Garden Visit Sunday 23rd of May

Jan’s Jungle

If it had been 20 degrees warmer visitors could easily have imagined that they had been transported somewhere north of the Equator. Crammed with an incredible array of rare fruits and vegetables Jan’s Garden has a distinctly tropical feel. Jan has even managed to make paved areas and pathways productive by filling them with an impressive collection of potted herbs and shrubs.

After being welcomed with a hot cup of Jan’s delicious pumpkin soup, visitors were introduced to some of Jan’s more interesting vegetables. “People are always giving me strange things to grow” says Jan, gesturing towards a table overflowing with a cornucopia of unusual edibles.

Skirret

Jan likes to eat skirret root in salad. Although related to carrots this perennial root vegetable is now seldom grown. Skirret’s long white roots can be boiled, stewed or roasted, but the core is inedible and should be removed before cooking.

Tasty tubers

Another of Jan’s favourite salad ingredients is yacon. Yacon has a tuber that looks a lot like a dahlia’s, but unlike the dahlia it is not poisonous. The tubers are crisp and sweet, tasting a bit like apple or watermelon. The yacon is related to the Jerusalem artichoke, another tuberous plant which Jan cultivates. By selecting the “least knobbly tubers” Jan has created her own distinct varieties that are smooth and round. Jerusalem artichokes can sometimes cause indigestion, but Jan assures us that if you peel them and make fritters out of them they will not induce flatulence!
















Many of Jan’s tubers come from South America. Ulluco is widely grown throughout the Andes and is a significant food crop. The multi-coloured tubers are sometimes available in Christchurch supermarkets, and can be easily propagated, however, don’t sell them or you might be harrassed by Crop and Food Research who have sole rights to them in NZ. Another less common Andean tuber is the anu, a tuberous nasturtium that is often grown together with ulluco and potatoes.















Preserves

Being a keen preserver means that Jan doesn’t let any of her produce go to waste. For those of you lucky enough to sample Jan’s pumpkin soup the magic ingredient was Jan’s sweet chilli sauce (recipe below). In addition to making traditional chutneys and sauces Jan also creates unique beverages and fruity wines.

Supreme Sweet Chilli Sauce

250g mild chillies
2 red capsicums
8 large cloves garlic
1 kilo tomatoes

Chop the above ingredients in a food processor, or cook first and then mouli.

Add 4 grated apples
2 ½ cups white vinegar
1 kg sugar
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cayenne
3 tsp salt
2 Tbsp pickling spice (in a bag)

Boil for 1 hour, then bottle.

Chillies – original recipe said “seeded”, but I like the seeds appearing in the sauce so leave them in. For hot chillies with seeds I reduce the quantity to 100g, as it is meant to be a SWEET chilli sauce.


Jerusalem Artichoke Fritters

1 egg (free range)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp wholemeal flour
freshly ground pepper
½ tsp freshly chopped rosemary
500g scrubbed Jerusalem artichokes
cooking oil – organic sunflower is nice

Method

To create a batter beat the egg in a large bowl, then add flour, baking powder, rosemary and seasonings.

Grate the unpeeled artichokes into a colander, then squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Add drained artichokes to the batter and mix well with a fork.

Heat a thin layer of oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Place a large spoonful of mixture in the pan and flatten with the back of a spoon. When brown turn over to cook on the other side. Drain on absorbent paper and keep warm.

Serve with sour cream or yoghurt, or one of Jan’s favourite chutneys/sauces.

Thank You

A big thanks goes out to Jan, it was great to be able to look round your fabulous garden and to learn some of your preserving secrets. Soil & Health Canterbury wishes you all the best for the next growing season.

Garden Visit and Preserving Demonstration

Visit Jan Mackenzie's wonderful organic garden. See what incredible bounty you can achieve on a small suburban section, and learn how Jan creates delicious preserves and wines from her autumn harvest.

A fascinating afternoon for sure!

When: Sunday 23rd May, 2.00 to 4.00 pm
Where: 37 Cleveland St, St Albans

Free for Members, Non-members gold coin donation

Silver Medal for Style and Sustainability

Soil and Health Canterbury wowed the judges at Ellerslie, this time winning ‘Silver with Distinction’ for their garden Sustainability with Style, created in partnership with fellow organic group The Good Gardeners’ Association.



Designed by Phil and Linda Ducker of The Good Gardeners’ Association, the garden featured elegant architectural structures - lych gate entrance, pebble mosiac and summer house – all built from recycled materials and sustainably harvested timber.
Surrounding a central lawn area, raised beds overflowed with an abundant variety of flowers, herbs and vegetables, and fruit trees were planted strategically along the garden’s boundry.


A compost heap and potting area were also thoughtfully integrated into the final design. “We love compost, and it was great to see composting being promoted at Ellerslie”, said Matt Morris (Chair Soil and Health Association NZ), “compost heaps are a thing of beauty and so magical in the way they transform waste into a healthy product to enrich the soil”.

“Ellerslie is a great place for Soil and Health and The Good Gardeners’ Association to get their messages out to a wide audience which would not normally be exposed to its ideas”, said Matt Morris.

A big thanks goes out to Donn Hampton, Dave Evans and Brian Morris for their incredible efforts with this project, and to Phil and Linda Ducker from Good Gardeners’ and the rest of their team.

Open Home - Sunday 18 October

Sustainable Living in Spreydon
The October open home in Spreydon was a great success, with over fifty people turning up to learn more about Elvira’s productive orchard and no-dig vegetable beds. Having a relatively large section – just under 1000m2 – has enabled Elvira to devote a large area of her garden to food production, while still allowing space for a wide border of native trees and shrubs. “When I bought it, the house was a ‘handyman’s dream’ and the garden was a big area of grass with a few new trees (tags still on them) planted strategically”, says Elvira. Twenty years later large native trees create a lush evergreen backdrop, contrasting beautifully with deciduous fruit trees and berry crops. Close to the house two large vegetable beds and a small glasshouse provide the family with year round produce.

No-Dig Yes-Mulch
To maintain the health and productivity of her trees, berries and vegetable beds, Elvira regularly mulches with compost, sheep manure and leaf mould. “I use a thick layer of leaves, mainly oak, which I collect from a kindergarten, parks and Church Square, Addington”. No organic matter leaves the property, old plants and weeds are either chopped up and left on the garden as mulch or are composted in a heap along with kitchen waste. Any prunings too woody to be applied directly are piled up at the back of the shed and left to slowly decompose.


Fertilisers
To get seedlings off to a good start Elvira usually throws a small handful of compost, Zoodoo, sheep pellets or worm compost into the planting hole. Homemade seaweed brew also helps to boost growth and keep plants healthy. “I also dig in bokashi from time to time and have found it is great for brassicas’, says Elvira.

Tree Health
As well as regularly mulching her fruit and nut trees with compost, Elvira also underplants them with calendula and nasturtiums. Elvira successfully grows a diverse range of fruit and nut trees – peaches, plums, nectarines, apples, walnuts, hazelnuts, citrus and feijoas – as well as grapes, currants and berries. Mulching and companion planting keeps her plants free of disease. However, last year one of her ‘Gravenstein’ apples got a white fungus for the first time, so any tips on how to combat this would be much appreciated. She is currently trying a baking soda spray and has heard that diluted milk can also be used to combat fungal diseases.

Water Recycling
Elvira also showed just how easy recycling water can be. You don’t need a fancy grey water system, or even a network of pipes. Elvira simply places a large bowl in her kitchen sink to collect waste water which she then empties into the garden. “If you only use a small amount of detergent (Ecostore brand) you can safely use the dishwater to water plants”.

Plant Sale
Inspired by the popularity of Diana’s honey and grapes at her open home in March, committee members potted up a range of seedlings for sale on the day. There was an interesting array of plants on offer; purple sprouting broccoli, Argentinean tomatoes, lettuce ‘marvel of the four seasons’, to name but a few. The seedlings sold quickly and the sale proved to be a great fundraiser.

A big thanks to Elvira Dommisse for hosting the day’s event, a great afternoon was had by all.



Posted by Charlotte McHaffie

Open Home Discussion – October 18

Sustainable Living in Spreydon

Starting with a virtually empty section 20 years ago, Elvira Dommisse has created a unique garden that combines her love of native plants, with her desire for food production. Natives
co-exist alongside heritage berries and grape vines, while mandarins and lemons fit snugly under the north facing eaves. Elvira uses a range of composting techniques to maintain the productivity of her small orchard and no-dig vegetable garden. Visit Elvira's home in Spreydon to learn more about edible landscaping and no-dig gardening methods. There will be a limited number of seedlings for sale on the day.

Where: 48 Neville St, Spreydon
When: 2.00pm on Sunday 18 October
Cost: Members free, Non-members $2.00

September Talk – Organics NZ

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be a WWOOFer (Willing Worker on Organic Farms), come along to our September talk and hear all about Philippa Jamieson’s volunteering adventures. As author of ‘The Wild Green Yonder’ and editor of Organic NZ, Philippa has a unique view of where the organic movement is at in New Zealand.

Expect to meet some new faces, as this month’s talk is a joint meeting of the Good Gardeners and Canterbury Soil and Health. We look forward to seeing you all there. Non-members are also welcome.


When: 7.30pm on Monday 21 September
Where: The Oxford Terrace Baptist Church cnr Oxford Tce and Madras St
Cost: $2.00 per person (to cover hall hire)

GE Discussion - Thursday 6 August

Genetic engineering is no longer the hot topic it once was, and without the vigilant attention of people like Steffan Browning (Soil and Health Spokesperson) and Clare Bleakley (GE free NZ) it’s likely that we never would have known about the accidental release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into Canterbury. Local Soil and Health members were lucky to get the full story from Steffan Browning when he recently gave a talk on busting the GE brassica field trial at Lincoln. Elvira Dommisse, a former GE scientist, and Soil and Health National Council member, also gave a quick presentation on the situation of GE crops worldwide and answered people’s technical questions.

GE Brassica Field Trials

Although there was much public resistance to GE field trials, with 948 submissions opposing the GE brassica field trial alone, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) granted Crop & Food (now Plant & Food Research) permission to conduct field trials in May 2007.

Risk of Genetic Pollution
Many of those who opposed the trials were concerned that experiments in the field would lead to the uncontrolled release of GMOs into the surrounding environment. In an attempt to allay their concerns ERMA imposed the following conditions:

1. Prevention of flowering
To prevent pollen from escaping from GE brassicas to non-GE brassicas, the brassica plants used in the trial were not allowed to go to flower. All plants in the test site were to be monitored to detect onset of bolting (early flowering), and any bolting plants were to be removed and taken to a containment facility.

2. Destruction of all genetically modified plant material
To prevent the uncontrolled release of GMOs, all GE brassicas were to be killed by composting— which does not completely destroy the GE DNA— or autoclaving (heated to 121C by pressurised steam).

Breach of conditions
Despite the assurances from scientists that there was no risk of GMOs escaping into the environment, GE brassicas were found to be flowering by Steffan Browning in December last year. Rather than destroying the GE plants at the conclusion of the trial, Dr Mary Christey and her assistants had simply cut the brassica plants off at the base, leaving the stalks and roots in the ground. The stalks subsequently re-sprouted and initiated flowers, and the discovery of a seed capsule indicated that GE pollen had been released. Further investigations of the scientist's logbooks showed that this was not the first time GE brassica plants had been allowed to flower. Photographs taken during the trial clearly showed bolting GE broccoli and GE cauliflower plants.

Scion GE Tree Field Trials
Similar breaches of conditions also occurred in relation to the Scion GE tree trial in 2007-2008. While visiting the trial site Steffan discovered the following: GE tree seedlings growing in pots had been allowed to initiate pollen. Trees in the field that were supposed to be topped to 2m, to allow scientists to monitor for pollen bearing cones, had been allowed to grow to over 3m. Prunings from GE trees were left to rot in the field, instead of being autoclaved, and security fences that were supposed to keep out browsing animals, had been tunnelled under by rabbits.

It is clear from both field trials that even when strict conditions are imposed scientists are unable to safely contain GMOs. In light of the breaches of conditions Soil and Health and GE Free NZ called for an immediate halt to all GE field trials.

GE Issues World Wide
Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for Elvira to cover GE issues in any real depth. If you would like a copy of a talk Elvira recently gave to the WEA on GE Issues please send an email to organicschch@gmail.com Some of the main issues are summarised below, with links to more information.

Monsanto continues to aggressively enforce its patent rights, with dire consequences for many farmers. The most infamous case being the story of Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian canola farmer who was sued by Monsanto when self-sown 'Round Up Ready' canola plants were found on his property.

Many of Monsanto's GE cotton crops failed in India, causing large numbers of farmers to go bankrupt. Many of these farmers went on to commit suicide.

To make it easy to identify GE crops scientists introduce use antibiotic-resistant markers. These antibiotic resistant genes can be taken up by stomach bacteria when GE crops or foodstuffs containing GE DNA are eaten. The antibiotic-resistance DNA can then be transferred to disease-causing bacteria making them resistant to antibiotics.

Film – Future of Food
The 'Future of Food' provides people with a good overview of the issues surrounding genetically modified food, and is available from Alice in Videoland. The film's trailer can be watched on Youtube.

What You Can Do

With climate change constantly in the spotlight it's easy to forget other important issues such as GE. As concerned consumers we must remember to keep the pressure on. One of the only things holding the GE industry back is consumer resistance. Ring up your local supermarket and remind them that GE-free matters to you. Supermarkets know that a call from one person represents 100 other individuals who feel the same way. For a list of GE free foods, check out the Greenpeace true-food guide.