Grow Something, Anything!

The machine wants you to think that food is a product. Something that is processed, enriched, packaged, sanitised, wrapped in plastic, sent to a shop or delivered to your door. It's all part of a difficult process. It's complicated. Too complicated for you. Too difficult. Too dangerous to contemplate less you eat a bruised fruit, or semi raw vegetable.

This afternoon, I popped 15 little seeds into tiny handfuls of compost. I made a small hole with my dibber, dropped them in, gently covered them and then gave them a little water. I clipped on the lid of the propagator tray to create a warm micro climate and sat them on the windowsill where they can bathe in morning sunlight to trigger the act of new growth and life.

Tomato Urbikany and Tomato Grushovka whose wonderful Eastern European names hint at hardy heavy fruit to arrive in the late summer. Asturian Tree Cabbage will promise tall cabbage leaves throughout the year and if lucky repeating in 2027. Tasty, healthy, real food to savour and connect with the earth. No sprays, chemicals or plastics in sight.

A few years back I had an allotment and grew these same veg. The tomatoes suffered blight, so I picked them all green and made tomato chutney. Rich, brown, sharp and sweet. Enough to give jars away as gifts and still have a harvest that we haven't yet finished. The tree cabbage never gave up. We cooked it, steamed it, every which way. 

It required some work, but it wasn't difficult. And it unmachined me in so many ways. I supported the small business who grows and sells the seeds, under the radar of huge commercial growers, keeping these old varieties alive. I connected with the soil, the weather and nature. I did good labour in planting, tending, watering, pruning and harvesting. I watched as life took hold, grew and matured at it's own natural speed. I embedded myself in seasonality, harvesting when the fruit should be ripe according to natural cycles. I cooked simple, tasty food for myself and those I loved. I gave generously to friends. I connected to my community in hospitality as well as sharing my extra seeds so others could grow themselves.

It's been a while, but with 15 simple seeds I've taken a small step away from the machine. Maybe you could too?