The joy of growing your own produce! In this episode I talk about my personal journey with allotment gardening and the joy it has brought to all the family. You don’t need rows of beds, raised veg boxes and a full blown allotment to enjoy doing this either.  I share ideas on how to involve the children in the process, and the satisfaction that comes from harvesting homegrown produce. Plus practical tips of what to grow even in a small window box and what to make with your crop!  As always I love to hear from you so please do share any tips, photos or memories of growing your own in the facebook group or drop me an email.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Growing Your Own Food

03:11 Benefits of Homegrown Produce

04:42 Personal Allotment Journey

08:05 Family Involvement in Gardening

11:26 Involving Children in the Growing Your Own Produce

15:44 Practical Tips for Growing

20:11 Conclusion and Future Plans

Hey guys, it's Sam and this is Not Pasta Again, a podcast about the daily struggles that we have to provide a meal three times a day for our family and household. It also looks at the overwhelm that this can bring to the table as well. So we're on a journey together to flourish with food and also to redefine how we feel about being the meal provider.

but it's also about helping us bring some joy back to the dinner table. So this week, I really want to talk about something that I never thought I would get into, but here we are, life changes, we get older and our interests also change. And this week, we're gonna be talking about growing our own food.

I feel like it's the right time to talk about it because this is the season where we're really seeing things get going. And even if we plant something really small right now, it can give us some great results in just a few weeks. And please, before you stop listening, because you maybe don't have a garden or you don't have time, or perhaps you don't have any idea where to start, please don't worry. This isn't an all or nothing episode.

and it very much defines who I was before I started to grow my own food. So I'm not talking about you needing to dig out raised beds or grow absolutely everything. I'm talking about maybe thinking about, I don't know, having a pot of herbs or some salad leaves on your window sills, maybe having some tomato plants in grow bags in a warm part of your garden.

I think it's all about starting small, taking small steps like we talked about when we want to make changes in the kitchen, and then we can see where that might take us. And if you've tried this before and it didn't go to plan, honestly, I've been there. Plants die. And if I'm honest, right over there, there is a collection of plants that I'm hoping sunlight might rekindle. You know what? It happens. Things don't work.

but sometimes it's worth having another go and seeing what might thrive the next time round.

Okay, so why do you think we should consider growing our own produce? I personally think there are lots of different reasons and some of them might actually surprise you. I think first and foremost, it can really help with some of those challenges that we face as that meal provider. I think it's a way that you can get your children involved with food from a different angle, not just being about the plate of food that you put in front of them.

It most definitely adds a degree of freshness and nutrition to your meals that can be missing. And I think because of that, it can help take away some of the guilt that can build up because there is something so satisfying about adding something that you've grown and picked and added to a dish. And you know what? The good news is you don't have to have started in the spring.

I think I'm a little bit late with some of my crops this year, but it's not too late to plant up some fantastic produce that you can then enjoy in the summer months. If you're in a flat, maybe you don't have any garden, maybe there's not a lot of windowsill space, or maybe you're a little bit busy, this isn't about making you feel bad or making you feel behind. Even if you think about maybe picking some fresh herbs from a shop, a greengrocer,

replanting them, watering them, and actually using those consistently in meals for the next few months, that will bring you a sense of joy and freshness and nutrition to your food.

So before we talk about some of the things that we could consider growing for ourselves, I'm just gonna share a little bit about my allotment journey because it's something I never thought I would have. I've had it for two years and it really was a very accidental decision. I have always loved the idea of being able to grow my own food.

It's not really my bag though. It never has been. My fingers are not very green and two years in, they're still not very green, but I'm learning and that's something that I'm really enjoying. But I think that control element of my personality, needing to understand what I'm putting into my food has very much made me want to do this even more. I can remember at the primary school gate, my friend Lauren,

just always growing her own food, but also flowers as well. And I would just have envy of this enormous amount of food, fresh food that she was able to grow year on year. And she always used to say to me, it's not difficult. You just get going with it and then you'll just be in a flow. But it never just really happened for me until recently. The other thing I love about having the allotment is it's a sense of nostalgia. My granddad used to have an allotment, a small farm. I'm not sure what you would call it.

And I have these memories of being there as a really small kid with the family, picking our own produce and really, really remembering picking peas and popping them. There's something so amazing about fresh produce, the taste of it, but also that memory sticks with me as well. But I really don't have any idea. And I just happened to bump into somebody that I hadn't seen.

He had got himself an allotment and I was like, I really want an allotment. And before you knew it, I had signed on the dotted line. And that is where all the fun began. And my dad, probably listening to this podcast, will have a wry smile because he perhaps won't call it fun. Because if I am truly and totally honest, it's probably his allotment and I help him whenever I can.

But that is possibly one of my most favourite things about having the allotment. Yes, I absolutely love the fresh produce, but the time that I have spent with him has been time that I didn't think that I would spend with him. So that is just something really, really amazing that I'm enjoying about the allotment.

He also manages to get the boys involved. And again, he messages them, he arranges for them to go up with him, and they're not spending hours and hours there, but they're doing something useful, they're outside, and also they're spending time with him.

So they're two wins that we weren't expecting. And I love the fact that the joy is shared. It's not just my joy, but actually I can see the boys and my dad enjoying time with each other as they grow food for our table.

So as you can probably see, there are lots and lots of reasons for you to consider growing something yourself. I've touched on a bit of it already, but other things that I would say I love about it is just being outside, fresh air. It's so peaceful to sit out at the allotment or in the garden and just enjoy what you are surrounded by and just taking a little bit time out of your day. I am learning slowly.

but I am definitely learning what you need to do, when you need to do it, how to rotate where you put your potatoes, for example. And therefore there's lots of love that I'm enjoying with my dad and the boys as well. I think going back to that control side of my personality, I'm also loving the fact that when we pick the food, the veggies, the fruit, whatever it might be, there is absolutely no pesticides involved. And...

I really am passionate about that. I think it's really important that food is clean, that it hasn't sat somewhere in a store for a long time. And, you know, there's something so beautiful about knowing that what you're eating, you've literally just picked from your own garden or allotment. It does taste better. I don't know why, it just does. So like I said, it's not just about the growing. There are so many other wins that you can enjoy and things that I wasn't expecting. So.

Maybe be a little bit more like me. Just go for it. Wing it. You know, it doesn't have to be an allotment like I've got. You don't need to dedicate your entire garden to a veg patch. Like I said, it could be some herbs on your windowsill. It could be some strawberries in the garden, or maybe you could have a trough with some lettuce in it. You can get some great kits that I think are really easy to build and you could just sow some of the things that you always use in your food.

so let's break it down a little bit more and I guess focusing specifically on the kids being involved because I think most of us are parents who are listening. I think there's something really joyful about them seeing what they're growing, going out and spotting how much their runner beans may have grown. And let's face it, once they start growing, they grow. Last year we had a glut of beans. I was slightly over them, but I digress.

but there is something so nice to be able to see them go out, I don't know, pick a strawberry or pick the first tomato and ask you to include it in some of the food that you might be making. I also love the fact that because you're growing your own food, you're actually showing them that food isn't just about something that you get done, it's actually something that can be enjoyed. And I think that's really important.

I think last year, when I think about what my dad did with the boys, he gave them a responsibility in the allotment. One of them was responsible for the potatoes and the other one was responsible for the carrots. So they planted them, you know, they were responsible for watering them, checking them, and then ultimately digging them up or pulling them out of the ground. And what I really noticed was that they took a great interest in ensuring that their produce was doing well. And that...

then had a knock-on effect because when we then served food that included those ingredients, they were really, really proud of what they had achieved. And like I've said before, it always tastes a little bit better when you've been involved with that process.

here are some practical ideas for you to consider in terms of what you can grow right now so that you have got stuff in your kitchen that you can use in a couple of months. I think herbs are a really good starting point. They're low effort, but they're really, really high reward. I think basil, I think mint, parsley, coriander, those sort of basics I would call. Basil is just beautiful in summer salads.

It makes the most amazing pesto which you can use in so many different ways. For me pesto is one of those ingredients that I use in a chili, I will put it in a pasta sauce obviously, I might put it on my pizzas. It's just a beautiful, fresh, fragrant ingredient that you can use.

Mint, again, just brilliant for lots of different things. Maybe a Pimms for you in the garden, but also beautiful with potatoes and in salads again. And when I think of parsley and coriander, they're not my most favourite, but they're beautiful to garnish different things that we're cooking or stir through curries and those sorts of things. So I would say start with some herbs. Beyond that, maybe consider tomatoes. Again, they're not high maintenance. They can grow in bags or you can put them in pots.

just need to find a warmish, sunny part of your garden. And these are again, gonna be ideal for so many different things, pasta sauce, salsas, tomato paste. And I also just have them when I've picked them in the kitchen and the boys might walk past and just eat them fresh. And I have been known to just pick them straight off the vine and enjoy them that way as well.

Runner beans, courgettes, they're also easy wins. And once they start growing, they don't stop. So you will just have a consistent supply of those two vegetables. I think I said earlier, I slightly over runner beans by the end of last summer, but you can never go wrong with too many courgettes. It's a savory, beautiful vegetable, but it can also be hidden in muffins, breads, and also pasta sauces. So you can just feed your children a little bit more veggie without them really knowing.

And just remember to get your courgettes before they become a marrow. Salad leaves, that would be something else I would say you could consider. Again, for me, not a favourite because I've got more, I guess, favourite salad ingredients, but I do know that my dad loves growing the lettuce, so we grow that most definitely. And again, it's something that keeps on giving across the summer months.

Okay, so there are three or four different things that I think are gonna be easy wins and simple things for you to grow. And I would love for you to let me know if this is something you are going to do. You can always drop in some photos in Let's Thermomix, my Facebook group. And I've actually already received an email from one customer who has bought a kit, he's built it, and he has started planting some herbs and some lettuce leaves as well. So.

Do join us on that journey and let us know what you're going to be growing. If you find yourself with more than you expected, you you've got a glut of tomatoes or maybe too many herbs, then always remember that your freezer is your friend. We've touched on this in previous episodes.

You don't need to throw things out. We don't wanna be wasting anything. Your herbs can be chopped up. You can put them in an ice cube tray, maybe with some olive oil, and then just add them to different meals that you're making. And with that glut of tomatoes, you can always make them into sauces and stash them in the freezer for later use.

And here's the thing, even if you only grow one thing, it counts. Like I said at the beginning, it's not about being completely self-sufficient. I'm not even gonna achieve that. It's about making us feel that we're connected to the food that we're actually eating and just bringing a little bit more joy, a little bit more nutrition into that kitchen.

So like I said, go for it. Let me know what you're going to do. I'm definitely gonna come back to this topic probably in early July with even more ideas of how we can use whatever it is that you have grown.

And don't forget, you can email me at notpastaagain @ hotmail.com and you can also join my Facebook group, Let's Thermomix for more ideas and to share pictures. I'll be sharing photos of my allotment and how I get on over the coming months. So it would be great to see some of your photos too. Until next time, let's keep finding small ways to flourish, not flounder with food.