THE VEGAN NEWS 

WINTER 2007/2008

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In This Issue:

Winter Recipe(s)

Cauliflower With Cheese Sauce

Source: Own Recipe

Ingredients

Method

  1. Break the cauliflower into individual florets and chop the florets into smaller pieces if necessary. Wash thoroughly.
  2. Place the cauliflower florets into a steamer. Steam until just cooked.
  3. Put the cheese sauce powder into a saucepan and add some of the cold water.  Mix well. Mix in the rest of the water, then bring to the boil, stirring constantly.   Simmer until thickened. 
  4. Place the cooked cauliflower into a serving dish and pour on the sauce. Sprinkle with Engevita and nori flakes, if using. 
Variation: Try sprinkling on some vegan soya bacon bits when serving, or try using a mixture of vegetables instead of just cauliflower.

Serves: 1

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Winter Product Reviews

Astonish Multi-Purpose Orange Cleaning Paste
This is an amazingly useful multi-purpose cleaning paste.  It's excellent for cleaning sinks, baths, tiles, pans, surfaces, patio furniture and hobs & ovens. In my experience, it's also great for cleaning dirty hands after gardening and as an alternative to white spirit for removing paint from the hands after decorating.  I have even had some success with removing paint that has dried on to surfaces when I have used this paste in conjunction with a green nylon scouring pad.  It's also very good for removing bicycle oil from my hands after carrying out cycle repairs. It's available from the Natural Collection for £1.75 ( 3 tubs for £4.95). Not tested on animals.

Leaf Mould Composter
Wondering what to do with your autumn leaves? I obtained one of these leaf mould composters from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. It's made from a strong black plastic mesh, which is supposed to last for about ten years. Easily assembled, it is supplied with four support canes to hold it in position.  One metre in height, it holds a massive 170 litres of leaves!  I eventually managed to fill mine up, but each time it rains the leaves sink down again and I have to go out and do some more sweeping up.  The mesh seems to provide good access to the rain, allowing the leaves to sink down as they start to decompose.  If you'd like to order one, then it's available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue for £18.95.

Free & Easy Diary-Free Cheese Flavour Sauce Mix
This Gluten, dairy and GM free cheese sauce mix is made from a blend of cereals and vegetables and includes rice flour, cornstarch, potato flakes and a non-dairy cheese flavour. Easy to make, by simply adding some cold water/soya milk and bringing to the boil, it's ideal for use in a lasagne, over macaroni, on steamed vegetables, or to make cauliflower cheese.  I found that I needed to use slightly more powder than the manufacturers recommended to get the right consistency.  This useful store cupboard item is quite tasty, but unfortunately it's not free, costing around £1.70 for a 130g container.  Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Look out for it in health shops and large supermarkets. It is available from Holland & Barretts at a slightly lower cost.

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 Gardening News

Winter Sowing and Planting Schedule: For more information on what to plant throughout December, January and February see the GARDENING DIARY.

Winter once more! With all the hard gardening work now behind you, why not curl up in front of the fire and spend some time planning out  what you are going to grow in 2008? Most mail order seed companies produce their new seed catalogues in the autumn, so if you haven't received  your 2008 copy yet, then now is the time to request one.  Alternatively, if you don't want to shop by mail order, then visit your local seed shop or garden centre to see what's on offer.  Look out for seed potatoes. These are usually available in early January and should be sprouted after purchase, so that they are ready for planting in April.  You may also want to stock up on seeds for making early sowings in February and March - for example Feltham First peas  and Aquadulce Claudia broad beans (see Gardening Diary). It's also a good time to purchase fruit trees/fruit bushes as these can be planted out from November onwards. 

Thinking ahead to summer now - why not liven your garden up this year by planting some cheerful and colourful bedding and container plants?  Petunias, begonias, geraniums, nemesia, pansies/violas and alyssum will all help to attract pollinating insects and will also brighten up your garden, patio, or window boxes throughout the summer months.  You will need to start sowing these bedding plant seeds indoors around January or February, so acquire the seeds now.  It is also worth keep a look out for unusual containers in charity shops, jumble sales and car boot sales over the coming months.
veganic garden
Seed Ideas

I've already had a look through several seed catalogues to see what's new for 2008.  I noticed that Thompson and Morgan have some interesting new additions, including Comfrey seed (30 seeds for £1.99).  As my comfrey bed need replacing, I will try out these seeds in 2008 instead of buying new plants. Comfrey flowers are very popular with bees so I always let one or two plants flower, even though it is usually recommended that the leaves should be harvested before the plant flowers.  Comfrey leaves have many uses. They can be used to activate the compost heap, made into a liquid feed, or can simply be used as a mulch on garden beds.  (You can just about see my comfrey patch in the photograph, slightly in front of  the composter.) 

I also noticed that T& M are offering healthy-coloured cauliflowers in their 2008 catalogue.  Choose from green, purple, or bright orange as a change from ordinary white ones. The Cheddar F1 Hybrid (bright orange) really caught my eye.  I can just see it covered with a white, vegan 'cheese' sauce (see above). Also of interest is T & M's 'Pea Half Pint'. This is a container-grown pea, growing up to 37 cm (15 in), which would make an interesting centrepiece on the dining table.  If you like peppers T & M's 'Mini Belle Mixed' certainly looks interesting, producing a mixture of red, orange and chocolate coloured peppers and could possibly be grown in a container on a sunny patio, if you don't have a greenhouse. I quite fancy growing their winter squash 'Turk's Turban', which has interesting and very distinctive fruits that are supposed to store well.  Incidentally, Turk's Turban seeds are available from Tamar Organics at a lower price.  Keen sprouters may also be interested in the new Snow Peas, which have recently been added to T & M's sprouting seed range. T & M's Order line number is 01473 695225, if you don't wish to order online.

There's also a few interesting new products in the 2008 Suffolk Herb's Catalogue. For example there are three new types of baby leaf salad varieties available including Semposai 3, Namenaia and Red Pak Choi. In addition, Suffolk Herbs now offer four types of mushroom kit and they have just introduced a range of patio planters, especially designed for growing herbs, strawberries, vegetables and potatoes (£14.99).  They also stock the book How to Store Your Garden Produce by Piers Warren (order code: S49164, price £4.95).

2007 Gardening Report
Despite the unpredictable and often poor weather this summer, 2007 turned out to be quite a good gardening year for me.  My goji berry plants are still alive despite the wet summer weather and have increased in size, but produced no flowers or berries in their first year. The Red Alert tomatoes produced an excellent crop of early tomatoes as usual, which were not affected by blight.  I really would recommend this variety, if blight is a problem in your garden.  In 2007, I also planted a mixture of drying beans including Lazy Housewife and Barlotto Lingua di Fuoco. I obtained a good crop of beans for drying including black, speckled, white, pink, purple and green coloured beans.  I also completed the chickpea challenge for VON.  My chickpea plants grew well (I sprouted the seeds before planting) and I got quite excited when they flowered and produced pods.  I was, however, somewhat disappointed to discover that the pods were entirely empty and ended up with not a single chickpea for all my trouble! Apparently, many of the other participants didn't even get this far. I think in future though I will stick to just growing drying beans, as these seem to thrive much better in the British climate.  I would also like to mention my Parmex carrots, which I grew in a container on the patio covered with a net curtain to deter carrot fly.  I obtained a nice crop of round, bite-sized and tasty carrots.  This would perhaps be worth trying out with the kids next year.  The seeds are available from T & M, if you want to have a go.  You could also try growing Paris Market carrots, which are very similar.

Incidentally, my lemon plant has tripled in size and appears to be thriving indoors and my fig is just starting to shed it leaves for the winter.  No sign of any figs or lemons yet though!

Leaf Mould Making:  If you have access to a good supply of autumn leaves, then it is worth gathering up any leaves as they fall and converting them into leaf mould.  Leaf mould has many uses.  For example it can be added to home-produced potting compost and it also makes an excellent garden mulch that is quite useful for suppressing weeds in shrub or flower borders.  A ready-made Leaf Mould Composter can be purchased, but it's quite easy and much cheaper to construct your own. To do so you will need to purchase a length of good quality plastic mesh (preferably in a neutral colour such as green, black or brown) from a DIY store.  The plastic mesh should be about 1 metre high (wide) and should be long enough to fold round to make a cylinder of at least a 100-150 cm in circumference, allowing an extra 15 cm for an overlap. Form the mesh into a cylinder and fasten the two overlapped cut ends together, using plastic ties or pieces of nylon string, spaced at about 15 cm intervals down the overlapped area.  Stand the cylinder on the soil in a position where it is not too windy and where it can be readily assessed by rainfall (which is needed for good decomposition of the leaves).  It is probably a good idea to anchor the leaf mould maker in some way in case it gets very windy and to prevent it from toppling over when it is full.  One way of doing this is to use 3-4 bamboo plant canes (about 100 cm tall), spaced at even intervals (e.g. on the hour, quarter past, half past etc.) around the cylinder. The canes should be intertwined through the mesh and the bottom ends of the canes should be pushed into the soil  to anchor the leaf mould composter.  You could alternatively tie the mesh cylinder to a fence, tree, or poles.

Place deciduous tree and shrub leaves in the leaf mould maker, along with any herbaceous flower debris.  Avoid adding rose and other thorny prunings and hard shiny leaves. An animal-free activator can be used if required.  For example the Organic Gardening Catalogue supplies one by Biotal for £6.25 (order code: BICL), which speeds up leaf mould production.  Beech, sweet chestnut and oak are the best leaves to use for leaf mould making as leaves with woody stalks and veins such as sycamore and chestnut take longer to decompose.

* If you have some plastic mesh left over, I have found it very useful as a cat deterrent on any areas of bare soil.  Simply place the mesh on the soil surface.  For some reason cats seem reluctant to walk on it!
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WE WILL 

 

We will always be mindful of spreading the word,
that the vegan ideal is the best we have heard.
Our love for the animals will guide what we say.
We will express what we know in a gentle way.
We will be the example of the truth that we teach,
so that people can witness the heights they can reach.
By maintaining our bodies in excellent health,
we exemplify a vegan’s bountiful wealth.

 

We will share all the plant foods that vegans can eat,
all the vibrant colors, both savory and sweet.
With our food and our stamina being so good,
people will see that they haven’t understood;
how important it is for our diet to evolve,
and the planetary problems that we can resolve.
For the vegan concept will magically bring
a multitude of benefits to everything.

 

We will strive to expand our heartfelt compassion
until loving animals is a world-wide fashion.
We won’t pay for by-products like blood and bone,
but will make our gardens veganically grown.
We will read the ingredients before we buy.
Our dollars won’t require an animal to die.
We will oppose cruelty with each passing year,
until all of the animals can live free of fear.

 

We won’t give up until that awaited day arrives
when it’s inconceivable to exploit other lives.
There will come a time, when people will wonder how,
man could earn his living by slaughtering a cow.
We will bring about a gentle and new age
when the innocent are free from all human rage.
We will be vegan and usher in a world of peace,
heading toward that time when speciesism will cease.

 

By M. Butterflies Katz
http://www.veganpoet.com
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Christmas Gift Ideas

Just a few ideas for you to consider if you are looking for unusual Christmas presents, or simply want to avoid the seasonal crush in the shops:

The 2007 Natural Collection Autumn Catalogue - This catalogue contains quite few mail order products that would make interesting Christmas presents:
Providing wildlife equipment is not only benefits wildlife. It also provides interesting animal-watching opportunities for humans and encourages these beneficial creatures to visit and to live in gardens, where they help to control garden pests. Non-chemical pest control is of course especially important in an organic/veganic garden and is one reason why veganic friends and relations would probably love to receive some wildlife equipment for Christmas.  

Tree Planting
Planting a native tree is one of the best things that you can do for wildlife! Many trees have tremendous wildlife value so why not give a tree to someone for Christmas this year?  (Make sure they have room for it first though!)  Ectopia offers a good selection of Traditional English Trees including a Holly tree, which has a nice Christmassy feel too it, would look attractive in the garden and of course its berries are valuable for wildlife. It costs £11.99 for a one year old tree, plus a mesh guard, stake and tie.  Fruit trees also  provide feeding opportunities for wildlife and are available from local garden centres, or by mail order.  Native trees are also available from the Native Tree Shop.

Living Gifts - Thompson and Morgan's are now offering Living Gifts.  These live gifts are delivered direct to the recipient and start at £6.99.  Living gifts include house plants, cut flowers, hyacinths, bay trees and orchids.

Finally a fairly traded bag would makes a useful stocking filler and help to reduce the use of plastic bags. I found a nice one in Oxfam for £2.99, which is sourced by Traidcraft and produced by impoverished Action Bag bag makers in Bangladesh.  This shoulder bag is made from hessian fabric and is printed with the logo 'Change Starts Here'.  You should be able to find it in larger Oxfam shops, which tend to sell Christmas cards, calendars, diaries, fairly traded chocolate and coffee/tea products and jewelry, as well as a wide range of second hand goods that could be just what someone you know needs for Christmas this year! Sue Ryder also stock a similar fabric bag for £1.99 and Wilkinson's are offering an excellent black shopping bag for  just £0.49! Incidentally, charity shops can also sometimes sell wildlife equipment.  I once obtained a new bird box for £1.00 and have also seen bird feeders in my local charity shops. So it may be worth having a quick look before buying new ones.
 
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 In the Wildlife Garden  

Many wildflowers and commonly grown garden plants are beneficial to animals and can be used to attract wildlife into your garden.  Some of the plants, trees and shrubs that are suitable for this purpose have been covered in previous issues and are listed in The Wildflower Index. Plants that are also suitable for growing in a cottage garden are now marked with the letters CTGR.

Cottage Garden Plants

In this new section I am going to cover some of  the plants that would traditionally be planted in a cottage garden, excluding any suitable plants that have already been covered in depth in earlier issues. I intend to focus on the cottage garden plants that are particularly valuable to wildlife. 

In this issue I am going to look at herbs. Many herbs make excellent wildlife plants and are often included in a cottage garden. They were originally grown by early cottage gardeners mainly for medicinal and culinary purposes. Nowadays, however,  they are more likely to be included in a cottage garden because of their culinary or decorative uses rather than for their healing properties.  The best herbs to grow for wildlife include:

Bergamot (Monarda didyma)
Is often called bee balm because bees are very attracted to its vivid red flowers. It is also supposed to be attractive to butterflies, although I have never seen any butterflies visiting plants in my garden. Reaching up to 90 cm in height, this perennial can be grown in containers or in a border.  

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)
An evergreen perennial, growing up to about 60 cm in height, which has rather attractive spikes of fragrant blue, white or deep pink flowers that are attractive to bees and white butterflies. Makes an excellent low hedge, but will also grow in a sunny border or in a container.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
This graceful perennial grows up to 1.5m and is best placed at the back of a sunny border. Its rather attractive with its fragrant feathery leaves and umbels of yellow flowers, which will be visited by many insects.  Birds also like to eat the seeds. Can be grown in coastal areas too.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
A fragrant perennial, growing up to 60 cm, with insignificant white flowers that are very attractive to bees. The plant is quite invasive, so it is perhaps best grown in a container in a sunny position rather than in a border.

Mint (Mentha sp.)
Includes spearmint (Mentha spicata), apple mint (Mentha rotundifolia) and peppermint (Mentha piperita). Mint has long underground runners and can be invasive, so if you don't want it to spread everywhere, then plant it in a container rather than in a border. Mint's spikes of flowers are used as a nectar source by bees and butterflies.  This is an excellent plant for culinary use too.

Borage (Borago officinalis)
A tall, hairy-leaved, readily self-seeding annual, which has vivid blue, star-shaped flowers that are extremely attractive to bees. Best grown from seed sown in a sunny border in spring/early summer. The plant's leaves are also eaten by various and sometimes rare moth and butterfly caterpillars. The flowers are edible.

Other herbs (covered in earlier issues) that could be included in a cottage garden for wildlife purposes are: 
Consult The Herbs for Wildlife article for more information on this topic.

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 Websites

The Vegan Society (UK)
An excellent source of information for new vegans, or for anyone who is thinking of going vegan. You can also shop or become a member online.

VeganPoet.Com
This is a web site of thought-provoking poetry and photos that speak of animal, environmental, and human rights, written by M. 'Butterflies' Katz, a vegan activist of nearly 30 years.  It includes the book Metamorphosis - a book of poems.


Alternative Stores
Sells a wide range of affordable vegetarian shoes and boots, plus assorted vegetarian/vegan items including cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, bags and vitamins.  The site has been Vegan Society Approved, but I've heard mixed reports about footwear product quality.  They stock vegan, chocolate Christmas tree decorations, dark chocolate snowmen and dark chocolate Christmas trees too.

Vegan  Media.Org

This is a Czech, vegan website, which is in the process of producing an extra feature/gallery of vegans. It wants vegans to send a photo and a text about themselves (Something like 'your typical vegan') to: info@vegmedia.org. I am unable to offer much information on the site's content though as I haven't a great command of this language!
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Winter Book Review(s)

Self Healing Colitis & Crohn's by David Klein, Ph.D (Living |Nutrition Publications, 2006 )
Cancer
Essentially a Vegan Diet Healing Plan for use by suffers of these bowel diseases. This wholistic approach is based on the principle that the body possesses an innate healing force and will self heal when the causes of these illnesses such as stressors and harmful foods are removed from the lifestyle.  You will learn about your body's remarkable self healing powers and how to overcome these diseases by following a healthful lifestyle based on the principles of natural hygiene.  This inspiring book also covers related topics such as detoxification, information on how the bowel functions, vegan nutrition and looks at the causes of colitis and crohn's. It contains comprehensive guidelines and meal plans for both the Vegan Healing Diet  (for use in the healing phase) and for a Post-Healing Vegan Diet, which is used to prevent the disease from reoccurring. The book ends with a selection of testimonials from ulcerative colitis and crohn's sufferers.

Price $ 14.95  ISBN: 0-9717526-1-3. This book can be ordered online from Amazon.Com and from http://www.livingnutrition.com/bookstore.html and http://www. colitis-crohns.com



The Container Gardening Encyclopedia by Sue Phillips (Salamander Books Ltd, 2001).

Karma Cookbook This must be the most beautifully illustrated, comprehensive and useful book on container gardening that I have ever come across. Contains expert advice on the merits of the different types of containers and instructions on how to make your own. There's information on potting mixes, watering techniques, plant feeding,  the lining of containers and of course plenty of suggestions about what to plant in your containers to provide an all-year-round, eye-catching display of colour. Learn more about training and topiary techniques, bonsai, container growing in the conservatory, making a water garden and how to plant up containers of tasty, edible herbs, vegetables and fruit. It even contains some illustrated ideas for festive winter tubs, which would make ideal xmas gifts! Highly recommended.

Available from Amazon from £9.79.  ISBN: 1 84065 361 2

Geoff Hamilton's Cottage Gardens by Geoff Hamilton (BBC Books, 2001)

Zen Cookbook If you are thinking of creating a cottage garden, then why not take a look at Geoff Hamilton's inspiring and beautifully illustrated book on cottage gardens? After covering the history of the cottage garden, the author goes on to provide useful guidance on how to actually create a cottage garden. Choose between a low-cost, DIY, rustic-style approach and a more ornamental and costly style of cottage garden. Includes step-by-step cottage garden designs for both types of cottage garden, advice on gates and fences, supports, paths, seating, containers and composting. 

The second section of the book is a comprehensive guide to the flowering plants that are grown in a cottage garden, with the final section covering the cottage garden economy and focusing on the cultivation of fruit, herbs and vegetables. A most useful, practical and enjoyable book.

 Price £14.99.  ISBN: 0 563 38348 8.  This book is available at bargain prices from Amazon.




 
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