the green gal

The challenge continues

Day 4 of the store cupboard challenge and we're still eating remarkably well!

Tonight we dined on the British staple of sausages – veggie for me, organic pork for the hubbie – and mash with onion gravy. Not a compromise in sight!

Admittedly we are thinking a bit harder about meals than we used to. A wintery dish like this wouldn't usually be the natural choice in August but with the four seasons in one day weather (hum Crowded House quiety) – why not?!

The sausages were languishing in the freezer and the potatoes were a too-big bag I bought which were starting to go a bit green. So all in all a good store cupboard challenge day! And there are enough leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

Now, what Friday's dinner will be, who knows?

Store cupboard challenge

Inspired by Mrs Green at http://myzerowaste.com and Piper Terrett at http://frugal-life.spaces.live.com the hubbie and I have embarked on a store cupboard challenge!

The challenge is to make meals only from food we already have, for one week. Only fresh fruit and veg can be bought, all accompanying ingredients have to come from our home. Seeing as we only have two ripe tomatoes (but 47 green) so far, that limits us to the store cupboard.

Last night we had veggie fajitas.

Tonight it's pasta salad with stuffed peppers.

What will tomorrow's feast be I wonder?! If you've done anything similar or have any suggestions, let me know!

(PS You can still win a veggie-growing book if you comment on my post Gardening Lessons Learned!)

In a jam

I'm a happy woman. I have achieved something that I've never achieved before. I have made jam!

My mum has made it, my dad made it, I'm pretty sure my next door neighbour has made it but never before have I made a proper pot of jam, that tastes good and everything! And not just one pot, my friend, three, I made three pots of blackberry jam.

What makes it taste even sweeter (sorry) is that I didn't even pay for the blackberries. I collected them from the hedgerows I pass every day on my dog walk. I was determined to get in early with the blackberry picking this year after missing out on the majority of them last year.

Last year was not a good year for jam making in my household. 

Last year we didn't have a dog and so didn't take as many walks or take as much notice of the blossoming of the hedgerows. When I finally cottoned on I needed to get picking the only ones left were sited behind nettle bushes or at the top of the bushes. Ouch. Then, when I came to make the jam, for some odd reason I used two methods, rather than one, to decide if the jam was ready. I used a jam thermometer and the put-it-on-a-chilled-dish-and-see-if-it-crinkles methods, why, I've no idea. The end result was I became thoroughly confused and the jam set so hard you couldn't get a knife in it.

But this year was different. I kept it simple and it worked, hurray! This is the method I used:

• 1lb washed blackberries in a pan with the juice of one lemon and 1/4pint water, simmer for ten minutes to soften and give it a bit of a mash with a wooden spoon.
• Add 1lb jam sugar (includes the pectin), give it a stir and then turn up the heat to get it boiling.
• Use a jam thermometer to see when the jam is ready, it needs to reach 105º but my thermometer helpfully has 'Jam' written next to the correct temp!
• When it hits the mark, take it off the heat and leave it alone for 15 mins.
• Skim off any bubbly scum and pour into sterilised jars. (Easiest way to sterilise jars is to put them and their lids on a baking tray in the oven at 100ºC for ten minutes.)
• Leave to set, try not to keep checking it, anxiously wondering if it's ever going to firm up. It will and it will taste delicious!
• Cheerful fabric covers and pretty ribbon ties are optional but do make the jars look pretty enough for presents.

As well as tasting delish, jam-making is an eco-friendly past-time. I reused the jars, zero food miles for the berries as they came from the fields at the end of my road, and I have no need to journey to a shop to buy jam next time I want a peanut butter and jam sandwich! Plus it is super satisfying. To make as well as eat, I mean.

Watch out hedgerows, I'm coming for more berries! I might try making apple and blackberry crumble next...

PS Don't forget to comment on the Gardening Lessons Learned post below, you could win a fab Grow Organic book!

I’m planted!

So, I've launched myself fully into the world of vegetable growing. You've already read, in great detail, about the potatoes growing in tyres and since then I have planted a hanging basket, two veg beds and some pots! 

Deciding what to grow wasn't too tricky, we just went for what we like to eat that would work in our limited space. That means, as well as tatties, we have strawberries (in the basket), onions, salad leaves, purple-sprouting broccoli, sweet peppers, courgettes and a few herbs. Will be adding tomatoes to the collection once we have a window box in place.

However, the responsibility of planting – is the soil okay, are they they right depth/distance apart, are they in the best spot etc – took me by surprise. But now I've planted most of what I want to grow, the pressure to nurture and cultivate them into

edible crops is weighing even heavier on my shoulders! I think I expected to plonk the seeds/sets/plants in the earth, water them occasionally and then, in a while, eat their produce. Just like that. I didn't actually stop to think what else I need to do! So, any idea on how to do the best by my plants would be thankfully received!

Forget food miles, what about wine miles?!

There's been much publicity about food miles and how it's better for the food, CO2 emissions and British businesses for us all to buy food, where possible, that's been grown or produced in the UK rather than flown from a faraway country. (As bananas don't grow too well in the UK you can feel good about buying Fairtrade bananas.)

But what about the glass of vino you wash down your delicious locally-sourced meal with? A bottle of Australian sauvignon blanc seems a little incongruous now, doesn't it?

Well, without suggesting the UK abandon all New World wines, how about replacing the odd bottle in your shopping basket with one produced a little closer to home? Europe has been making fine wines for many a year before the trend for Antipodean plonk really took off. Or how about wine made from grapes grown on this very isle? The horror stories of English table wine are a distant memory, I'm pleased to tell you. Vineyards in England and Wales are producing some top wines that are really worth you tasting. 

According to English-wine.com, there are 400 commercial vineyards in England and Wales. Only a few miles from me is Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey, the largest vineyard in England. Among the wines they produce is a delicious fruity white – Surrey Gold – as well as three sparkling wines and three red. The Estate offers a tour of the vineyards, tasting sessions and 

a guide to how the wine is produced, plus a well stocked shop of course. Just a walk around the vines themselves is free and a pretty lovely way to spend an hour or two. 

Although the local supermarkets, farm shops and off licences sell Denbies wine, I don't know if their distribution reaches the far corners of the country. But with so many producers in the country there is bound to be a bottle or two on your local shop's booze shelves. Try it for a change, you might be pleasantly surprised!

For more info on Denbies Wine Estate go to www.denbiesvineyard.co.uk. For a list of English and Welsh wineyards go to www.english-wine.com