Plant kingdom interactions.
I have been learning a few things about going vegetarian. Never really appreciated how much harder it was to do than I thought. I keep getting frustrated that my first peckish impulses all involve meat, and I'm getting sick of cheese and egg. (Never thought I would see the day, honestly.) I don't really miss meat - yet - so much as the broader options omnivores have. And this isn't even a vegan regime, either.
This lack of impulse options has meant that I have cut my eating out way down, and am struggling to keep my calorie intake at an adequate level. It's too easy to munch on cos lettuce and a soy patty for lunch at work, and that sort of eating means I'm losing weight the wrong way; I should be trying to stick to about 1600-1800 kCal a day instead of the 800-1200 I'm managing. I only really get back up there on the weekends, when I give in to the baked goods that I balk at during the week. Like TigerEyes' lemon syrup cake. Nomnomnom...
About the only time I resented going meatless was when I was at work yesterday, and a coworker dropped by with lunch for me. A friend of his had a new Iranian food stall at some nearby markets, and he wanted me to try her kebabs - kebab as in grilled meat, not necessarily skewered. I couldn't bring myself to tell him I was temporarily vegetarian, and it smelled sooo good... I contented myself with eating the flatbread and lettuce it came with, and fed it to TigerEyes. I did taste a bit of the minced lamb(in case he asks me what I thought), but spat it out. Interesting use of dried mint and dill.
Have started planting things out in the garden, now that things are warming up but the rainfall is continuing. Yellow button squash and green bush beans, rainbow silverbeet, lovage, momoko tomatoes and winter savory. I have also put some cos lettuces and rocket in a container out the back. They may get hot in summer, but at least they won't get burned by direct sunlight. I have recently discovered the wonders of sheep and (composted) pig manures. The former is dry, pelleted, and smells of hay. The latter is dryish and fluffy, and smells completely unlike pig. They are my new secret weapon in trying to get edibles from the garden this year. I've gotten a tip somewhere that bottomless plastic yoghurt tubs placed upside down around seedlings keeps the voracious slaters from decapitating them. I've tried it and it's working so far.
I hope the moringa resprouts. It dropped all its leaves over winter and I am now left with a two foot stalk sticking out of the ground. It's still firm and green though, so I don't think it's quite dead yet. The goji is resprouting its leaves too, but again it's only about a foot high. Siiiigh. Still not game to plant brassicas this year. Last year I only managed to raise a crop of caterpillars. And my garlic has finally sprouted from the microbulbs, after a good two years underground, peeking out from between my stupendously vigorous warrigal greens.
Anybody want a Warrigal Spinach plant? It's a hardy ground cover you can eat. What's not to like?
This lack of impulse options has meant that I have cut my eating out way down, and am struggling to keep my calorie intake at an adequate level. It's too easy to munch on cos lettuce and a soy patty for lunch at work, and that sort of eating means I'm losing weight the wrong way; I should be trying to stick to about 1600-1800 kCal a day instead of the 800-1200 I'm managing. I only really get back up there on the weekends, when I give in to the baked goods that I balk at during the week. Like TigerEyes' lemon syrup cake. Nomnomnom...
About the only time I resented going meatless was when I was at work yesterday, and a coworker dropped by with lunch for me. A friend of his had a new Iranian food stall at some nearby markets, and he wanted me to try her kebabs - kebab as in grilled meat, not necessarily skewered. I couldn't bring myself to tell him I was temporarily vegetarian, and it smelled sooo good... I contented myself with eating the flatbread and lettuce it came with, and fed it to TigerEyes. I did taste a bit of the minced lamb(in case he asks me what I thought), but spat it out. Interesting use of dried mint and dill.
Have started planting things out in the garden, now that things are warming up but the rainfall is continuing. Yellow button squash and green bush beans, rainbow silverbeet, lovage, momoko tomatoes and winter savory. I have also put some cos lettuces and rocket in a container out the back. They may get hot in summer, but at least they won't get burned by direct sunlight. I have recently discovered the wonders of sheep and (composted) pig manures. The former is dry, pelleted, and smells of hay. The latter is dryish and fluffy, and smells completely unlike pig. They are my new secret weapon in trying to get edibles from the garden this year. I've gotten a tip somewhere that bottomless plastic yoghurt tubs placed upside down around seedlings keeps the voracious slaters from decapitating them. I've tried it and it's working so far.
I hope the moringa resprouts. It dropped all its leaves over winter and I am now left with a two foot stalk sticking out of the ground. It's still firm and green though, so I don't think it's quite dead yet. The goji is resprouting its leaves too, but again it's only about a foot high. Siiiigh. Still not game to plant brassicas this year. Last year I only managed to raise a crop of caterpillars. And my garlic has finally sprouted from the microbulbs, after a good two years underground, peeking out from between my stupendously vigorous warrigal greens.
Anybody want a Warrigal Spinach plant? It's a hardy ground cover you can eat. What's not to like?