Last year when I started my vegetable garden journey, I realized very quickly the amount of water you need to make the whole garden cooking project work.   Quite simply; vegetable gardens wont grow without an abundance of water.   After a few very hot days in late December, it dawned on me that perhaps growing vegetables in your garden in Australia was a dodgy thing to do especially when you need to water them everyday.   But I didn’t let that get the better of me, we had a water tank installed, like most properties in Melbourne.   Very quickly I got into the habit of watering our plants at night, as I believe, they have the greatest chance of absorbing the water before it evaporates by the sun. 
However, upon doing this from a water tank and hose, and although it is quite relaxing, it is difficult to establish just how much water each plant is getting and I think its quite an inefficient way of caring for your garden.   So we purchased a soaker hose and buried it just under the mulch layer in the vegetable garden.   The mistake we made was to then leave the soaker hose on over night, as we thought that the amount of water coming from the soaker hose could not possibly drain the tank over night.   But after a couple of nights in late December we quickly realized that our precious water storage had been reduced to a mere puddle!
For those of you who have a cold climate during these months I just paint a general climate picture for you.  

• November-December:  Normally hot and dry with the occasional shower, but not enough to fill your tank.  Temp range 24-30 degrees.
• January – February:   Very, very hot, windy and dry.   Rare it is that we have rain.  Temp ranges in this time 27-47 degrees.
• March-April:  Remaining hot but now may have some cooler temperatures,  and some showers.  Temp ranges 30-22 degrees.

So essentially what I had done was to completely empty our tank before I had even got my vegetables through the extremely hot and dry temperatures.   Consequently, with the hot days that followed last year, most of my garden failed because I just couldn’t protect it and I didnt‘ have the water to water it with. 
This year, however, its a slightly different story;  I have a full water tank, the soaker hose is primed, ready and buried underground but I yet to use the tank water.   I am saving it for those hotter months.  At the moment the vegetables are being watered in two ways:

1. To save the cold water out of the shower, into a bucket before it heats up;
2. Saving cold tea/coffee from my teapot & coffee percolator.  I keep a bucket in my kitchen that collects all of this wonderful organic matter as well as the cold water that would otherwise be wasted down the drain before heating up to do the dishes.

On average I have two extra buckets of water that get emptied on my garden at the end of the day.   And its not rocket science, just takes a little bit of commonsense and concern for our water storage and environment.   Would love to hear how you save water for your garden cooking in your home. 
Ny.

Technorati Tags: cooking, gardening, reduce water, Water saving

At our house we have a song, its called “my dad is eating all the mushrooms”  and although I can’t really tell you the melody of the song as I may have to record it and upload it at some other time,  I can tell you that the words describe exactly what is happening.    Snacking on Mushrooms is an easy and extremely healthy way for the whole family to have those essential vitamins and minerals available to the body to use.     And as mushrooms can be picked directly from your garden cooking mushroom box, its no wonder more people aren’t doing this.   

Now I know the flavor of the mushroom is quite and intense one and that its one that not alot of people like, however, raw mushies as opposed to cooked mushrooms,  I think tend to have a less concentrated flavor.   And they are just great for parties etc as a biscuit substitute.  After removing the stalk you can then fill the mushroom with a mixture of cream cheese and spring onions, even add in some lemon thyme and salt n’ pepper to taste, load a half a cherry tomato on top and WOW what a sensational  snack.     There are many variations on this method,  mixing up your mushies, has some other fantastic ideas for using mushrooms with other ingredients for entertaining. 

Grab a handful of raw mushies  (5 in a bunch) to eat and you are taking in a low fat, low cholesterol snack.  But  in addition to that mushies contain some of the  highest levels of antioxidants.  As well as this they contain selenium and copper which also aid the immune system, the thyroid systm, assist in cancer prevention and the male reproductive system.  So this means they are great for boosting the immune system.. They are an excellent source of fiber which helps you to feel full and keeps you regular.  They are rich in vitamins like D, phosphorus, and vitamin K and B vitamins such as Riboflavin, Niacin and Biotin.  Riboflavin assist to promote healthy skin, good vision and keeps the digestive and nervous system in tack.  

It is good to remember however, that mushrooms just like any vegetable tend to loose their vitamin content once cooked.  So if you can entice your kids to eat them raw, all the better for them.   Still I prefer to eat the mushrooms any way I can

But possibly the best advantage to growing mushies is that you can virtually grow them all year, you can involve your children in the process and they will LOVE watching them and seeing them grow.   All you need to do is buy a mushroom growing kit and you’re off.   The instructions are easy to follow and really the only real issue I had was ensuring the box is kept in a dark warm cupboard, and watering them.   But once one or two “babies” start appearing its not long before you will have loads of fresh available mushrooms to enjoy.

I would love to hear how you go with this, looking forward to your mushroom feedback!

Ny.

Technorati Tags: mushroom, Vitamins

I have to tell you that cooking isn’t just something that came my way out of thin air.  No sir, cooking has been in my blood for generations.  In my life I have pursued other career alternatives but for some odd reason I just keep getting pulled back to food, but more importantly using garden cooking to ensure, explore and enhance the cooking in my kitchen.  Everything I do is food, I love to eat it, talk about it, read about it and most of all I love to learn about it.   You know I’m the kind of person who is just not satisfied with following a recipe.   Sure, I’ll  give a new recipe a go but if somewhere along the line I feel as though it needs a added flavor boost or a new dimension to give the dish an added extra “zing”, well then I’ll just add it in.   You know you can have just boring old risotto, but add some fresh silverbeet from your garden, some lemon thyme and some parsley and you’ll be a success in the kitchen.   Its about focusing on flavour and making the little adjustments along the way that give you that fantastic cooking result.

My mother, how is an avid recipe follower, thinks I’m crazy,  but she does love a lot of the garden cooking

I guess it all started out with my Nanna, my mother’s mother.   Apparently it was she who had a real flair, a real passion for cooking.    In those days, nothing was wasted so there was a big deal made about preserving food when it was in season, like tomatoes.  Making jam and marmalade was another big day for the family to participate in.  Not only did she pass a lot of techniques down to her children, but I think through her passion, her children developed their own passion for cooking.   My mother tells me that she remembers Nanna teaching them in the kitchen, involving them in nearly every  cooking preparation step along the way, so that while they were learning they were actually enjoying making things and taking a pride in the participation of the end result.    So my Nanna had three children, all three have this undoubted  passion for food and cooking.   

My mother, loves experimenting with new ingredients and new flavors  every weekend she’ll come up to me and show me something new she has discovered in the local newspaper or magazine that she is going to try out.   And she has never been afraid to give something a go.    She loves flavors and textures of food  and loves it when these two things work harmoniously together to form a fusion in your mouth.    Mum has always been keen on bottling the freshest produce as well, she is well known around my town and my friends for her home made tomatoe sauce.  On a hot day in the middle of summer, when the tomatoes are ripe and ready to preserve, you can walk down our street and smell the aroma of my mother cooking a  massive pot of bubbling tomatoes for her sauce.   The last time she did this, she set up a little wok burner on the back veranda and sat out in the morning sunshine cooking her tomato sauce away.   She did this not only to keep her kitchen cleaner, as the tomato sauce is known for bubbling quite a bit, as much as she did it to get away from the heat. 

But above and beyond all of that its my families influence on cooking, and their passion for garden cooking that has and still is being passed on through the generations now to my own children.  What a beautiful thing it is to see a young child and his grandmother, aunt, uncle or mother in the garden, tending to the fresh produce and harvesting it ready to use in a recipe.    My Son loved watching Nanna cook the tomato sauce so much so that he can’t wait for this years harvest, to make more.   Its just such a majical learning process involving your children in your garden cooking, they learn so much about harvesting, planting, feeding the garden and then cooking the produce while at the same time they are spending quality time with you.   Not to mention there is just nothing that beats the flavour, texture, taste, and nutritional content of vegetables from your own garden. s

Technorati Tags: Garden cooking