found raddichio very easy to grow and I guess the heads cost us in total about 5p each. I've eaten it before in upmarket Italian restaurants but never so fresh, and never organically grown. So far we've eaten it with goats cheese, olive oil, bacon... - I understand the heads can be stored until Christmas - though I haven't tried this yet. My thinking is - it might make a lovely Christmas day starter...All in all it is a really useful crop to grow and harvest in November. We will definitely grow it again next year).

For more information about raddicchio click this link:

http://www.italianmade.com/