On Marlborough Road. More pictures on our Flickr account
OxGrow had a bit of a maintenance session this weekend, sharpening up our now razor-like collection of spades and starting on the creation of new wooden plant labels to replace the previous ones made of recycled plastic bottle, which are blowing away in the wind and getting hard to read. Further progress was made on the future sweetcorn bed due to some unerring and single-minded digging efforts. We also honed our barrel-rolling skills moving two huge 400 gallon (almost 2,000 litre) water butts along roads and paths to Hogacre Common, to the great intrigue of the locals. With some careful steering, we’re pleased to report no small children were squashed or wing-mirrors knocked off en route. Even more perplexed by our exploits than the local population was the signalman who had to give us permission by telephone to roll the monster water tanks across 5 contiguous sets of railway lines in order to get access to the site. Thanks to the Spragglesea Mead and Dean’s Ham Allotment Association for the donation!
We also harvested a batch of radishes to enjoy during our break with Libby’s tasty yoghurt-based radish dip, the left-overs being distributed amongst the volunteers to take home. The radish harvest raises the spectre of an age-old problem for back-yard horticulturalists the world over – the glut. What exactly do you do with a fridge full of radishes? The humble scarlet radish is not renowned for its culinary diversity, normally being limited to a fresh peppery salad ingredient. A bit of research, however, reveals that the true potential of this vegetable may have been overlooked. For the French, it is the revered main ingredient in the ultimate gourmet sandwich, for instance. Chill a couple of radishes by sitting them in iced water in the fridge for an hour or two, then slice very thinly and place on buttered bread sprinkled with salt. I guarantee, absolutely delicious, even if it doesn’t sound it. I also discovered a recipe for making use of the slightly prickly and unpromising green leaves that spring from the top of the radish. Sauté some onion, garlic and potato until cooked, add a vegetable stock and then throw in as many finely-chopped radish leaves as you have. Cook for a further 20 minutes. At this point you are supposed to put it in a blender and add milk, but I had neither blender nor milk, and it still tasted great.
OxGrow, stretching your culinary horizons since 2011.
Julian
OxGrow 