THE VEGAN NEWS 

FEBRUARY 1998

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   In This Month's Issue:

Recipe of the Month

As the weather brightens up a bit outside, lighten up with these quick and easy pasta sauces:

Basic Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Method

  1. Put the tomatoes into a bowl and cover them with boiling water. After a few minutes, drain off the water and skin and chop the tomatoes.

  2. Place all the sauce ingredients into a pan or wok. Stir well and bring to the boil.

  3. Cover the pan and simmer the sauce for 25-30 mins, until it has thickened and the onions are soft.

  4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water until it is just cooked.

  5. Drain the pasta and divide it between two plates. Pour the sauce on top.

  6. For extra taste, sprinkle on some Vegetarian Parmazano or Engevita nutritional yeast flakes. Alternatively, stir a tablespoon of vegan pesto into the sauce.

Recipe Serves 2

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

Method

  1. Prepare the tomatoes, as in the previous recipe.

  2. Rehydrate the soya mince by covering it with boiling water. Leave for one minute, then drain.

  3. Fry the onion and the garlic for about 5 mins or until soft.

  4. Place all the ingredients (except for the spaghetti) into a pan. Stir well and bring to the boil.

  5. Cover the pan and simmer the sauce for 25 mins, adding a little more boiled water if it gets too dry.

  6. Meanwhile cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water until just cooked.

  7. Drain the pasta and divide it between two plates. Pour the sauce on top.

  8. For extra taste, sprinkle with Vegetarian Parmazano or Engevita nutritional yeast flakes.

Recipe Serves 2

Serve both of these recipes with crusty bread and a green salad.

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February Product Review

Tiki Marigold Shampoo

This mild, pleasant-smelling, herbal shampoo is very good for greasy hair and leaves hair clean, soft and shiny. Also available in the same range you will find: camomile shampoo for fair hair, nettle shampoo for dry hair and rosemary family shampoo. Look out, too, for Tiki country herb hair conditioner, Tiki witch hazel cleanser and Tiki camomile moisturiser. These products are all free from animal ingredients and are not tested on animals, either. Have a look for the Tiki range of products in your health food shop. I bought my 200 ml container of Tiki marigold shampoo in Holland and Barretts.  However, this product no longer seems to be available from H & B in March 2009. 

Peaches & Cream Nourishing Cream with Vitamin E. Produced by Pure Plant.

If you feel that your skin needs some extra nourishment after the winter gales, then try this lanolin-free cream which is made entirely from biodegradable ingredients and has added vitamin E. For normal to dry skin, it is of course, entirely free of animal products and has not been tested on animals. Made from a blend of peach oil, vitamin E and wheatgerm oil, it protects the skin and can be used as a night cream, replacing skin moisture while you are asleep. A pale peachy colour, this cream looks and smells almost good enough to eat and although it can feel a little greasy when you first put it on your face, it soon sinks in leaving your skin soft and smooth. It is sold in 100g jars. Look out for this product in your health shop.

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Pest Control Tips

If you want to control garden pests without resorting to using toxic chemicals, then try some of the following natural methods of pest control:

  1. Slugs and Snails - These slimy creatures can do a lot of damage in the veganic garden! So, encourage their natural predators: hedgehogs, frogs/toads, blackbirds/ thrushes, to visit, or even to live in your garden. The best way to attract these creatures is by providing hedgehog boxes, a garden pond, a bird table, bird bath, nesting boxes or even a toad house. Ducks will also control slugs and snails but keep them away from your seed beds or their webbed feet will trample down any seedlings! You could set slug traps: for example halves of grapefruits, but you will need to remove the slugs from your traps every day or two. However, if anyone does manage to catch a slug in a grapefruit shell, I would appreciate it if they could write into the Vegan News, because I, personally, have never successfully caught a slug using this method! Update March 2009: I find it much simpler to lay cardboard mulches on bare soil surfaces to reduce weed growth.  The slugs congregate underneath the cardboard, so I just collect them up regularly in large jars and release them elsewhere.  You can also protect vulnerable plants by covering them with clear plastic bottle halves or by surrounding young plants with rough materials such as: soot, bark chips or sawdust. And, you may still be able to purchase sachets of a microscopic nematode worm from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. These worms, when watered onto the soil, will kill slugs for about 6 weeks. Always keep your garden tidy and remove garden debris, promptly.

  2. Aphids - Squash blackfly and greenfly with your fingers or spray them with a soft soap solution. You can make your own solution up, by adding 2 oz (56 g) of grated household soap (or soapflakes) to a gallon (4.5 litres) of hot water. Allow to cool before spraying onto infected plants. Soft soap solution can also be made from old, leftover slivers of soap. So, don't throw these away! Collect them in a jam jar, cover them with water and leave to soften for a while. Finally, stir the mixture until it becomes jelly-like and put a small amount of the soap jelly into a plant spray. You will need to dilute it with more water before using it to spray your aphids.

    Aphids can also be repelled by planting companion plants near to the plants which are likely to be attacked. Coriander, garlic, marigold, tansy and mustard, can all be used for this purpose. Hoverflies, parasitic wasps, predatory midges and ladybirds, will all feed on aphids. You can attract hoverflies into your garden by planting the poached egg plant or the green manure crop, buckwheat. For further information on the poached egg plant and other hoverfly-attracting plants - e.g. sunflower, yarrow and wild angelica - visit the Wildlife Database. You can also control aphids by purchasing either predatory midges or the parasitic wasp - Encarsia formosa which lays its eggs in the whitefly larvae. Both of these biological pest controls are available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.  However, I do not use these methods personally as they involve the transport of 'live' animals. 

  3. Caterpillars - Brassicas are particularly at risk from attack by the caterpillars of large and small white butterflies. Check your plants regularly, removing any caterpillars immediately and squash caterpillar eggs between your fingers. Keep young plants covered with a fine mesh to prevent adult butterflies from laying their eggs on the plants. 

  4. Carrot fly - To deter attack by carrot fly, plant carrots near to onions and garlic.

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  5. What's Happening in the Veganic Garden This Month?

    1. Sowing and Planting

      The following crops can often be sown from mid-February onwards in the south of England, if the weather is mild. However, the soil temperature needs to be about 10 degrees centigrade and northern gardeners may have to wait until sometime in March before they can plant some of the varieties listed below:

      • Garlic - Printanor is a variety of garlic which is suitable for growing in the UK. It can be obtained from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. Garlic can be planted anytime from November to February. So, it's your last chance to plant it this month! I have also successfully planted ordinary garlic cloves which can be bought cheaply from a market or supermarket, but these do not tend to grow into very big bulbs in the UK. Harvest garlic in August when the leaves have died back and store it in a dry place. Garlic likes to be planted in a sunny position and do remember to keep your garlic well-watered during dry spells.

      • Early Peas - I also sow a bed of 'Feltham First' peas this month. These peas are winter hardy and will stand frost, although I usually cover mine with some envirofleece for extra protection. A mid-February sowing usually gives a good crop of peas around mid-June. Peas are excellent nitrogen fixers, so compost all your old pea plants and pea pods. Feltham first is a good pea for the small garden as it only grows to a height of 18" and these peas are lovely with home-made mint sauce! If you live further north, then delay sowing until March if the weather is bad.

      • Broad Beans - If you have a big garden, where space isn't a problem, then use the variety of broad bean called Aquadulce claudia which is very hardy. I use The Sutton, a dwarf bean reaching only 1' in height. Broad Beans, also fix nitrogen, so compost your old bean plants or use them, as you would use a green manure crop, to mulch one of your beds. The Sutton is also very hardy, but I usually cover mine with a fleece if I have one to spare. Beans planted by mid-February should be ready by the end of June or early July.

      • Onion Sets - I use the variety Stuttgart Giant. Plant baby onions in firm soil leaving only the tip visible. Inspect them daily until they are well-rooted and replant any that have come out of the ground as birds like to pull them up. Leave planting until March if the ground is frozen or the weather is bad.

      • Parsnips and shallots can also be planted this month, although I do not grow these crops in my garden.

      • Indoors make sowings of:
        1. Strawberry plants - try sowing seeds of Temptation F1 in gentle heat this month. Plants can be put outside in April.

        2. Peppers - I usually start off my peppers this month, too. Pepper seeds are very expensive to buy, so I use seeds from a fresh green pepper! Plant them in potting compost and put them in a warm place to germinate, such as on a sunny windowsill.

        3. Lettuces - can be started off indoors if you want to reduce slug damage. Plant them outside in the spring underneath plastic bottles. Try Little Gem, Lolla Rossa - a frilly red lettuce, or Winter Density.
      Note: All the varieties of seeds and plants mentioned above can be obtained from the
      2. Organic Gardening Catalogue if you can't find a local supplier.

      graphic

    2. In The Wildlife Garden

      Over the next few months I will be covering some of the animals that you might see in the veganic garden.

      This Month - The Grey Squirrel

      The Grey Squirrel was originally introduced into Britain from North America around 1876 and soon spread rapidly across most of the country. Grey squirrels usually live in open woodlands, particularly in those which contain beech trees, but they are also commonly seen in parks and gardens, too. They are omnivorous and eat buds, shoots, nuts and seeds and frequently raid birds' nests and eat their eggs and young. About eleven inches long, the grey squirrel lives in a domed nest, called a drey, which is usually located high up in the tree branches. The drey is between 9-14" in diameter and is made of an outer layer of branches with an inner lining of a warm insulating material, such as moss. Grey squirrels breed between January and August and there are normally two litters of three to four young, each year. The young are born blind, deaf and hairless and usually remain inside the drey for about seven weeks.

      Grey squirrels do not hibernate, although they usually feed only once, instead of twice a day, when the daylight length is reduced in the winter. They often bury supplies of food in the ground or in hollow trees - a habit which is known as 'caching'. In May and June, grey squirrels can cause a great deal of damage to trees by stripping off the outer bark, so that they can obtain the nutrient-rich sap underneath. Consequently, they are often regarded as pests and many are killed annually by trapping, poisoning and shooting.

      Grey squirrels will visit your bird table, so if you have any squirrels in your area, then wooden nut holders with wire mesh are better than plastic ones which they will soon rip open. They will also take the birds' fat balls, fruit (e.g. plums, strawberries, raspberries and greengages) and hazelnuts and I have even seen my grey squirrel digging up and eating my spring onions! I must admit though that despite their bad reputation as pests, I am usually very pleased to see grey squirrels when they visit my garden.

      3. Next Month - The Hedgehog.

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      Any Queries?

      Somebody told me that I should use a mulch, but I don't know how to do this or what to use?
      D.M. Philips, Bristol.

      You certainly should use mulches in the veganic garden! And here are six good reasons why:

      • Organic mulches can add nutrients to the soil and improve the soil's fertility.
      • They allow earthworms to work safely near to the surface of the soil without being eaten by predators.
      • They control weeds by denying germinating weed seeds access to light and air.
      • They keep the soil moist and help to save water by reducing the need to water plants frequently.
      • They keep the soil warm and the soil temperature constant.
      • They help to prevent soil erosion.

      All of the following mulches are suitable for use in the veganic garden:

      1. Old, natural (wool or cotton) carpets or rugs - but not ones with foam backs. Place the carpet on the surface of the soil and if you wish to plant in this area, then make holes in the carpet and plant through it.
      2. Coarse grade forest bark. Cover the soil with a 2" layer and use on flower beds and shrubs but not on vegetables.
      3. A thick layer of straw or hay. Do not use on vegetables. Good around strawberry plants.
      4. Grass Cuttings. Use a layer of dried grass cuttings about 6" thick.
      5. Newspaper/cardboard. These can be used by themselves or underneath another sort of mulch such as forest bark.
      6. Home-made compost
      7. Leafmould
      8. Seaweed - but try to use seaweed which has been washed up in a storm and not live weed.
      9. Green manure crops (such as winter field beans, comfrey or nettles) can be used as a mulch instead of digging them into the soil.
      10. Black plastic sheeting. Punch holes in the plastic to allow water through. However, note that this is not an organic mulch and won't add humus to the soil or increase its fertility. Plastic is not biodegradable either and you should, therefore, try to avoid using it if at all possible.

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      Other Interesting Websites.

      The Vegan Society (UK)

      An excellent site with lots of useful information and a particularly good starting point for the new vegan.

      This section was updated in March 2009 and several links were removed as they are no longer available.

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       February Book Review

      The Cookbook For People Who Love Animals. Gentle World.

      Printed on acid-free, recycled paper, this cookery book has been bound using the Otabind process which allows the book to stay open easily on any page. Containing over 300 delicious, healthy and easy -to-prepare, vegan recipes, this book is more than just a cookery book and scattered amongst the recipes you will find many quotes and poems to satisfy your spiritual appetite while the dinner is cooking. In the breakfast section, amongst the homemade bread recipes, you will find recipes for pancakes, muffins, puffins and mookies! And there are plenty of soups, salads, salad dressings and sandwiches to try out too. Beginners should turn to page 81 where they will find some easy side dishes. I was also pleased to find the vegan, vegetable tempura recipe on page 108 as usually vegans can't eat tempura because of eggs in the batter. If you are looking for a quick meal, then try out some of the sautes in the 'Main Dishes' section. Here you will also find many recipes for casseroles, bakes and various patties and burgers, too. And, if you have a sweet tooth, then in the 'Treats and Beverages' section, you will find many interesting recipes for vegan cookies, ice cream and pies. Finally, on page 159 you will find a selection of recipes for vegan cats and dogs! (See this month's article on Green Cats and Dogs.)

      Unfortunately the main problem, with this otherwise very good book, is that it has been written for the American audience and so ingredients are given only in cups and not in ounces or grams. However, if you would like to try out some of the recipes in this book, then you may like to download a copy of my conversion table.

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