Amaize'ing

I've got corn in my backyard and I can't help singing the ridiculous line from the musical Oklahoma about how the corn was "as high as the elephant's eye". The boys think it's funny.

This is such a magical crop for the kids to experience. They helped sow the seeds, and watched the young seedlings grow. They watched how mummy fed them "chicken poo", and how they grew and grew and grew (as high as the elephant's eye!). Then the fruits appear, husks and silks and all. We pulled one out, though not quite ready for harvesting. I wasn't sure how we were going to eat it, this was our first time growing corn. When will it be ready? Lucas and Lily shared the corn, they devoured it, right there and then no cooking required. And then shouted more, more, more!

I had a little taste.... it was unbelievably sweet. I think we might be getting a bumper crop this year!


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My Vegetable Garden

There is SO much stuff happening in my vege garden right now. Vines are growing everywhere! Monster zucchini plants, cucumbers rolling about, tomatoes, eggplants, chillies, capsicum, sage, rosemary, basil, chives, lemon grass, hairy melon, rocket, lettuce, pumpkin and maize. It's haphazard, it's chaotic, it's gone crazy after a few rainy spells.

When my dad came for a visit a couple of months ago, he built 5 vegetable plots from planks of wood. Impatiently, I threw all my vegetable seedlings into the 2 plots (while he was still building the other 3!), chucked in some more seeds for good measure, heaped in lots and lots of manure, compost and all the good stuff. Now I need to commando crawl through the vines, to go looking for a spiky cucumber, or a glossy zucchini. I go into some sort of a sun salutation pose to pick chillies and tomatoes.

We've eaten lots of zucchini, made lots of chilli jam, picked and eaten lots of cucumbers, given some away and we still have heaps left in the garden. The corn is yet to bear fruits, as is the eggplant and pumpkin. There are lots of tomatoes ripening on the vine. The zucchinis just grow into monstrous proportions after a rainy day or two. It's mad!

There is a great deal of satisfaction to see a trug of beautifully fresh vegetables, grown organically at home. It's chemical and pesticide free! It is grown with love. The end result is rewarding and it just adds to the sense of well being, knowing that we are a part of the cycle of life and the production of food.

Dig, Plant, Grow...

...water, harvest, chop, cook.

There's a certain satisfaction in watching your kitchen garden grow that is unexplainable. The seeds that we sow, sprout little shoots, leaves, flowers. The slugs and snails come uninvited, aphids, caterpillars and downy mildew. And it takes such a long time! Not to mention the costs, laying down a garden bed, seeds, seedlings, soil, lime, manure, fertilisers and more.

It's so much easier to buy vegetables from the shops is it not?


This is what my cauliflower looks like, after 5 months. Just yesterday, I bought a head of cauliflower, with lovely firm white florets for $1.20.


I read in the books, that beetroot should be harvested when it is roughly the size of a tennis ball. I pulled a bunch out today. I have beetroots the size of... marbles.


Aahh... silverbeet. They are so easy to grow, I have harvested yet again and again. The leaves rich, glossy green. But no one else eats them in this household...but me. And my mother-in-law told me, once upon a time ago, in their village in China, they fed it to the pigs.

Sigh...


Brussel Sprouts! Cute little buttons that has just started to appear... I can't wait to sink my teeth into them.


Well, at least my cabbage does look semi decent if I say so myself. It is now the size of a mini (junior) football.

Nevertheless, there has been some successes (no doubt more failures) and the kids are fascinated with the whole process of it all. There is so much pleasure in stepping outside into the garden, and picking just what I need for the next meal. In saying that, my herb garden in flourishing. There is SO much mint, lemon verbena, rosemary, Vietnamese mint and coriander. Please feel free to pick some if you're in the area. A kitchen garden is rewarding after all.



And on that note, my Kitchen Garden Companion (RRP $125) arrived in the mail last week. I am so excited! I waited 2 months on pre-order from www.bookdepository.co.uk and paid a little less than $40 for it with free shipping! Stephanie Alexander is such an inspiration, an Aussie icon. Her role in initiating the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation is tremendous. And this promotes a kitchen garden programme for primary schools across the country, in the belief that the earlier children learn about food through example and positive experience, the better their food choices will be through life.

Let's pray for my kitchen garden, let it be a positive experience for the sake of my children!