Member Posts

I'm doing well! I've been home for a few days now, after spending a week at the family summer place with my parents, my sister, and her kids. A good time was had, with no family quarrels! \o/

Before that, I had a visit from

exeterlinden and her two kids. We had not met in person for eight years (because kids), and had very little contact during that time, but we just reconnected instantly. It was lovely. <3

Current delicious produce from the garden: potatoes, swedes, young beets and carrots, cabbage, chard, leek, onions, garlic, herbs, broad beans, green beans, green peas, zucchini, aubergine, tomatoes, and chiles. I LOVE just going out and harvesting what I need for cooking! We just took up all the onions, and they are now drying in the sun. I think they will be a substantial portion of our yearly consumption.

Today I got one of the ducks to eat from my hand, by means of lying down prone on the grass and stretching out my hand with food on it. They are such ridiculous little duck-billed dinosaurs. Edvin who was previously one of our favorites has unfortunately turned into a schoolyard bully, perhaps because the males from the first group of ducklings from the spring are now old enough to be seen as a threat to his fragile masculinity. The second group of ducklings are now almost full-sized, and we can see their adult colors, though not yet what sex they are.

I hardly ever buy cook books, but a while ago I bought two by the same author, which fit my current needs perfectly: the first one has chapters on various vegetables, and the second on various fruits and berries, so if you've got a particular vegetable/fruit/berry, you can get recipes and inspiration as to what to do with it. They are in Swedish though. He's big on using fruits and berries in savory cooking, and here's a delicious recipe I made yesterday: ( Read more... )

Yes, these are truly all the books I have read since my last reading post. *facepalm*

The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka (1975)
Borrowed from my crush. This was an interesting view on organic farming from the Japanese perspective. Not all of it feels applicable ("you only need to flood the fields for a short time, not the whole growing season!"), but the basic principles of no artificial fertilizer, no pesticides or herbicides, and as little plowing/digging as possible do seem the same as in Western organic agriculture, and I like his focus on trying to use ecological processes to minimize manual work. Very cool that in Japan you can grow rice for the summer season and cereal for the winter season and thus get year-round crops, and he describes an interesting way of doing that which minimizes weeds without excessive manual labor. Such year-round cropping is not possible in Sweden, not only because of cold winters, but also because there's too little light in winter. Is his method now wide-spread in Japan or not, I wonder? The philosophical aspects of the book are interesting, but I find them somewhat contradictory. You can't both say "nature is unknowable to us!" and "I know the way of farming according to nature, and if you deviate from it you will go wrong". I also wonder about his claim that vegetables which are closer to their wild relatives are always healthier--what about cases where there are toxins which are bred out of the wild version, which we are better off not eating? And finally I find him somewhat joyless on the topic of food, where he claims that you should just eat the food in as close to a natural state as possible and not do things to it just to make it more tasty. I want my food as tasty as possible, thanks!

Konsten att sköta ett äppelträd by Görel Kristina Näslund (2019) [The Art of Managing an Apple Tree]
Lots of good info on growing apple trees! I'm eager to try grafting next year.

Status update + delicious recipe

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