Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue#5.6 i Good Organic Gardening

It’s with very mixed emotions that I type my editor’s note for this edition. Rarely has an opportunity existed for me to be able to write about, photograph and convey a way of life that I have evolved for more than 30 years, but that’s what our magazine has been for me. Of course, hand in hand with that has been my passion for nature (particularly birds and insects), the environment and wild places (I’ve long been a keen and dedicated ocean kayaker in my life outside these pages). Becoming editor of this magazine was a highlight of my journalistic career — in fact, a highlight of my life. I have learnt so many things and met the most amazing people along the way. Being at the helm has been…

Whether you grow the hearting lettuces or the pick-and-eat leafy salad greens — or probably both kinds — these crisp delights are easy to grow, productive and a year-round eating and growing pleasure. There are basically four types of lettuce: cos types, which are upright with loose hearts; crispheads, such as iceberg, with a firm heart surrounded by tightly folded crunchy leaves; butterheads, which have soft, folded leaves and round hearts; and loose-leaf varieties, which can be grown to provide a continuous pick-and-eat crop. Let’s look at these green beauties in a little more detail. LETTUCE Lactuca sativa Every garden should have a patch of lettuce. It’s fast growing and highly productive, and you can grow it year round in many areas, so you get an endless supply of fresh…

BARBARA’S FAMOUS SOUP Stock 3–4 lamb shanks to a large pot ½–¾ pot fresh filtered water Salt to taste Ground pepper to taste Fresh parsley to taste Fresh oregano to taste (or another other herb you desire) Ingredients 3 big onions, chopped 4–6 carrots, diced 2–3 parsnips, diced Small bunch celery, chopped 2 handfuls stringless beans, chopped Bunch silver beet, chopped Tin tomatoes 2 cups barley 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 3 tbsp tomato sauce 1 lemon, squeezed Dash nutmeg Method In a large pot add stock and all ingredients including sauces. On medium heat, bring to boil. Simmer for 1½ hours and adjust taste and water volume to your taste. Allow to cool and freeze in containers. Date and label containers. Another much-used recipe is the silver beet salad Barbara…

VEGETABLES COOL & TEMPERATE Save seeds from top-performing summer crops to replant in spring — store in a labelled jar. Use any green tomatoes that remain on bushes for relish and chutney. Harvest the autumn bounty of mushrooms and pumpkins. Store spare pumpkins in a cool, airy spot to use through winter. Early crops of kale and snow peas are ready to pick. Chokos, too, are bountiful and at their most tender picked small. These vines can be cut down by winter frost, so make sure chokos are growing in a frost-free spot. Clear away summer crops to make way for autumn and winter plantings of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and peas as well as garlic and onion. TROPICAL If you plant nothing else this month, plant herbs. They…

Serves 4 Ingredients • 1 papaya, deseeded & skin removed • 1–2 fresh limes, depending on size • Pinch Himalayan rock salt Method 1. Slice and arrange the papaya on a platter, squeeze the fresh lime juice evenly over it and sprinkle with a pinch of Himalayan rock salt. 2. Leave for up to 3–4 minutes and allow the alchemy of the lime and salt to go to work on activating all the digestive enzymes in the papaya. This makes a great aperitif to a protein meal as the enzymes released aid in the breaking down and digestion of protein.…

Bean sprouting has gained popularity in recent years for use in Asian-style dishes and for the benefits to our health. Sprouts have become a regular addition to the diet as a fresh, living food packed with vitamins and minerals. The long, white, crunchy sprouts we see for sale are soybeans, being a smaller seed variety used specifically for sprouting, common in Asian dishes. Mungbeans, too, lend themselves well to sprouting and can be used as a substitute, while other larger bean varieties tend to be more difficult to sprout. Sprouting methods Bean sprouts can be grown virtually anywhere and require very little space or equipment. Use only organic, untreated seeds when growing sprouts, as some seed may be treated with insecticides or fungicides. You will need a minimum of one…

Ingredients • 3 tbsp cold-pressed coconut oil or butter • 1 cup almond meal • ½ cup dry coconut flakes • ½ tsp vanilla powder • 4 medium green apples, cored but skin on • Aromatic spices such as cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon ( ½ tsp each) • 1 cup blackberries Method 1. To make the crumble topping, rub the coconut oil or butter into the almond meal and dried coconut flakes, add vanilla and set aside. 2. Quarter green apples and poach in a small amount of water and aromatic spices with berries, then place in a shallow dish or individual ramekins. 3. Spread coconut mixture over the top of apples and berries and bake in the oven at 120°C until top is golden brown. 4. Serve with cream,…

Clean Living Fast Food By Luke Hines & Scott Gooding, Hachette, RRP $29.99 Personal trainers and My Kitchen Rules stars Luke and Scott have turned their “Clean Living” trademark into a publishing empire. This, their fourth book to carry that tag, is all about easing the transition to a healthy diet by putting what they call a “paleo spin” on fast food. Paleo is a back-to-basics diet that avoids anything cavemen didn’t eat. Rather than processed foods, gluten, dairy and grains, the paleo devotee eats only what hunter-gatherers consumed before large-scale farming: fish, game, poultry, vegies, fruit and nuts. Closely identified as they are with Sydney’s Bondi, Luke and Scott know their junk food, so this book is all about takeaway makeovers, from pizza to pad thai to fish and…

LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF THE ELEPHANT There are so many things to write about in an environmental news column and yet there’s really only one issue that defines the times and screams for our attention. Like so many, I’ve skirted around that elephant in the room, preferring to trace its outline and poke at its extremities rather than look it squarely in the eyes. It does appear that our collective disappointment is growing by the day with the ongoing failure of our elected representatives to do anything meaningful about climate change. Optimism gives way to a crushing sense of futility as the window of opportunity rapidly closes. Friends roll their eyes at the mere mention of it. How shocking that mainstream media is bored by the issue that will…

1. Zero waste. With up to 40 per cent of the average household garbage bin containing food waste, zero waste should be the aim of every restaurant and household. Composting won’t just save money and provide a rich source of organic matter for the garden; it will make a real environmental difference as well. 2. Fresh is best. Vegetables and fruit picked from the garden and eaten within a few hours taste so much better — you can really tell the difference. Try to buy local seasonal produce and ask your local supplier where it came from and how it was grown. 3. Experiment. When you have established what does well in your garden, try growing different varieties of these vegetables. Experiment with new flavours and tastes. Talk to your…

Roman and Jana are an inspirational couple who migrated from the Czech Republic five years ago to start a new life in the busy inner-Brisbane suburb of New Farm. Three years later, when their beautiful daughter Lada was born, they set out to create an organic, productive environment where recycling, sustainability and self-sufficien cy were at the centre of their daily lives. As Roman puts it, “Lada was the inspiration for us to show her that we were doing something positive to save the planet at a time in her young life when climate change was really something we need and needed to be concerned about.” The fact that they rent their home hasn’t deterred them one bit — if anything, it has encouraged them. And it doesn’t stop there.…

Serves 4 Ingredients • 2 tbsp coconut oil • 2 cloves garlic, chopped • 1 red chilli, chopped • 10g ginger, thinly sliced • 1 bunch spring onions, thinly chopped • Small knob turmeric, thinly sliced (optional) • 600g minced chicken • 1 tbsp sesame seed oil • Juice 1 lime • 1 large bag bean sprouts • 2 sticks celery, thinly sliced • 1 Lebanese cucumber, finely diced • Handful cherry tomatoes, halved • 1 red onion, finely diced • Handful mint, chopped • Handful coriander, chopped • 1 iceberg lettuce, layers separated into cups Method 1. In a large sauté pan or wok, heat the coconut oil and sauté the garlic, chilli, ginger, spring onions and turmeric for 2 minutes. 2. Add the chicken mince and work it…

Q How do you tell when a pumpkin is ripe? A Because there are so many different types of pumpkins, colour isn’t always an indication of ripeness. One of the best ways to tell if a pumpkin is ripe is to knock on the fruit. If it sounds hollow, it’s ready to harvest. You’ll also know your crop is ready to be picked when the pumpkin stalk becomes hard and cracked. The skin on the fruit should be hard, too. If you can easily puncture the skin with your fingernail, it needs more time to mature. When you harvest your pumpkins, be sure to leave a long stem attached to reduce the risk of the fruit rotting, particularly if you’re going to store them. Q I want to create some…

Cat’s ear looks similar to dandelion but is not edible. Cat’s ear has yellow dandelion flowers on divided stems. The true dandelion has a rosette of leaves with one flower per stem. A plant may produce several flower stems. Don’t harvest dandelions from roadsides or wasteland areas where they may have been sprayed with herbicide or polluted either by passing traffic or prior land use. To make dandelion coffee (also called dandelion root tea), harvest mature plants with a large taproot. Remove the foliage, then dry the long root (it looks a little like a white carrot). Chop the dried root, roast it in a slow oven, then grind the roasted root into coffee-like granules. Harvest new growth to use in salads or steamed as spinach. Older leaves may be…

• Roman and Jana make all their own cleaning products and reduce household energy use via solar hot water and a solar oven. They use aloe vera to make toothpaste, shampoo and moisturiser and are now experimenting with it in their cooking. • They harvest water from the roof with two 5000-litre rainwater tanks and distribute it with a gravity-feed watering system using a recycled vacuum cleaner hosepipe and fittings. Greywater is used to irrigate the bananas. • Pest control is almost a non-issue as the garden is a natural ecosystem where pests are controlled by predators such as birds and a huge variety of beneficial insects. • They make protein traps with stewing bones popped into old olive oil tins with holes in the bottom so the protein-rich larvae…

VEGETABLES COOL & TEMPERATE Beans, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, tomatoes and the bountiful zucchini are ripe for the picking this month. Keep harvesting regularly so the crop continues and to avoid over-mature fruits. Zucchini, in particular, turn rapidly from sweet finger-sized vegetables to large, watery marrows. Share what you can’t eat or take steps to preserve your harvest. Excess crops can be bottled, preserved as pickles, relishes, chutneys, sauces or jams, dried or frozen for later use. As the month progresses, some crops are affected by powdery mildew, which may be seen on zucchini, pumpkin and cucumbers. Dieback caused by leaf nematode can affect tomatoes. Rooting out affected plants is the best control. As crops are removed, dig in or spread compost to ready the beds for planting cool-season crops such…

Serves 4 Ingredients • 4 × 150g chicken thighs • 200mL coconut milk • 2 star anise • Juice & zest 1 lemon & 1 orange Salsa • 2 mangos, diced • 2 kiwifruit, diced • Juice 1 lemon • 1 tbsp olive oil • 1 avocado, cubed • 1 cup bean sprouts • 1 red onion, chopped • 1 red chilli, chopped • Handful chopped coriander Method 1. Marinate chicken in coconut milk, star anise and citrus juices for up to 2 hours. 2. Poach on medium heat for about 10–12 minutes in oven or covered in a sauté pan on the stovetop. 3. Reduce marinade to half and blitz in blender to get sauce smooth (optional). 4. For salsa, combine all ingredients and serve on the side or…

Most of the year, gardeners and landholders are more likely to want to get rid of blackberries than to cultivate them. Blackberries are thorny, invasive weeds that often off er safe haven to pests such as rabbits. They are listed as a weed of national significance and are found beside roads, in wasteland areas and invading gardens, pastures and fields. In late summer, however, blackberries produce their sweet berry crop that’s ripe for foraging. Provided your local blackberry patch hasn’t been sprayed with herbicide and you watch out for snakes, it is safe to harvest blackberries from wild plants. For those who do want to cultivate blackberries, select thornless blackberries to plant. These have large, juicy fruits and are much easier to get along with as they lack thorns (although…

Makes 1 small jar Ingredients • 1 cup blackberries, washed • 1 green apple, washed & chopped into tiny nibble-size chunks • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice • 2 tbsp chia seeds Method 1. Add blackberries, apple and lemon juice to a small saucepan, over medium heat. 2. As it is heating up, smash the fruit with the back of a fork and continue to cook for 2 minutes until the juices start to bubble and the fruit breaks down. 3. Remove from heat and stir in the chia seeds and let sit for 3 minutes. Cool and store in a tightly sealed jar for about a week.…