Seeds and nuts are a nutritious part of our diet and on trend now. They are also intrinsic to our growing of vegetables. In The Goodness of Nuts & Seeds (Simon & Schuster Australia. $19.99) food writer and stylist Natalie Seldon features chia, quinoa, pumpkin (pepitas), sunflower and sesame seeds. Her tahini and miso cauliflower 'steak' includes black or white sesame seeds while her go-to winter pud is a fruity almond and seed crumble with apples, rhubarb, strawberries, blanched almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds and linseeds. The book is a new favourite of Arian McVeigh of Lyons who plans to share it around at the next Seed Savers session.
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Arian says Canberra Seed Savers grows and harvests an abundance of herb, vegetable and bee-food seeds in backyards and on farms across our region. The local network was developed by Arian 18 months ago following materials donated by Canberra Organic Growers Society. Then there was a visit to Bega Valley Seed Savers who have been part of South Coast Producers organics for the past thirteen years. They shared heaps of seeds and the Canberra website at urbanagriculutre.org.au/seed-savers follows the Bega Valley data base including information about plant varieties and how to process seeds.
After attending a workshop where thirty people learnt the basic skills of saving seed, Arian gained the confidence to share her experience. There is a core group at Canberra Seed Savers including Melissa Fellowes, Lynne Curran, and Doona Vaughan who, like Arian, believe it is important to be part of preserving our heritage of heirloom seeds. The plan is to set up a network of gardeners and farmers who will save seed and build a seed bank with ongoing storage that can be relied upon as the plants have been bred locally.
All gardeners are welcome to attend the interactive Sunday Seed Savers sessions at Canberra City Farm in Fyshwick. During my visit we sat outdoors in winter sunshine surrounded by mature eucalypt trees with the Jerrabomberra Wetlands glinting at the bottom of the sloping paddock. Everyone attending was new to the group, friendly, and ready to share their experiences.
Hayley Purdon grows vegetables in her home garden in Gordon. At the moment she has broad beans, artichokes, garlic, beans, peas, lettuces, pak choy and herbs. From Hayley's tricolour silver beet she had excess seeds and brought them to share, particularly with her friend Cindy Chong from Mawson who says she is learning to be a better gardener. Hayley also had a large bag of seeds saved from four plants of Van Gogh's Landscape sunflowers, tall and statuesque, these had been raised from diggers seeds.
Thea O'Loughlin moved to Macquarie four months ago and she is finding our local frosts a challenge. Thea brought to CCF egg cartons of cos lettuce and kale seedlings which she had raised from seed. She prefers to grow her own because the vegetables taste so fresh.
Hai Le Van and his wife Ngoc Nguyen are living in Macgregor. Hai did a masters course in agriculture science at the University of Melbourne before he returned to Vietnam to work for World Agroforestry Centre. The team designed and implemented a project called 'climate smart village' in which they facilitated schools in project sites to build a bio-intensive garden. These are used to grow local varieties to provide vegetables for students' lunches. It is also a place where to show them biology, plants biodiversity, weather and natural protection. They also demonstrated climate smart practices for local farmers.
Ngoc Nguyen is doing a PhD at the ANU and her background is economic but she is motivated by her mother's vegetable and flower garden in Vietnam. The couple both loves food and cooks at home with lots of herbs and vegetables so are keen to establish their own garden in Canberra using local non-hybrid seeds and knowledge from Canberra Seed Savers.
Shopping list giveaway
Canberra's Kitchen Gardeners presented a different list of top ten items (purchased most often) to other Australian shoppers. White bread loaf and beef mince were not listed by anyone, replaced here by wholemeal bread and free range chicken, while avocados took the place of cucumbers. I was surprised that rolled oats and fish were not high on the local list. The winner of our giveaway book Wholefood from the Ground Up is Melanie Dunn of Bonner who shops at Belconnen Markets and Casey Supabarn. Mel listed dark chocolate, bananas, Weetbix (the husband eats four a day, the two-year-old two), milk (to drown the Weetbix in), strong cheddar cheese, Greek yoghurt ("if I can't get the two-year-old to eat his vegies I disguise them in yoghurt"), carrots, potatoes (both normal and sweet), zucchini and eggs (for both an easy dinner and baking).
She shared her recipe for tuna patties:
Boil sweet potato and potatoes. Once soft, mash with a bit of butter. Add a tin of tuna and fresh lemon juice and herbs of your choice (home grown spring onion, parsley, turmeric and cumin is her current go-to mix).
Make hand-sized patties, dust in rice flour and shallow fry until brown on the outside. Mel loves them topped with avocado and Greek yoghurt. Her son loves them cold.
Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer.
