A mix of black-eyed peas, black seeded snake beans and brown seeded snake beans, all home grown and harvested today, about to go in the slow cooker. Protein, fibre, complex carbs, versatility, deliciousness. And a step into a blue zone.
I’ve just discovered black-eyed peas, and they’re set to become a staple in my garden. I’m looking forward to playing with some African recipes with these.
I go on a picking walk most days, picking what needs to be picked, and then thinking about what to do with it (and what else I need to pick from the herbs and perennials to go with it). What’s for dinner is always led by what needs to be used. This has the useful side effect that what needs to be used is pretty nearly always what’s at the…
The catbird, for some reason only known to its birdy mind, doesn’t like the teepee as a perch nearly as much as my vertical or arched wire trellises. So I have accidentally solved the problem of growing pole beans in the garden. Which I am very happy about because these beans make an excellent cannellini bean substitute.
Someone asked me in a comment what I do with the Madagascar beans. So … Beans feature in many traditional (and blue zone) cuisines. They’re hugely healthy. Madagascar beans adapt to most Mexican, Tex Mex and Central American recipes – which is one of my favourite cuisines. Madagascar beans also adapt well to most Mediterranean recipes – which is another of my favourite cuisines.
First pick (of many to come) of Madagascar beans for storage. In my subtropical climate, I’m looking at bananas (including plantain), cassava, taro, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, yams and beans as storable calories, and these Madagascar beans look like becoming a mainstay of the system.
We bought a second hand washing machine a little while ago, just by chance from a couple who had retired to Lennox Head leaving a family home with a great big garden to move into a beach house with a tiny garden. They were doing spectacular things in a tiny space and we talked gardens over tea for so long we nearly forgot why we came. As we were leaving…