Free Basil

I've often seen posts on Instagram and the internet about regrowing Basil from supermarket plants. I've never quite understood how it works but a little while back, I bought a pack of basil stalks in a plastic packet (not a plant) which were reduced to 30p (I didn't want it to be chucked out and felt sorry for them.). 

I carefully picked off the big leaves to use over the course of a week with pasta. I did notice, however, that the stalks had some tiny, tiny sort of buds or leafage so I decided to put the stalks, denuded of their main leaves, into water.

Nothing much happened for 2 weeks but the stalks didn't die.  I noticed the leaves started to grow a tiny bit. Finally, roots started to develop over the next 2 weeks. I was amazed! I kept them in the water for the next few weeks until last week, I planted them into pots and they've sprouted more branches and leaves

I am very excited to have essentially regrown these from nothing! Free Basil plants.

On a similar note, my Trandescantia plant which Lara gave me as a cutting from hers had a branch accidentally knocked off. I also put that into water and then saw that new leaves were sprouting from the Earth so I decided to lop off the other branch and then let the new branches grow so it wasn't so leggy.  These both started sprouting roots pretty quickly and then they sprouted several new leaves in the meantime.

These have now been repotted as two new plants in old pots. Two free plants!

On the subject of other natural freebies, we started getting Three Cornered Leek growing in our garden about 3 years ago, presumably dropped by birds. I know it is invasive, I know you are not supposed to plant it anywhere but I have been really pleased by it- it's free and tasty! It tastes like a cross between Spring onions and chives. It was already growing in January this year so I have been eating loads of it since then. I also decided to freeze some. I chopped and froze lots of it into an ice-cube tray so I can continue eating it when it stops growing. 

One other nature freebie. I made a big batch of Nettle and Cleaver soup today (gathered in the church graveyard) and also used an absolute glut of Three Cornered leek in it too!  I love Spring nature freebies!!!

Have you ever put cleavers in a jug of water in the fridge? The water, once you take the cleavers out, tastes like Cucumber water and has good properties!

I'm looking forward to gathering Wild Garlic in Northumberland. I was very happy that the Wild Garlic in my garden has spread into the grass this year too- Hurrah!

 

Cottage industry

This year, CBC has reduced his working timetable to 4 days a week and stepped down from HoD. He's doing two gardening/horticulture  courses on his extra day.  This means we have a reduced income.  I'm trying to be extra careful with making sure we use up things and be better prepared in terms of food etc. I've been trying to also make more healthier choices. We usually eat a lot of vegetables but I need to increase my uptake of fruit.

Anyway, here's a few things I've processed recently.

The above are cobnuts from my Dad's garden.  I may have mentioned that their beautiful cob-nut trees were heavily pruned when we were there. I tried to rescue some of the hundreds of immature nuts. I left them to dry out in a plastic mushroom crate in an old clock box and they seemed to have dried. On Saturday, I shelled about 200 of them. I gave a box to my sister to take back for my Dad. I put the rest in a box to keep as a snack for my breakfasts on the way to school. 

 

Over the past few months, when our loaves of bread have gone too hard, I've been sawing up the bread into chunks and putting in the oven with olive oil and herbs to make croutons which we've used for soups and salads and just a snack.

Last Sunday, I picked some nettles from the edge of the field near church and made a batch of  it for our lunch and a couple of dinners where I had rehearsals. It was delicious.   I added a box of croutons to it.

I was running low on washing powder and no chance to get to the eco shop to refill so when I went to my Godmother, I went and picked up a large bag of conkers from the pavement outside the vicarage and made 2 litres of laundry liquid from it.  Conkers/Buckeyes contain saponins and you can use Nancy Birtwhistle's recipe to make almost completely free washing laundry liquid. 

I made 2 litres of it!

I may have mentioned that there is an apple tree down the road in the carpark which has many windfalls which no one picks up or picks. So I have been going for a walk to go and fetch them. Often, half is bruised and uneatable but it was worth getting them for any content!

At the end of my Light Music weekend, there was some food and other things left over including about 10 carrots and some amazing Chicken stock. I made a big batch of soup from it and homegrown beans, tomatoes,  courgettes and onionscapes plus a box of reduced yellow split peas I'd bought ages ago. Delicious and it catered for us for 2 evenings in addition to the first evening's dinner. Even better, the jam jars I transported the stock home in from camp are now my regular receptacles for taking soup to school so it won't leak in my bag!

I've been enjoying lots of homegrown harvest

Do you spot the Nasturtium seeds? Well, these come from the Nasturtiums that I planted from the seeds I foraged in Madeira. I'm putting them in vinegar to make Poor man's capers as taught to me by Vintage Vix!

Do you spot those leaves down the bottom?  They are Aztec broccoli, given to me as mini plants by my mum. They are growing in my raised bed!

It's been a bumper year for Blackberries!

With some apples from my Dad's I made 5 boxes of stewed apples and blackberries in honey.

In addition, using more of Dad's apples and all the windfalls, I have made about 12 boxes of fruit amber using blackberries, apples and a little homegrown Rhubarb!

It's very satisfying to make my own!

xx