Well as I write this the rain is pouring down, the gutters are overflowing and the cat is looking through the window with an expression of horror on his face. The plot’s doing its famous impression of a paddy field and so we’ve been busy updating the web site.
Val’s been adding recipes, there’s 239 on the site now. As well as ways of using vegetables, she’s added some recipes for sauces and ketchups and on making flavoured oils and vinegars.
To save going over the same ground endless she’s written these articles:
How to Make Flavoured Oils & Vinegars
It’s quite fascinating looking at the history of crop rotation because it goes back to pre-Roman times and from the Dark Ages of feudal Britain right up to the 18th century a simple three field system, as developed by the Romans was the norm for farming. Then came the agricultural revolution which was almost a single handed effort by Jethro Tull. I was really tempted to mention that was in their acoustic days before they made their first album, but sense prevailed. I say almost because the idea of crop rotation was also developed and promoted by Viscount Townshend and later by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester.
What we can now show with science and seems obvious is not so obvious if you have no idea about how plants work and their nutritional needs. For organic growers, the crop rotation is arguably more important than for the chemical grower but since one of the main benefits is the reduction of pest build ups and the average gardener doesn’t have access to many chemicals.
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