allotment/autumn/back garden/blog/Bruton/featured/gardening/homesteading/nature/no dig gardening/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/no hungry gap/organic/permaculture/polytunnel/recipes/seasonal cooking/spring/summer/The Creative Kitchen/winter

Kale – Root to Shoot: leaves, flowers, sprouts and more!

Stephanie Hafferty 4 Comments

Kale, a nutrient dense vegetable high in vitamins, is well known for its many health benefits. Easy to grow and winter hardy in the UK, it’s a fantastic plant for the hungry home gardener. Kale’s delicious leaves make a tasty addition to all kinds of meals cooked and raw, but did you know that you can also eat other parts of this cruciferous vegetable and that growing it benefits wildlife too?!

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autumn/back garden/blog/Bruton/exploring/featured/front garden/gardening/Homeacres/homesteading/kitchen garden/mulching/nature/no dig gardening/No Dig Home/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/no hungry gap/one/organic/permaculture/polytunnel/potions/preparing the soil/preserving/propagation/The Creative Kitchen/winter

On this harvest moon…

Stephanie Hafferty 6 Comments

This week began with the Autumn Equinox, the festival of Mabon, which starts on September 21st

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blog/homesteading/recipes/seasonal cooking

Roasted beetroot, carrot and onion hummus recipe

Stephanie Hafferty 8 Comments

Beetroot grows in my garden from April right through to the end of autumn, some in the polytunnel over winter too. This tasty root vegetable stores so well that I can make this hummus at any time of year, but there’s something especially autumnal and satisfying about the combination of roasted beetroot, carrot and onion.

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blog/featured/homesteading/No Dig Home/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/organic/recipes/seasonal cooking/summer

Thai influenced golden raw summer vegetable salad

Stephanie Hafferty Leave a comment

This gorgeous bright seasonal salad is almost a meal in itself and can easily be adapted to include other summer vegetables in your garden (and winter root veg later in the year). It is a zingy, delicious, colourful way to use up gluts.

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blog/featured/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/recipes/seasonal cooking/summer

Crunchy Courgette Gardener’s Muffins

Stephanie Hafferty 7 Comments

I’ve been trying out a few variations of this seasonal muffin, using our course people as guinea pigs! Low in processed sugar, these satisfying baked treats are great to nibble on for an extra boost of energy when gardening. They also make a great breakfast muffin.

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blog/featured/homesteading/No Dig Home/No Dig Organic Home and Garden/recipes/seasonal cooking/summer

Seasonal summer frugal feasting

Stephanie Hafferty 2 Comments

Regular readers of my blog will know that one of passions, and fortunately work, is harvesting seasonal homegrown vegetables, fruit and herbs and delicious food. For our no dig gardening day course at Homeacres on Saturday, I made lunch for 17 (including Charles and myself) using Charles’ gorgeous vegetables (plus some bought ingredients, things we can’t grow easily which I’ll explain later) for around £1 a head, including muffins.

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blog/potions/preserving/recipes/seasonal cooking/summer

Basil flower tips and recipes

Stephanie Hafferty 4 Comments

Basil flowers are beautiful to look at, smell gorgeous and attract bees and other beneficial insects. It is tempting to leave the flowers on because they look so pretty, but removing them encourages the plant to put its energy into continuing to produce abundant leaves for longer – for salads, pesto, preserving and summer cooking.

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fertility/potions

Homemade fertility – Comfrey

Stephanie Hafferty 1 Comment

Here in Somerset and across much of England comfrey grows wild, providing an important source of food for bees feeding from the clusters of droopy flowers and other wildlife including moth caterpillars and ladybirds. The large hairy leaves can be spread as a mulch, added to the compost heap (make sure there are no seeds otherwise it will invade everywhere), dried for winter use and made into an excellent plant food. Comfrey is a key element in making more of fertility for the garden at home.

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