Edible Campus volunteer Isabelle Low writes: Annoying weed or good for the environment? Bumble bees, beetles, birds, butterflies and a host of other beneficial insects all look to the dandelion as a source of nourishment in early spring. It is not a preferred food, but it does help fill the gap when other sources are not available and in spring dandelions exist in abundance. But
itRead More…
Edible Campus volunteer Isabelle Low writes:
Lots of rhubarb in all the Edible Campus gardens at present: fresh and juicy. As well as rhubarb crumble, why not try making rhubarb chutney?
This recipe is not sweet but it is punchy. I also make it later in the year using plums and then apples.
I had about 500g of rhubarb; to which I added a shredded onion and quite a lot of shredded garlic,Read More…
Edible Campus volunteer Isabelle Low writes: Here is a further recipe using seasonal nettles. Thanks to Lindy Maclean for sharing this recipe. Ingredients 200g freshly picked nettle tops 1kg granulated sugar 40g
citric acid (1 tsp of citric acid = 4 tbsp lemon juice). 500ml
water Sterile
glass bottles with tops, either screw or cork Instructions Step
1: Collect, washRead More…
ChervilLovageNettles Edible Campus volunteer Isabelle Low writes: as I posted last month, we are now into the hungry months when locally sourced fresh veg is hard to come by. So let me introduce you to the new growth in my herb garden: chervil, which springs up far ahead of parsley and can be used instead. And lovage which tastes a bit like celery so can be used a lot in soup. I’m cropRead More…
By Isabelle Low Come spring, the winter crops of cabbage and kale and leeks have bolted and the stores of potatoes, onions and roots are running out. Spring vegetables have only just been sown and won’t be ready to harvest until May and June. Eating in the hungry months in medieval times was both hard and uninspiring – a diet dominated by old potatoes, cabbage and wormy apples. PresRead More…
Are you
doing Veganuary? Good for you! A few
suggestions. On a vegan diet, it’s
really important to make sure that you eat a balance of 50% vegetables and
fruit, 25% protein (beans or nuts) and 25% good carbohydrates (wholemeal rice or
wholemeal pasta) plus a bit of oils (olive is best). Please
consider carefully before you buy out of season or exotic plants which have
beRead More…
By Isabelle Low Whether your
centrepiece is a turkey (hopefully organic and free range) or like me a stuffed
portobello mushroom, there needs to be a lot of traditional vegetables as
supporting cast. Let’s first
think of a huge tray of roasted root vegetables. Parsnips: so good
chopped length wise and roasted. Beetroot: ideally
multiple varieties, quartered and roasted
Read More…
By Isabelle Low Lots of
potatoes being lifted this month in our Edible Campus gardens. To keep
them fresh for as long as possible,
clean off as much soil as you can, and let them dry off completely. Then store somewhere dry and dark and cold. Potatoes
come in 3 groups: first earlies (small and tasty and ready by June or July);
second earlies (a bit bigger and ready over the Read More…
Isabelle Low Our Edible Campus gardens are currently awash with runner beans. They are one of the superheroes of any vegetable garden: reliable to grow, prolificly productive, no significant predators or diseases, plus they give a payback by setting nitrogen into the soil. Their only drawback is that they need to be planted out only when the risk of overnight frost has passed so Read More…
It’s February and the community gardens still have food in them, including Brassicas, the cabbage family plants. Kale, cabbage, and brussels sprouts are still green and seem to shrug off the snow and frosts and even keep growing (all be it slowly). So what tasty treats can we make with these? One of my favorites is Kale Chips. For Kale Chips, all you need are: some kale leaves- washed, the tRead More…
This post is written by Seth Nolan-McDonough, a first year studying Psychology, Social Anthropology, and Ancient History. Seth has been a keen garden volunteer, spoiling us with different species of chilies, and helps with general Transition publicity. As the days get shorter and the cold sets in, we unfortunately no longer have the delicious tomatoes, courgettes and other summer vegetables tRead More…
With all the recent activity in the gardens, there’s been a lot of preparation for the coming months – what we’re going to grow for our summer salads, autumn crops and for storing over the winter. We can get a bit preoccupied with the never ending battle with the weeds, but at this time of year some of these weeds are the tastiest crops around! Spring was traditionally known as the ‘hungryRead More…
