Living in Lockdown has taught many of us the importance of being self-sustainable and today I will share some of the lessons I learned with you.
When our lockdown started some just over 10 weeks ago, I was shocked that ordinary food items were scarce!
I know many people were stockpiling on stuff like...
Toilet Paper...simply weird and crazy I thought!
Tissues...perhaps just in case the hoarders got the virus, a tad understandable.
Hand sanitizers, masks and gloves were absolutely unobtainable.
I could live with all of that but not finding ordinary fresh produce like carrots and cabbage for example was just beyond me, so we started planting in all earnest again!
No food to share this week, but I will share with you how we've started kind of recycling veg off-cuts and expanding our veggie garden which now is coming along nicely.
We've been enjoying tons of lettuce which grew from a previous crop that self-sprouted; peas are clinging to hubby's trellis and the Butternut and Hokkaido Pumpkin seeds I saved have grown into strong plants with some flowering already, as are the green beans.
So I spoke about recycling vegetable and herb shoots earlier and you must be wondering what that is all about.
My Gran first taught me how to cut off the roots of Leeks, Spring Onions, Celery and even Carrots and plant them again.
Of course carrots can only be planted for their green leaves which are delicious added to soup, so they are planted with the roots facing up; all the other roots of course facing downwards
Young shoots of herbs such as Rosemary, Basil, Mint and Thyme can be placed in water and once they start rooting, you can plant them into a container and nurse them till they're stronger to be planted into the garden.
Garlic and ginger as well as potatoes that start forming eyes can also be planted to produce new plants and a new crop.
I will definitely keep you updated on the progress but this is one little leek that I replanted a while back that's starting to show some life again.
WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN ENJOYING FROM THE GARDEN
Our Pomelo tree has been a constant source of natural Vitamin C; this fruit has a ton of juice which we enjoy twice a day and really makes a lovely refreshing drink, not as tart as Lemon juice!
The Tamarillos have also been generous this year - a delicious fruit packed with Vit A, C and E as well as other nutrients with seedy pulp that one scoops out. The flavour is a mixture of passion fruit and guava, great in fruit salads. These trees were given to me by a dear old uncle who grew them from seed.
The curly lettuce has been super generous and is a constant supply for salads. These lettuces do not form a core so one simply snips off enough leaves for the daily salad.
Nasturtiums is another useful plant as one can constantly break off shoots and replant elsewhere; these are nature's antibiotic and are really tasty in salads and on sandwiches.
Same with Sprouts; grow your own on a sunny window sill and you'll have a constant supply of your own natural immune booster!
I hope I've given you enough food for thought on how inexpensive it can be to grow your own vegetables and herbs as my contribution to this week's Fruits and Veggies Monday hosted by @lenasveganliving, the absolute Queen of the most gorgeous Vegan Food here on Hive!
Credit also goes to the cheerful quirky creations of the wonderfully talented artist @barbara-orenya who certainly brightens up many communities here on Hive!
Original Content by @lizelle
Thank you for stopping by
Copyright @lizelle - All Rights Reserved
Banner created by @derangedvisions
Very cool! I assume just like myself, most ppl just throw what we perceive as "the veggie waste" into the compost!
You're right and that's what I've also been doing till our draconian lockdown when some veggies weren't available! I remembered that my Granny used to do this, probably something she learned during the years of the Great Depression which followed the Spanish flu! My grandpa used to tell how he was only 8 and had to walk for miles to get provisions as he was the only one who didn't get sick in his family but he was not allowed to go into town, had to leave the shopping list with the money at a pre-arranged place just outside town, then walk away and wait till the shopkeeper's delivery man came back with the goods, imagine having to do that at the age of 8!
Now I've gone and told you a long story;)
lol, it was interesting at least ;0
It's so hard to envision that way of life thoough... We're very lucky :)
Promoting Hive on Twitter
I wish we could grow ginger. I must try. Climate is not conducive. BTW carrots are an all year round crop. Thanks for these reminders..
What an abundance of food and advice. I love the pictures almost as much as your words! At first I thought that this post would be about cooking with the parts of vegetables that most people throw away but this is even better! :<)
Curated for #naturalmedicine by @vincentnijman.
We encourage content about health & wellness - body, mind, soul and earth. We are an inclusive community with two basic rules: Proof of Heart (kindness prevails) & Proof of Brain (original content). Read more here.
Our website also rewards with its own Lotus token & we'd love you to join our community in Discord. Delegate to @naturalmedicine & be supported with upvotes, reblog, tips, writing inspiration challenges for a chance to win HIVE and more. Click here to join the #naturalmedicine curation trail!
You are truly blessed with such a bounty my Dear Lizelle! All these fresh veggies and fruits! It's like you have your little paradise hidden from the outside world 💚🌿💚
WooooHooo
Your Pomello is my grapefruit. The season is over, now, but it was a dandy this year. My Cherry Tomatoes for this just past season were 2nd generation. I went to get ready to plant and I had a bunch of starts! Even better that they were free :)
I'm going to try a specific tomato in that patch (It's watered from the kitchen sink drain) that I'll buy in the local grocery and save one seedy slice to start new from. I've never done it, but what can I lose?
I'd call that leaf lettuce. I have a one man boycott of iceberg (head lettuce) it just takes WAY too much water for the return. Know that I live in the winter lettuce capital of the US. 85% of the winter lettuce in the US is raised in Arizona.
Thanks Lizelle! What a wonderful post.
You've been visited by @minismallholding from Natural Medicine.
I’ve featured your post in The Lotus Garden newsletter, which will be published tomorrow, and you have been selected as the recipient of the 5% beneficiary.
The Lotus Garden is a newsletter supporting content relevant to Homesteaders & supported by Natural Medicine. Earn LOTUS & HIVE for your #homesteading content!
About II Discord II Community
Thank you for sharing this @lizelle, it's a good timing that my boss change the soil in the garden, remove the old soul and buy a new one. I will these.
Beautiful vegetables!
Yum! You have been curated by @sajannair on behalf of FoodiesUnite.net on #Hive. Thanks for using the #foodie tag. We are a tribe for the Foodie community with a unique approach to content and community and we are here on #Hive.
Join the foodie fun! We've given you a FOODIE boost. Come check it out at @foodiesunite for the latest community updates. Spread your gastronomic delights on PEAKD.com and claim your tokens.
Join and Post through the Community and you can earn a FOODIE reward.
Upvote
Reading posts like this hammer home how much so many of us have forgotten, or neglect. There was a time when skills like this were essential for life. Now we do them and think how clever we are. (I Mean generally, not you.) It is so easy to go to the supermarket to get more of anything we need, so easy not to grow our own, and so we are losing the skills (generally speaking) of how to do so. It is the same for cooking, cleaning without heavy chemicals and a thousand other things that 120 years ago were simple essential skills.
It seems that all we need now are a phone and our two thumbs.
This is a lovely post. I am sorry my vote is not worthy of it, but is all I have to give.
Great info to share! Our ancestors taught us so many valuable lessons and now more than ever we need to be passing that knowledge along!
First time I had tamarillos, I was in Panama. There they call it tomate de agua. I used it for juice and also for flavouring some meat dishes. Pomelo grew there everywhere but no one was eating it. The locals did not like it. I loved it! Thinking that in Canada it was around 4-5$ a piece, I loved it even more as it came for free.