MLK Quote

MLK Quote

Nature's Inspiration Movie

http://www.flickspire.com/m/HealthierL433/NaturesInspiration -- Nature's Inspiration Movie: The photographs in this short video are from award-winning photographer, Ken Jenkins, and they are breathtaking. However, this video is much more than beautiful photographs! Peggy Anderson has compiled beautiful quotations from the likes of Emerson, Thoreau, and many others that truly capture the beauty of nature and solitude. Absolute must watch for nature lovers.
Showing posts with label first. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first. Show all posts

Saturday, May 25, 2013

First Snap-Pea of the Season 2013

Yesterday (5/24/2013) we ate our first snap pea from the plants which I grew from seeds. My babies are now taking care of me. I took those that were at least two inches in length. Many more to come.


This is a bowl of salad that I created using peas and lettuce from the garden.



Do you know that you can eat the tender leaves, shoots, tendrils of pea-plants? They taste exactly like peas. Try it out if you have not already done so. In fact the baby pea-plants are full of micro-nutrients. That's why, in Europe especially, people grow peas as micro-greens. Snap peas themselves are full of vitamin C, flavonoids, folic acid, fiber, pantothenic acid, Vitamins A and K (though they have most other vitamins) and other minerals.

I am fascinated with these pea plants. They are easy to grow. Lots of plants can be crammed in small space. All they need is water; they don't have any fertilizer requirement; in fact, they make the soil, in which they are grown, fertile by fixing nitrogen. When the plant dies down, do not rip it off from the soil. Leave it there because as its root disintegrate, it gives out nitrogen to the soil. My fascination has lead me to buy five more packets of peas for fall cultivation.


I also took out some onion flower stalk, spinach-leaves and turnip-leaves from the garden (will I be please allowed to boast again and say that all these plants were grown by your truly from seeds:-D). I made a batter with chickpea flour. Dipped the leaves and finely chopped stalk, and fried them in very little oil. These are the fritters that one usually eats in Indian restaurants. The fritters can be made using almost every sorts of vegetables and leaves, stems and flowers.



Good time is here again when fresh foods from garden can be consumed. I wonder how people, especially in colder Europe, North-America where things cannot be grown during winter, survived the cold months? These people indeed have strength, stamina and spirit which we spoiled, twenty-first century humans have lost. Do any of you have any such ancestral stories to share? This reminded me of the latest news that scientist believe that the early pilgrims turned to cannibalism in Jamestown, Virginia during the harsh winters. The interesting article can be read here.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

First Harvest of the Year

I get a very blissful feeling in searching my garden and picking up my own food. I don't know why. Maybe because scientists predict that we are scared of dark and love all the outdoor activities because for millennia that's what our ancestors did before they settled down in cities and thus I am no exception. Or it could it be that I brought up these plants from seeds. How could such tiny, negligible seeds produce such big plants with intricate web of roots and provide us with nutrients that we need to survive? I take them for granted but I am just trying to imagine the earth without any plants/trees. None of us, from tiniest insects to largest land mammals, will survive. No wonder human history is rife with wars fought to grab lands for agriculture and resources.


Yesterday, I picked my first harvest of the year. It was not much; only 4 huge pieces of spinach, lots of turnip green, spring onion, oregano, lemon balm and rosemary herbs. I used these, home-grown potatoes, home-grown tomatoes (they were the product of 2012 harvest and have been surviving in the freezer), coconut milk and Japanese rice-noodles to make some kind of Thai soup.