Another beautiful day, but the air has a damp cold undertone to it that does not promote being outside.

I tried another beer bread today. I had picked up some more oatmeal from the supermarket, because I do try and eat healthy from time to time. And once again, I was reminded of why there were still many packets of flavored oatmeal in my pantry. I don't really like the concept of oatmeal mush. I like to chew my food.

However, there are oatmeal breads. Which would be a great way to use up all those flavored packets. Especially if Quaker Oatmeal's web page recipes can be believed that instant oatmeal can replace an equal measure of old fashioned oatmeal. Since I just couldn't bring myself to buy blueberries from Chile, that meant using the banana bread flavored oatmeal.  read more »

photo: Nattu The bane of over-packaging, especially with materials which are not biodegradable and renewable isnt just something which is confined to wealthy nations. Though banana leaves have been traditionally used to wrap food, or to eat off of, in South Asia for millennia, as has happened elsewhere non-biodegradable synthetic materials have gained in popularity in the region without much though to the environmental consequences. Though theres not much on the actual technique involved, new research coming out of Sri Lanka hopes to reinvigorate the use of banana leaves and supplant the use of plastic fo...  read more »

I'm definitely having an off year in the summer vegetable garden but instead of focusing on what I haven't accomplished, I'm going to talk about some of the good stuff that's going on in my yard. It's not like I'm living in a barren wasteland devoid of plant activity. No sir, there's some good green stuff going on that's definitely worth an update.  read more »

I saw these lovely blooming ornamental bananas in Trinidad

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Michel Fanton of Seedsavers Australia has made this video of the banana in the Soloman Islands. In particular I like the little sentence in the middle where a man says (more or less) "...if someone asks for a piece of the plant we just give it - no cost. That is our tradition - to give things...."

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Black Prince is a Siberian heirloom variety given to me by Patrick of Bifurcated Carrots and has good old-fashioned classic tomato flowers, on curiously hairy stalks. The fruits should turn out to be a deep dark dusky red.

Was anyone else as disgusted as I was by the debate about welfare standards in chicken farming on Newsnight last night? Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was referring to chickens as "birds" while the representative from the poultry industry kept calling them an "assured product". That in itself sums up what's fundamentally wrong with industrial farming.  read more »

Plant them singly, now. Plant the biggest you have if you want bigger bulbs next year. I've never had any luck with shallots, but most people seem to be able to grow them.

Some say that bananas are going extinct, in which case Anneke Jakobs' chandelier made from Chiquita cases might become quite a collectors item. She made it while she was in school (and is probably sick to death of bananas), but you can download the plans and make it yourself. ...

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