Hello, we are David and Rachel, two people with a love of vegetables. Rachel likes cooking them and David likes eating them. More importantly, we save a lot of money when we grow vegetables.
This website is for you if you want to:
- Eat less meat for financial, health or environmental reasons,
- Make quick and easy mouth-watering meals,
- Learn new skills,
- Improve your well-being by being amongst nature, or
- Save money by taking control over how you cook and what you eat.
If you are still reading this then welcome to our website
Here, we will share our knowledge, enabling you to learn from the mistakes we have made. All our recipes, grow guides, tips and stories are drawn directly from our experiences over the last seven years.
This site has no generic photos and shows what we are growing, doing and eating…. basically how we are living.
So, how do we know all about growing and eating vegetables?
Well, the simple answer is we don’t know all about it but have learned a lot from our successes and failures along the way. We started with the idea of eating less meat for health reasons and having the allotment helped us achieve that. Finally, we have said farewell to meat because our diet is now full of colourful, nutritious and exciting meals.
What if you cannot grow vegetables?
No problem, vegetables are far cheaper than meat so buying them still saves you money.
What if you only have a backyard?
Plenty of plants can be grown in a backyard. The trick is to grow the most productive vegetables and fruit that mature quickly, have a long cropping season, can be easily stored for months, and provide tasty meals.
What if you are not a good cook?
Cooking just takes confidence and practice. Rachel had little interest in cooking until she started growing vegetables. There is something so satisfying about creating simple, tasty meals that most people never think of making. In our opinion, all our recipes are easy, quick, cheap and tasty.
It’s a good idea to get your kitchen cupboard stocked up first with some long-lasting items, such as a good range of herbs and spices, dried ingredients, and tins of beans, tomatoes and coconut milk. As lovely as vegetables are, you have to eat them with something!
What you can learn from our website and how to find your way around
The menus at the top are straightforward and focus on growing, storing and cooking vegetables. In the ‘Recipes’ menu, you can choose to focus on a particular vegetable or type of meal. There are also many useful links within the posts.
You can also read more about us and our story so far.
This website is always developing. We will add more grow guides and recipes regularly, as well as other useful nuggets and tips to get the most out of your veg.
Every year we try new things and this year is no exception
In 2022, we have grown more fruit and started to save our own seeds from the vegetables we grow. We already grow some flowers at the allotment but are expanding this to include varieties that can be added to meals, plants that can be used to make items for the pantry, such as syrups and oils, as well as being beneficial to bees and other insects.
We are also trialling automatic watering systems so we are able to leave our plants for longer periods and go away on our narrowboat in the warmer months.
We are starting to look at foraging for free food, such as fruit, berries, plants, and even weeds.
So, what are you waiting for…?
Try one of our easy curry recipes this week, or perhaps experiment with a vegan dish. Please let us know what you think.
If you want to grow vegetables then look at our simple vegetable grow guides. There is always something you can grow at any time of year.
We are always open to new topics or suggestions, so please contact us if you have any ideas.
Please leave any comments or feedback on any blog posts to help us and others.
You can also subscribe to get updates on what interests you whenever we publish a new post.
