It is a wonderful day today – the very first strawberry in the garden has reached a fully ripened stage unscathed by birds (thanks little Morph cat).  So I picked the strawberry and placed it in the fridge to share for dessert tonight.  I will cut it into quarters and share it as a celebration of our lovely vegetable garden and the wonderful organic food we will eat from it all year.

As I look over the garden, I can notice something very obvious…

I bought from Diggers all our plants and seeds except the bean plants and the pumpkin seeds.  I bought the beans from Bunnings and I decided last year that I would save a few pumpkin seeds from a Butternut pumpkin I bought at the supermarket and dry them out and plant them.

All my Diggers plants and seeds look absolutely gorgeous, healthy, green and are flowering and fruiting.

The beans from Bunnings I am having a lot of trouble keeping them alive, they are struggling…

The pumpkin seeds from the supermarket bought pumpkin have grown but there is not a sign of any flower or fruit on them… now it has only just occurred to me that the seeds were from a Butternut pumpkin I bought from a large supermarket chain, not an organic shop… and I am now wondering if in fact they will flower and produce pumpkins… I guess time will tell.

I also read the Montsanto article and GM articles in the Diggers magazine this week on the way to work on the train and it astounded me that 8 companies own and control 94% of the seed market.  They genetically modify seeds for many reasons: to change the texture; flavour; longevity of the fruit and vegetables; but they also modify the seeds so that you cannot regrow from the vegetable or fruits seeds… This means you must go back to them to either buy seeds or continue purchasing from the growers who have bought the seeds.  Alternatively, you can seek out organic farmers and groups like the Diggers club who preserve seeds from GM engineering.

I am very curious to see what these pumpkin seeds do or do not do…

Today’s recipe is Macadamia-Spinach Ricotta and I am going to use this ricotta tomorrow in a rawsagna recipe – can’t wait.

Ingredients:

2 cups macadamia nuts

¾ cup water

1 ½ tbsp. cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

1 Roma tomato

2 cloves of garlic

Pinch of Himalayan salt

Juice from 1 lemon

2 cups chopped spinach

Method:

Blend all ingredients except the spinach in a blender – ensure you blender until nice and creamy.  Pour into a bowl and add in chopped spinach.

Refrigerate until ready to use.  Last about 7 days in the fridge.

Too easy!

Ally x

Giving credit where credit is due…

Heirloom Garden 2012 – Issue 6

Jenny Ross (again because you are a raw food goddess)… for you Mac-Spinach Ricotta recipe 🙂