Of Things Leguminous

Out in the garden last weekend, I took a few snaps of our current leguminous crops.

The Golden Podded Peas are indeed golden. They are quite tasty when young and can be eaten whole like snow peas. As they get older, however, they tend to get a bit starchy and so I'll be leaving these to dry. The flowers are a lovely purple colour, so they are a very pretty pea.



The chick peas are flowering .....


And the first few pods are appearing ...


The broad beans, looking luscious, just before they were strip picked and cleared to make room for some new veges.


Legumes are such a good food for us. Just as they prepare the soil to support good growth, so do they help cleanse and prepare our bodies for good health.

Beans are the same shape as our lymph nodes, spleens and kidneys and they help keep these healthy.

Beans love to grow in amongst corn. Beans and corn together provide all the amino acids we need - that is, they are a perfect protein.

Alfalfa is also a legume and it is a fantastic lymphatic cleanser and body alkaliser.

All of these are good reasons to include legumes in your diet, but they are also very yummy and children just love to pick and munch them. Enjoy!

love and light
naturewitch

Busy and Exciting Times

I can't believe it's over two weeks since I posted anything. Have been busy with assignments, work, the garden - just the usual. We've got about three and a half weeks to go now and study will be over for another year, so hopefully I'll have a bit more time.

But there have been a few exciting happenings and a bit of progress in the garden while I've been silent ...

The large bed in the front garden has been completely renovated, with weeds removed and new plants inserted, its also been fed and mulched, and an arch has appeared to train roses on one side and a jasmine and gelsemium on the other. This bed is about 12 or so square metres and it was rather neglected, so it was quite a job.

I've managed to find the time to make some more mint jelly and start a batch of elderflower champagne ... recipes coming soon.

We've started dismantling one of the raised garden beds in preparation for conversion to a wicking bed. This particular bed has a slight problem with couch grass, so we've been sieving all the soil. Ugh!

A couple of weeks ago, I was awarded a prize for "Excellence in herbal medicine" where I study. I was surprised, but very happy, especially since it came with a voucher for some herbal extracts from my favourite herbal company. :)

And best of all, on Saturday we picked up a new nucleus colony and so now we have two hives in the garden. The new bees seem to be settling in well. And next year we can probably split the older hive, so we'll have a total of three hives. Haven't harvested any honey yet; just letting the hives get stronger for now.

Now I'm off to have a look at what you've all been up to ....

love and light
naturewitch