I was so inspired by @pennsif's vegan alternative lifestyle show last night that I thought I'd do a pro-vegan post about my summer-time dinner strategy for the last several years... not only does it seem to fit with the content of that show, it fits with my last but one post on why I like allotments.
NB - I'm only about 95% vegan. I'm not hardcore into it, I just prefer to eat mostly vegan food because of environmental, health and animal-welfare reasons, it just makes sense, I wouldn't say it's part of my identity.
I'm also aware that it's hardly 'harvesting season', but I'm in a 'food posting mood' ATM for various reasons, one of which is @canadianrenegade's prepper cook-off challenge so here we go...
On grazing the allotment as a dinner strategy
Maintaining an allotment with a full time job is a challenge. Although I do love planning and sowing and planting, watering (in the early morning), even weeding, I've found the process of stopping off after work and harvesting and processing the food before dinner quite tedious.
It's not so much the actual digging up and picking, that's quite enjoyable, it's that plus the shelling and washing before cooking that just makes the whole process simply too time-consuming for it to be enjoyable.
So back in 2014, I switched I switched to ‘early evening’ grazing strategy - which basically involves spending 20-30 minutes walking around the allotment, picking, and eating.
I kept a small camping stove (well hidden from any potential vandals), pan, colander, fork and a few mixed-condiments in the shed and so on many a good-weather evening after work in the late spring, summer, to mid autumn months, I’d hit the allotment, get some water on the go, then harvest, peel, and chop any mid-heavy root veg such as beetroots or broad beans and chuck ‘em, in the pan (at appropriate intervals).
Then I’d circulate round the allotment and pick green veg such as kale, spinach, chard lettuce etc., then add in ‘small root’ veg’ such as spring onions and radishes after simply wiping the excess mud off, stick the whole lot under the tap, add in the by-then cooked veg, drizzle on some olive oil, hot sauce, salt pepper, and just eat.
It’s honestly the BEST way to eat yer dinner: with fresh Kale, you can almost feel the vitiman C coursing through your veins, and the tiny amount of broccoli I ended up with one year (which the slugs hadn't demolished) tasted completely different to the stuff you buy, not even comparable to the stuff you get in Sainsbury's. And don’t even get me started on fresh corn....
During summer and autumn I even got dessert in the form of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, straight off the plants - YUM!
I also got into the habit of taking an empty tub with me and picking some for tomo's lunch box at the same time as ‘picking for dinner’, and obviously I ended up taking some stuff home and freezing it, and there’s some veg (there’s a reason you don’t see raw parsnip in many raw-food books!)
On the sanity of grazing the allotment as a dinner strategy
Although eating in this way feels a bit nuts, it's actually completely sane when you reflect on the following massive advantages:
- Time efficiency – it saves time in terms of cooking, the 'sit down meal' and the washing up, also it does tend to mean you maintain the allotment while eating, picking off the odd weed for example.
- It's the cheapest way to eat – theoretically, if you could just get used to just grazing, there's no need to spend money on what Michael Pollan would call 'edible food like substances'.
- Health benefits – the fresher, the higher the nutrient content – You can't get much fresher than two seconds from picking to mouth.
- It's the most natural and ethical way to eat – in that it's the furthest removed from the industrial-food chain. See the documentary 'Food Inc' on this note!
- It gives me this strange sense of connection with the !Kung Bushmen of the Khalari and other traditional hunter-gatherer tribes - completely unfounded I know, but in my deluded little head I feel in-touch with my pre-historic self.
- I actually like the fact that it's a slightly nuts way to eat – It's habit breaking. For example I can't watch TV while I'm grazing, well I guess I could with a 4G iPad, but honestly, it'd hardly be ergonomic.
Incidentally I wish I had some nuts, that'd make the whole grazing process even more wonderful, or at least it would in the late autumn, assuming the squirrels are willing to share.
On grazing as a dinner strategy - sources of inspiration
I've also been inspired to look up other inspiring examples of people who have set up the ultimate grazing gardens – here are a couple of examples....
Paul Gautschi is one of the world's most inspiring gardeners – In this excellent video: Back to Eden, Paul uses serious mulch, mostly wood-chip which has turned into the most amazing compost and produces the most amazing quality looking fruit and veg for (after you've set it all up!) minimal effort.
Closer to home, I've never visited but one of the most interesting, and possibly largest examples of a food forest is Plants for a Future, established by Ken and Addy Fern many years ago.There's footage of Ken grazing his 'garden for all purposes' from about 16 minutes in.
(NB the first section's worth watching too - on the classic forest-garden of Robert Hart.)
Anyway, I don't want to get lost in Forest gardening, I haven't quite got enough money to buy the land to go there yet – The point of the videos is that they're good examples of other people who graze, and on a much larger scale than me, and that proves I'm not nuts, I think.