The title applies to me and not the plot which continues to be satisfyingly productive as todays steamer contents will confirm.

I had a phone call today from my parents who were happy yet a little puzzled to find my blog mentioned in the Saturday edition of the Telegraph under the section: Best Allotment Blogs. The puzzlement was not so much due to the broadsheet recognition but rather the manner in which I was described - “Earthwoman is a working mother who posts beautiful pics and regular updates on her plot.”

Now I would like to reassure my folks that I have not been hiding any grandkids from them and as a note to any new readers I have to say I am resolutely childless, but I do post quite nice pics.

A long time ago I read somewhere that nasturtium seeds can be pickled and used as a replacement caper. I love capers but don’t feel so upbeat about the price of the tiny little jars so I’ve been wanting to try out this cheapskate trick for ages.

I’ve got a few plants started in the front room nursery and have just scattered a few more seeds around the plot today. Nasturtiums are a really useful plant, they are beautifully gaudy, attract blackfly like you wouldn’t believe - thereby saving the broad beans from suffocation by the black beasties and the leaves add a peppery pungent taste to salads. If the pickling trick works, nasturtiums could easily make it into my top 5 desirable plant list.

Here’s the recipe I’m going to try:

Collect as many green nasturtium seeds as you can muster - you pick these after the flowers have dropped but before they dry out, soak them overnight in a salty brine and then drop them into the boiled and cooled pickling concoction. I’ll keep these in jars and shove them in the fridge but may update the recipe and storage instructions once I learn some pickling techniques.

1 mug white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 small onion, thinly sliced
A few slices of lemon
1 bay leaf
Pinch of mustard seeds
2 cloves garlic
6 peppercorns

Not a great weekend for allotment pottering but I can enjoy a cup of tea in a nice dry shed even on the worst of days.

The ground was too wet to dig which is a bit of nuisance as there is only a smallish patch left to complete. I opted instead to do weed tickling but this was half-hearted, I am not convinced of the usefulness of hoeing weeds when its damp - you just end up transplanting them in clumps.

The 7-year old rocket is beginning to look as though it has run its course, so I took the shears to part of it and came back with this sack load.

Along with an early plucking of onions I think I have the makings of a fine leaf feast.

There are signs of spring approaching around the pond, the primulas have gaudy red buds and the hellebore (planted at Christmas) is already flowering. I wonder when the frogs are going to move in.

How pretty is this little delivery?

Following my thwarted search for local food last weekend, I thought I’d try out a veg box scheme. This little box came from the organic delivery company, who apparently source local organic produce from the Covent Garden fruit and veg market. They have an evening delivery in my neck of the woods every friday evening which is jolly convenient.

I completely messed up with my order online but they gave me a call to sort it all out and still managed to fit me in for this evenings delivery - so no complaints there. The delivery went a little awry though, the box was left outside no 22 while my flat is no 23. The two numbers are at diagonal opposites in the block so I imagine the delivery guy just got fed up searching for me. Anyway, alls well that ends well, I got to meet another neighbour - a lovely lady from no 16 who spotted the produce and took it upon herself to re-unite it with its home.

I got a box of eggs at the same time and discovered that I can supposedly identify the farm or origin from the label. My farm is 0-402 but I can’t for the life of me find a website that will convert codes to farm addresses, so I have to just trust that it was local - not ideal.

I’m feeling inspired by “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” and am considering an attempt at my own local eating experiment. I wouldn’t start it yet of course, the allotment hasn’t really had a chance to start supporting a healthy appetite, but it’s never too late to start researching my options. On Sunday I thought I would head off to the lotty by way of the local farmers market to source some locally laid eggs, only it seems the local farmers market has been transplanted - so thats the end of the easy option.

I looked in on the neighborhood butcher who seemed to have a good supply of eggs. I read all his labels for evidence of origin but they didn’t go beyond “from a farm” and “free range”, which didn’t pinpoint them to any place close. I suppose I could have gone in and grilled him on his sources but this is supposed to be a local food project and not a learn-how-to-speak-to-complete-strangers sort of project. I’m beginning to think that communication may be the only way forward though, even the internet is being uncharacteristically unhelpful.

Today I opted to explore the newly opened organic/herbal type health food shop for local food options. Not much luck in there either. They sold supplements of one form an another, which I would hope to be surplus to requirements in any healthy eating plan, some New Zealand honey, which doesn’t sound so local and then a load of soya produce, which I’m now led to believe is an evil industry responsible for wholesale habitat destruction. Not that I know what I’m talking about, it’s all way too political for my tiny mind but I’m sure soya isn’t a local produce anyway.

I was looking out for ingredients for soda bread as inspired by Beansprouts, so needed milk, yoghurt and wholemeal flour. I picked up the flour from the herbal shop but they didn’t do milk or yoghurt of the dairy variety. I could easily have given in to the lure of Waitrose but that is surely to easy. Instead I opted for ye olde corner shoppe, no idea where he gets his products from but he did have all the items I required. My butter choices were either Holland or New Zealand again, the New Zealand butter claimed it came from happy cows but having travelled half way to NZ I know it aint even nearly local, Holland on the other hand isn’t too far away.

On my way home (via the pub) I had a little think about my butter purchase. I have it good authority that you even get cows in London, admittedly East London, but London nontheless, so shouldn’t that mean I can get hold of East London butter? More searching required.

Finally, its time to turn my attention towards beer. I’m fortunate enough to live opposite a brewery. Unfortunately it ships out Budweiser, but, hypothetically speaking, if I were to drink Bud from the pub opposite the brewery, could I feel confident that it hadn’t actually been shipped from Mortlake to the US of A and then back to Mortlake again?

Local eating and drinking is going to be tough and I need to build up a bit of knowledge before I tackle this - I wouldn’t want to starve.