Aaaah... haaah...! Season 2, round 2

7 January

And yipeeeee ! The berries are forming. It's such a beautiful feeling to see these pale green berries forming and getting bigger and changing shaded by the day... And right now there are six berries forming at different stages in my lone little strawberry plant. Just waiting to transfer this one to a larger pot.trough and be able to get runners and grow more strawberry plants...

Spots of bright sunshine through the winter days once again...
Togari hoovu/Tur daal/Pigeon pea flowers

And hey, look at what my prize-cabbage turned into...!

The highlight of this afternoon's lunch... Roast cabbage with rosemary and garlic chives too from the garden. Had with some fresh and crunchy lettuce and parsley on the side. And for dessert, there was a slice of freshly baked "carrot and dates" cake.

And guess where the sweet cherry tomatoes were found? In the compound of one of the houses we went to see. The compound was overgrown with tall winter grass and weeds and when we went up to take a look at the terrace, I spied some red spots among the grass. Found it to be a sprawling cherry tomato vine. Collected a bowlful of these red and sweet cherries. Have been snacking on them as is for the last two days and this afternoon added a few coarsely chopped ones into the dressing for the roast cabbage and finished the rest of them alongside...

Since my prize-cabbage decided to stay with me, I decided to do something special with it and "Roast cabbage"it had to be...!

And folks, here's the very simple recipe...

The main ingredient: A young tender cabbage

For the dressing/marinade:

Any cooking oil- 2 table spoons
*I used mustard oil
Lime juice- One whole lime
Chilli flakes/powder- About a teaspoon
Salt to taste
Rosemary- 3 sprigs, finely chopped
Garlic- 8 to10 cloves, finely chopped
Cherry tomatoes- About 6, coarsely chopped
If you don't have cherry tomatoes, you can use a small sized regular tomato
Cheese- one regular cube, grated
*I used an Amul cheese cube

Method:
Cut the cabbage into eight portions by slicing downwards. Be careful not to slice right through to the bottom. Mix the ingredients for the dressing/marinade well and pour it all over the cabbage. Ensure that it flows well into all the cuts. Bake in a regular microwave oven on the highest temp., for about 15 minutes. Check if it's cooked enough. I prefer to have it well baked, but with a crunch. If you want it softer, let it bake for a couple of minutes more.

I garnished it with a dash of lime and finely chopped fresh garlic chives straight from the garden, just before having it. I had my crunchy lettuce and parsley alongside and a slice of my "carrot and dates" cake...

A burst of refreshing greens on a winter morning

Looks like my little, (now, very little) green patch is oblivious to the situation and happily gifting me harvests everyday. I think I'm going to get to harvest something even on the day of shifting ! My patch seems to be telling me... don't worry, be happy ! And I'm doing just that...

Today's harvest... Alternanthera greens/Hongone soppu, red radish greens/kemp moolangi soppu, coriander/kothambri, lettuce, rosemary, some mint/pudina and of course some fresh parsley.

 Alternanthera greens, rosemary, coriander and red radish greens

Crunchy red radish greens

Coriander and rosemary

 Alternanthera greens from my hanging pot

 Iceberg lettuce from my 2 litre soft drink bottle

 Can't have enough of parsley in my menu

Mint from my 1 litre soft drink bottle

Kothambri/Coriander !

Such a joy to see my coriander growing so well...

My prize-cabbage gets harvested... and stays with me !

And yipeeeeeee...!! My prize-cabbage got harvested today, because the landlady didn't come yesterday ! I had decided to give it yesterday and she missed it, so now I'm keeping it. And I'm grinning from ear-to-ear. Well, maybe the cabbage was destined to be with me itself...

And along with my prize-cabbage, my little green patch gifted me some kemp moolangis/red radishes, parsley, amaranthus, moolangi/radish micro-greens and some crunchy iceberg lettuce. The last few days in my LGP are sure proving to be exciting and beautiful.

Hope, patience and determination... triumph

“They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds.”
Unknown
I doubt I could have got thought of a better quote than this one today.
And what better news could I share today than this...

Dear friends, 
Thanks a tonne for all your best wishes and the awesome positivity with which you encouraged and supported me through this testing time. I am more than glad to let you know that all your wishes and prayers have come true ! We have been able to choose a very interesting place and will be moving in shortly...

All your wishes, saying that my having to dismantle my Little green patch and move out, would surely lead to something more bigger and better have indeed proved to be prophetical. And a comment by one of my fb friend, Reena Martins, still rings clear in my ears- "You can take Varsha from the greens, but not the greens from her..." All of your wishes have led me to a house that already has green associated with it. This place has it's own limitations, but the positives outweigh it by a strong measure. And I'm very clear, I can't expect everything to my fancy and life sure means a few adjustment here and there... This house belongs to a good friends parents and is spacious enough for our needs. It may be in a completely new area, but the best part is, it has a huge compound and already has some full grown fruit trees like, mango, chikoo, mosambi and custardapple and some curry leaves and lime bushes too. That apart, Disco will now get enough space to run around and not have people complaining... and I now get loads of space for my gardening, as well as for my other activities. And the bestest part is, we wont be disturbed for a minimum of three years... 

This entire episode, though disturbing and even frustrating at times, did teach a few valuable lessons. It did prove all over again, that hope and patience and determination and not letting anger get the better of you are always rewarding. At the risk of sounding trite, I'm saying this... Folks, thanks once again from the bottom of my heart. I am more than overwhelmed by the deluge of concern, love and affection and encouragement you guys showered on me. Especially, the huge number of encouraging comments my dear fellow-OTGs (Organic Terrace Gardening)kept posting to keep up my spirits.

Best wishes of the season and a happy new year to all of you beautiful people. Thanks to each one of you for being a real and virtual part of my life. Love you all...

Varsha moushi

I am adding a picture of my sketch on my little work table, so I'll be able to very soon set a similar little work table in the new place and begin not just gardening, but sketching and photographing and writing and ...

Crunchy greens in my pancakes

This morning's breakfast was pancakes after long. The traditional maida-milk-eggs pancakes got a crunchy and refreshing organic twist when it came to the way it was eaten.

I love the classic grated coconut and honey filling for my pancakes. I had fresh grated coconut, but I'd run out of honey. Well, Jo had her's with a dash of Nutella and I went ahead and slathered some pickle gravy, added a garlic chives omelet, stepped into my little green patch and threw in some utterly fresh lettuce, parsley and ajwain baby greens... rolled up the pancake and had it right there in the middle of my few greens and herbs that will travel with me when we do shift by the month end.

Buuurrrppp...! That was such a sumptuous experience...

The last of the visitors

Folks, the last little interaction with a bunch of fifteen students from Ashoka University, Delhi, in my little green patch went very well.
A lot of my containers have already been shifted to a nearby place. But they were impresses by just how little they got to see. When we had a slide show of my harvests, they were taken up by the sheer amount of vegetables my little green patch has gifted me over just a year and a few months. They were very curious, especially about the composting and asked a lot of questions. My strawberry plant and the pictures of my berries, of course stole the show, but so did my variety of greens. They had brought along their banana peels from lunch time to add to my compost. That was so sweet...
Felt a bit down that this was my last one in this little green patch and maybe the last in a while too... but at the same time, I felt elated that I was able to showcase my OBG and spread the good word even on the last day. I considered my LGP and myself fortunate and honoured... and of course, the sense of achievement and joy was unmatched as always...

Showing off my kemp moolangis/red radishes growing in 2 litre soft drink bottles.

Yipeee... lettuce seeds from my little patch !

Flowers of the Lola rosa lettuce

Flowers of the Lola rosa lettuce

Freshly harvested seeds of the Lola rosa lettuce

Seeds of the Lola rosa lettuce

Seeds of the Iceberg lettuce


A dream come true for every organic gardener growing vegetables, would be to harvest seeds from his garden and grow them back again...

From the past year and a half, it has been my consistent dream too. In my semi-shaded balconies, my plants rarely bolt and even if they do, the flowers aren't as healthy as the ones grown in good sunlight would be. The resultant seeds too are just a meagre amount and sometimes not large and healthy enough. But nevertheless, I have been able to collect some seeds of palak, amaranth, mustard, kasuri methi, ajwain, moolangi/radish, pundi soppu/sorrel and now some seeds of lettuce. Unfortunately I have to miss out on the joy of sharing these seeds and seeing my joy multiply, as the seeds are very few.

Well, this is just the beginning and I hope in the future, with a better place and better resources, I will be able to collect more seeds and eventually get to live my dream of collecting and sharing seeds from my garden. And right now, even if the Iceberg and Lola rosa lettuce seeds are just a few, I am excited and the sense of achievement in immense...!!