Friday 6 April 2012

1st week of April


 I have started following a health and cruelty free 21 day eating protocol. It started a few days ago on April 2nd, but we've been away so I'm starting today. This one is run by PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine ) and once registered you have access to many resources ( videos, tips, recipes, etc. ) and they send you an email every day for the 21 days to help you stay on track and keep motivated. It's called the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. I'll put a link below if you want to take a look.

http://www.21daykickstart.org/

So today I've had porridge for breakfast. It had fruit - blackberries and apple. It had nuts and seeds - sunflower seeds and almonds.  It was delicious  ( I know I should keep my fruit intake down - sugar ! - but I'm determined to be kind to myself for the next 21 days and to enjoy it, so I'll be having some fruit until the end. ) I'm also going to start off some sprouted seeds. I never start sprouted seeds before I go away. There's no point as I don't seem to eat them if I take them with me - everything's so different - and I don't want to come back to old ones or ones I forgot in the sprouter and then have to clean out the mess. I have no firm plan for dinner yet. The plan calls for greens, grain, and a bean. The example given is kale, couscous, and lentils, or bean chilli and kale. Whatever I have there'll be more than 50 % of the plate covered in vegetables. I should have a plan for lunch, but as I ate breakfast for a late brunch I'm not going to be hungry for any lunch. Soup was suggested in case you're interested with white bean hummus and wholegrain bread. The plan if I need a snack is firstly miso soup and wheatgrass ( a packet of miso soup and a heaped teaspoon of wheatgrass powder in hottish water. No one's ever suggested this to me , it's my own harebrained idea, so nutritional properties may be lost, but it tastes surprisingly good. The miso covers the taste of the wheatgrass powder very well ! ) and later an  avocado. Apple and carrot are suggested, but I have an avocado which is in  just perfect condition and it would be a waste to let it get over ripened. It will be a decadent treat

My allotment this year :-
I have an allotment. It's terrific. Great decision to get one.
And I have a picture !!!!! I've never had a picture on my blog before !  Huston, we have lift off !!   O.K. The picture's not that great. Not a picturesque time of year on the allotment, and I took the photo as an afterthought. But still it's a work in progress. My allotment ends where you see my neighbours shed at the back and my next door neighbours shed on the left. There's a grass path to the right and then another neighbours fence and plot. Mine is what you call a half plot but it's plenty big enough for me.



What's ready for harvest on my allotment :-  kale, beetroot, celeriac, cabbage, sprouting broccoli, some brussel sprout tops, greens, and leeks . ( You can see the kale and brussel sprouts clearly on the photo )
What I'm ready to put in this week on my allotment :- potatoes, peas, broad beans, parsnips, carrots. ( there's others, but I'm keeping it simple and manageable. ) Traditionally  Good Friday is the day to plant potatoes. So if I get down today it's potato trenches I will be digging ! The potatoes are chitted and waiting eagerly to go into the ground.
What I've planted so far this year :- Red Barron, Centurion and Snowball onions,  garlic ( can't remember the varieties ! ) and elephant garlic.
Most exciting thing this year on the allotment :- There's a base down for a shed and the shed's going to be erected about the 16th of April !!!! Can't wait. It will be so much easier when I don't have to carry all my tools - my rake, my hoe, my fork, my watering cans, my little garden fork, my chair, etc.,etc. each time I go down. My plan's to put curtains up and keep a change of clothes down there as well as the tools. That way I can pop in any time I'm passing. I find I just don't go back if I have to go home to change and get all my tools. And with the price and scarcity of petrol it'll be more economical to be able to just pop in on the spur of the moment as I'm passing by.

What I've learned today :-

First - I've learnt to put photo's on my blog. At least I hope I've learnt and that my memory will hang onto the how to of it ! This is big. I follow other blogs and they are all full of beautiful images and make the posts so easy and pleasurable to read. I'm going to have to start taking more photo's. It will be nice to have a colourful blog.
I've also recently learnt that until the year 1752 the start of the year was considered to be March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation. In 1752 we adopted the Gregorian calendar and started our year on the 1st of January. Well, I must say that March / April seems a much better time of year to make a start on things. So many things seem to spring into life in the garden. January on the other hand is quite a dormant month with the cold and dark forcing me into hibernation inside ( and I'm not alone ! ) . Bring back the March 25th New Year, I say, or better yet, how about April Fools Day ! Then we'll really feel like a new year's begun. Too much thinking was clearly going on and not enough observing and living when the !st of January was decided on and sadly, we've not looked back since.The Chinese have their own New Year in February. Let's have a rally to get our calender changed back to March ! Let's hear it for the British Isles New Year !!!