THE VEGAN NEWS
THE VEGAN NEWS
APRIL 1999
- Recipes
- This Month's Article - Garden Butterflies in April
- Readers' Contributions
- Vegan Product Review
- In The Veganic Garden
- Top Ten Butterfly Plants
- Vegan Websites
- Book Review
- The Wildlife Database
Recipe of the Month
Here are some more tasty breakfast ideas:
Raw Muesli
Ingredients
- 4 heaped tbsp of muesli base
- 4-5 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp of raisins/sultanas
- 1 grated apple (red ones are best)
- 1 peeled and chopped banana
- Pure orange juice and/or vegan yoghurt
- Sprinkles: dessicated coconut, wheatgerm, cinnamon, toasted chopped nuts and/or seeds
Method
- Place the muesli base in a dish and add the water and raisins. Leave to soften in the fridge overnight.
- Divide the muesli base mixture between two bowls. Top with the grated apple and the chopped banana.
- Add a small amount of orange juice to moisten, if necessary. Top with vegan yoghurt and/or fruit compote (optional).
- Finally, sprinkle on the coconut, wheatgerm, cinnamon, seeds etc. Enjoy!
Recipe Serves 2 - But increase the amounts if you have a big appetite!
Note: Yeo Valley Organic Fruit Compote (apple, blackcurrant, strawberry and blackberry flavour) goes well with this raw muesli and can be poured over the muesli as a special treat. It's made entirely from organically grown fruit, but does contain some sugar.
Home-made Muesli
Rather than buying ready-made muesli I usually make up my own and store it in a large jar, so that it's ready for use. I make it using Suma organic muesli base (containing wheatflakes,oats, barley and jumbo oats) and add chopped brazil nuts, sultanas (or raisins) and sunflower seeds - all organic of course and usually from Neal's Yard. It's also possible to add chopped, dried fruit - dates, apricots, figs, whatever's available and you can also add coconut flakes and vegan banana chips. The main advantage of making up your own muesli is that you can make it just how you want it and of course it's sugar-free. An even easier way to do it, is to simply provide all of the ingredients and let everyone make up their own!
Readers' ContributionsI am a 23 year old mother of two. I have been a vegan for over 5 years now and have been pregnant and raised children, one on a completely vegan diet. My children are extremely healthy, only three stuffy noses ever and I attribute this to their vegan diet. I would like to let other young, pregnant mothers and people alike, know that it's completely safe to maintain a vegan diet, especially with children.
Simone Weaver, Fairfax, USA.
April Product Review
Dessert Essence Daily Replenishing Shampoo With Tea Tree and Lavender Oil
This shampoo can be used on all hair types and is said to be good for the scalp because it contains Babassu oil, a cleanser obtained from the rainforest. Bursting with essential oils - lavender, rosemary, geranium and tea tree, it does leave the hair clean and shiny and has a thick, creamy texture which makes it easy to apply. I must admit I found the smell rather too powerful for my liking, but fortunately it wore off quite quickly to leave 'the sweet smelling freshness' mentioned on the bottle! This product has 'The Beauty Without Cruelty Seal Of Approval' and contains no animal ingredients, alcohol or synthetic colours/perfumes. Rather expensive at £3.99 for a 240 ml bottle. I purchased mine in Holland & Barretts.
Incidentally, if any male readers would like to review some male, vegan hair products, then any reviews I receive will be published in a later issue.
What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?
Sowing and Planting Outside
This month sow beetroot, parsnips (e.g. 'Avonresister'), turnips, parsley, celeriac, radishes, carrots and second early peas, such as 'Onward'. Continue to sow broad beans and spinach - as in last month's issue. Plant out chitted, second early potatoes. This year I am going to try out the variety of second early potato called 'Kestrel' which is supposed to be resistant to attack by slugs, blackleg and eelworm. I am also going to sow a bed of the green manure crop 'Bitter Blue' this month. This agricultural lupin is a good nitrogen fixer and has lovely blue flowers which are very attractive to bees. (Updated in February 2009: Still available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue (GLAG1.) Finally, if any of you ordered asparagus crowns (or seeds) last month, then plant up your asparagus beds now!
Indoor Work
Make indoor sowings of kale (e.g. 'Nero di Toscano' and 'Tall Green Curled'), calabrese, sprouting broccoli, tomatoes, autumn/winter cauliflowers and late Brussels sprouts. Continue to sow lettuces and other salad crops, such as landcress and spring onions. And don't forget that you can also grow many vitamin-packed salad crops (e.g. alfalfa, mustard and cress etc.) on your windowsill, so get sprouting!
Many herbs (e.g. mint, basil, chives, hyssop, lavender, mint, rosemary, sage, thyme and oregano) and a lot of butterfly plants (e.g. buddleia) can also be sown indoors this month. Herbs are well worth growing, even if you do not intend to eat them yourself, for many are very attractive to bees or butterflies and some herbs can also be used as companion plants in your vegetable garden, where they will help to deter pests from your crops. Alternatively, if you don't want to sow seeds, buy some ready-grown herb plants from your garden centre.
In The Wildlife Garden
Last year my herb patch was home to many snails. Very nice for the snails - but not terribly good for my runner beans at the back of the herb bed, or my vegetable patch nearby which had to provide their dinner! So this year I am going to convert the herb garden into a butterfly area. It will still contain quite a few herbs, but any herbs which have become old, overgrown or 'woody' will be replaced. New herbs will include: sage, hyssop, lavender, wild thyme and oregano and any spare ground, left in between the herbs, will be used to grow butterfly plants, such as ice plant (Sedum spectabile), aubretia, candytuft etc. Many herbs are very attractive to butterflies - wild thyme, oregano, hyssop and lavender, all appear in the top 100 butterfly nectar plants, as listed in the book 'Gardening for Butterflies' (see book review). Bees also adore the herbs lavender, mint and of course chive's bright pink flowers. I am sure that it will make a very successful butterfly area, for it's sunny, sheltered and has the additional bonus of being right outside my kitchen window, so that I can get a good view of the butterflies feeding! April, incidentally, is a very good month to create a butterfly area in your garden. So why don't you have a go too? And if you don't have a garden, you may be interested to know that many butterfly plants can be grown quite successfully in window boxes, or in containers, placed on a patio or balcony. If you're not sure what to plant you will find a good butterfly gardening book mentioned in this month's Book Review. And don't miss this month's article Butterflies in April which has been written especially for Vegan News by Lynn Fomison and contains links to other butterfly gardening sites on the web. Finally, you may also like to read 'Creating a Butterfly Pub' which you will find in the April 1997 issue and to study the list of the Top Ten butterfly nectar plants given below.
Crops Available This Month:
Sprouting broccoli, rhubarb, spring greens, turnip tops, kale, leeks, asparagus and winter lettuces such as 'Imperial Winter'.
Top Ten Favourite Butterfly Nectar Plants:
- Buddleia - The favourite nectar plant of 18 species of butterfly. Try Buddleia davidii (lilac and white varieties are best) or B. x weyeriana.
- Ice Plant (Sedum spectabile) - A good source of autumn nectar. Can attract 25 species of butterfly.
- Lavender - Try Lavandula angustifolia as not all species of lavender will attract butterflies. Thirty species of butterflies have been recorded feeding on Lavender - the Whites are particularly fond of it.
- Michaelmas Daisy - Also autumn flowering. Try 'Barrs Pink' variety, or a variety supplied by John Chambers, as not all types are attractive to butterflies.
- Oregano (Wild Marjoram) - Oregano vulgare. Popular with bees too. Grows well in containers. I have always found this plant particulary good at attracting butterflies in my garden. Incidentally, it's also used as a caterpillar food plant by the Large Heath and the Large Blue.
- Aubretia - A good source of spring nectar. Lovely purple flowers. Try 'Purple Cascade'.
- Red Valerian - The Pink variety is most attractive to butterflies.
- French Marigold - Try the variety 'Naughty Marietta' or the dwarf variety - both are sold by John Chambers.
- Hebe - Try 'Great Orme' or 'Midsummer Beauty' and Hebe albicans, H. brachysiphon and H. x fransiscana are also popular with butterflies.
- Candytuft - Use Iberis amara or I. umbellata. This plant varies in its attractiveness to butterflies, but it is well worth trying.
Other good butterfly nectar plants include: *Ivy, hyssop, scabious, privet, dandelion, teasel, globe thistle, statice, lilac and bird's-foot trefoil.
*Note: I have lots of ivy in my garden and it is always covered with feeding Red Admirals in the autumn; birds like the berries too.
Other Interesting Vegan Websites
The Vegan Society (UK)
An excellent site and a particularly good starting point for obtaining information, for the new or intending vegan. You can now visit their online Shop.
World Animal Net
World Animal Net produces the World Animal Directory - a worldwide listing of over 6,000 animal welfare organisations. You can also find out about their campaigns nd read their book reviews.
Ever wanted to know how ethical a company is? Well now you can find out at this site. Please note: this is not a vegan website and that not all of the products offered are vegan.
April Book ReviewGardening For Butterflies by Dr Margaret Vickery (Butterfly Conservation).
This concise and nicely illustrated booklet clearly explains why we need to provide habitats for butterflies and why we should garden organically. Containing plenty of tips on how to set up a butterfly area in your garden, this book details the most popular butterfly and caterpillar plants and provides colour photos and information on many of the butterflies which are likely to be seen visiting gardens in the UK. It includes planting plans for gardens of various sizes, as well as information about the butterfly plants which can be grown successfully in containers, tubs or window boxes, perhaps on a patio or balcony. If you would like to set up your own butterfly area, then a copy of this booklet (plus a copy of the John Chamber's Wildflower Seed Catalogue!) will be all you need to get started. Gardening for Butterflies can be purchased from Butterfly Conservation and from the Organic Gardening Catalogue (£5.50). (See this month's article for address details.)