smelly gardeners unite...

Check out the boss looking all pensive in the garden!

Now can someone just do us some t-shirts for the Smelly Gardeners Union?
I water my vegies, and don't wash?

not much less garden crazy....

With apologies for yet another non-cooking post I proudly present today's photos.


For all those who wondered what was happening with the corn I sowed.

Today as I was committing the illegal act of watering in my new seedlings I thought about what I would say in court should my neighbours decide to get all high moral ground on me. What I'll say about local food, about agribusiness wasting water, about feeding people in cities... Yeah, that's me - the big criminal. I just hope they don't get violent. Yes water is life, but hey - come give me a sniff and you know I ain't wasting it in the shower. The lawn don't get any either.

Also, I'm hoping for rain in my new tank:

240 litres is better thank nothing for us renters. And yes, that's just a big wheelie bin. I couldn't show you its face due to slightly less than legal procurement from a friend's now vacant warehouse.

In other garden news, these fellows are now being salted for pickles:


And this monster is making some seed for the next round:


Meanwhile I'm digesting the omelette that had these delicious swiss browns in it. From the shed mushroom farm no-less.

gardening crazies

Ah yes, whatever you're into you can be sure there is a whole thriving world of internet crazies more obsessed than you can ever imagine being.

Ali got me started, with her quick descent into gardening obsession.

She has many links to others, including myfolia - apparently myspace for your plants!

And tal, I know you would like this.

who knew I had a movie?

And can anyone explain why it's playing at Northland Hoyts at the moment?

In itself, it's a riveting story. Unfortunately, director Michael Sajbel has envisioned an overwrought Lifetime movie of the week, complete with an Esther who could be a cast member of Laguna Beach and a king notable only for his washboard abs.

vale yarra-melbourne libraries.

i haven't been reading the Melbourne Times lately so I don't know if anyone else is mourning or not. But I thought, having just faced my first "you can't request this item" page, I would note my sadness at the end of the most excellent amalgamation of libraries that was the Yarra-Melbourne library network.

I shall miss having access to all the cookbooks and gardening books and novels and comics I could want.

I shall miss requesting things from the City and picking them up on the way home from work at the Fitzroy branch.

I shall miss not having to pay for things.

farewell, yarra-melbourne. your life was too brief and your bureaucrats too nearsighted.

(ps. mum, i know that is you even when you leave anonymous comments and no, this isn't a cooking blog or a gardening blog... it's a, uhm, gardooking blog. or something.)

[pps. if I now have to join the yarra libraries separately, and i'm already addicted to st kilda library, then it's good i just found library elf to help me keep track of all my holds and due dates. could be my new favourite friend. works internationally.]

I'm sick of my corn seeds not germinating. Last year I blamed old seed. I dunno but after one batch failing to poke it's head up already this year I'm doing some research. Which is where I came across this excellent olde saying:

"One for the cutworm, one for the crow, one to rot, and one to grow."

Well, no crows here but I think I'll plant in the seedling house to avoid cutworm and cross my fingers for the Balinese corn I'll be planting tomorrow.

broadly...

Yes broad beans have taken over my life. So the essential question becomes again "to pod or to double pod?" But yay for seasonal eating and finally planting enough this year. I'll do photos soon because I have a very pretty type that goes purple when you cook it.

But while I cruise the internets for ideas let me leave you with this thought from stonesoup:

The thing about broad beans is that they really are a lot of work but well worth the double peeling. With all those layers that need removing, you could think of them as the strippers of the vegetable world... sexy and nutritious... all good things.

It is very nice to see some pro-sex worker attitudes in a food simile. Yes it is.

i want carrot ice cream.

Chocolate Lady makes me want it.

Will I have to make it myself? Any suggestions?

foodCult

Melbourne now has it's own food Wiki. Including this nascent dumpling guide.

Is this a good thing? Time will tell. But please, remind me - more cooking, less reading restaurant reviews!

that it is fatal to truckle to what one conceives to be popular taste.

Yup, I've started reading word of the day. Not daily of course. But still.... flummery is nice, but truckle is even better.

Truckle is from truckle in truckle bed (a low bed on wheels that may be pushed under another bed; also called a trundle bed), in reference to the fact that the truckle bed on which the pupil slept was rolled under the large bed of the master. The ultimate source of the word is Greek trokhos, "a wheel."

So it could actually be fatal to trundle to popular taste. A good lesson for all. Also, I thought trundle beds were just for friends sleeping over... who knew they were for pupils and masters?