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Friday, May 30, 2014

Garden Share- June

 The wrap up for May and the heads-up for June. Links to all the other Garden Sharers can be found here. Thanks for organising this Lizzie. It's fun and interesting to see what is happening in different gardens all over the place.

Our month of eating no meat is almost at an end. I can't say that I have missed eating meat, there are plenty of exciting and humdrum recipes around to make vegetarian cooking tasty, interesting and even as one of my school friends used to say, "plain home fare". But, I have heard stirrings of discontent from other members of the household and come Sunday, June 1 they want meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What I have noticed in Meat-free May is that the garden is still feeding us fairly well. There isn't a lot of choice and there are some gaps that have to be filled at the greengrocers but that's to be expected at this time of year.

What I've also noticed is that in my part of the world at least, the menu options when eating out as a vegetarian are limited. Of course in some places there are fantastic restaurants catering to non-meat eaters but not here. It would seem in my nearest town, meat rules. Not surprisingly, we are in the heart of the country with a lot of cattle and sheep farms, ours included.

 Last of the strawberries?
 What I've been harvesting
  • cucumbers -loads of Mexican sour gherkin which were the surprise of the summer/autumn garden
  • zucchini
  • herbs
  • lettuce
  • capsicum
  • chillies
  • nettles
  • radish
  • limes
  • carrots
  • chard
  • beans
  • rocket
  • sweet potato


 Planted in May
  • planting out cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage
  • turnips
  • broadbeans
  • peas- purple podded, telephone
  • snow peas
  • sugar snap peas
  • radish
  • pak choi
  • daikon
  • quite a few 'rescue' plants and seedlings
  • transplanting lavenders
  • roses
Rescued parsley
The herb garden now has one bed with a parsley border albeit a very spindly, straggly one. 



Sugar snap pea flowers
Plans for June
  • build a new chicken pen (this coming week)
  • sell a ram (tomorrow)
  • check bee hives
  • maintenance in the orchard
  • keep on weeding, planting, composting and so on
  • find someone to look after the farm so we can have a holiday
Tracy
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6 comments:

Diana said...

Hi Tracey! Thanks for visiting me today :) I've never heard of no meat may--you and your family are very brave. I bet it was a good experience. Your farm sounds lovely. We've got cousins near Balina--they fell in love with Australia and don't come "home" too often. Have a great week-end!
Diana

Anonymous said...

Meat-free May, well done you! We eat plenty of meat-free meals, but Mr Good would have a hard time not having meat for an entire month. I'm like you, probably wouldn't mind too much, but my iron levels wouldn't be good I bet. I'm impressed at how well you garden kept you supplied as well, mine is pretty bare at the moment.

Peg - Happy In Quilting said...

Thats what I call a garden....

Anonymous said...

Well done for going meat free for a month! Jamie and I still eat meat a few times a week but the middle child has been vegetarian for 6 years now. She will often stay home rather than eat out as so many restaurants only offer her Pasta Napolitana!

lizzie {Strayed Table} said...

Another chook pen - Yes. I love chickens. I am amazed you have strawberries already they look so good, most backyard gardeners up here don't get them for another month.

Melissa L said...

Well done on almost making the whole month meat-free for you and your family! When I did a month of vegetarianism, my husband was adamant he was not going to participate.

What do you do with the nettles you harvest?