Being different

[Odsox]

It amuses me at times that I have a totally different way of life to most people (Ish members excepted)

For instance, tonight we will have fish & chips with peas for dinner as will probably many thousands of people in the British Isles. But I wonder how many people will have fish that is coated in breadcrumbs from homemade bread and their own egg.
Take that a bit further, how many will have chips made from home grown potatoes.
Then add the killer, how many does that leave who will be having freshly picked home grown peas ?

Not many peas mind, and some verging on the "petit pois", but freshly picked in December none the less.
So it amuses me immensely that we will be just as different tonight as we usually are.

Shame I was too lazy to go and catch the fish.

Peas.jpg (126.49 KiB) Viewed 8933 times

[Green Aura]

Shame I was too lazy to go and catch the fish.

I think we'll let you off that one.

Incidentally we got our first Fishbox delivery today. All caught by "local" boats (as near as 20 miles and as far as 150 miles- ish away). Some interesting fish - I've never heard of Tusk (we'll be having that tomorrow after a bit of research). The label tells me it was only caught yesterday.

That's pretty fresh. I can post a link if anyone's interested.

[Green Aura]

It would appear Tusk is on the endangered species list! So much for their sustainable practice claims. I was so excited by this venture - now I'm not so sure.

[Weedo]

OK

I will admit ignorance but what is a "fish box" and a "veggie box"? To me, a fish box is a large heavy duty plastic tub with a clip on lid that the professionals use to transport their catch - I have several 2nd hand ones that I use for storing and transporting various equipment kits.

[Green Aura]

Yes Weedo, I have a few of those knocking about too.

For those of us not blessed with ideal growing conditions e.g. where I live we have a short growing season due to low light levels and very high winds - 80mph+ are not uncommon. Others maybe live in apartments so only have window boxes.

Veg box schemes are fantastic, both for the customer and the growers as they connect directly, not via a supermarket. I'm in a very remote part of Scotland (70 miles to the nearest small supermarket, over 100 to a big one) and so my weekly veg box is the only way to have a consistent supply of organic veg, except for the three months I can grow my own.

The fish box is new and seems to be a sustainable way of connecting the fishermen themselves to their customers, in much the same way as the veg growers. I think it's a brilliant idea and plan to continue with it.

So I now have a weekly veg box including local eggs and cheese, a monthly fish box, a four-weekly delivery of raw milk and cream and an occasional booze order. I just need a meat box and then I could get everything else from the local shop.

Not quite what I set out to do when I decided to become more self-sufficient but at least it supports the small, more local producers and not the big chains. I still make my own bread, fermented veg, bacon, sausages and some cheese. So I think I still just about qualify as Ish. And I'm definitely a bit different.

[Weedo]

Different worlds - the "box" process sounds great to me. As is said in my introduction I am not Ishish as all, apart from trying to get the farm as close to a closed system as possible. I would love to get into the supplier end of this type of system but food is just so available in Aus. - I can get fresh cool climate greens. fresh tropical fruits and fresh protein all year round.

At this time we are (at home) gross consumers, we work 7 days and up to 16 hours a day so meals are usually what we can mix up quickly, when we have time - because we never know what time we will be eating or how many we will feed we can't really plan meals. We have found that, to save waste, (hate hate hate freezers) we should shop protein daily and veg 2-3 days weekly. ( on the protein front. it works out better for us and environmentally to produce closed system animals and then buy the (much smaller) amounts of protein we need rather than killing our own animals - there is more waste in home kill than commercial kill.)

Ishish is planned for the next couple of years post retirement.

[Odsox]

Doing it again tonight.
First bit's normal, turkey supreme (left over turkey with left over cream)
But it's served with freshly dug new potatoes.

Easy enough for anyone with a polytunnel or greenhouse and a total disregard for convention.

[Green Aura]

Sounds good. Cold pork and fry-up here - all bought in, I'm afraid. It will be accompanied by homemade sauerkrauts (red and green) and fermented mango with pomegranate seeds, which makes an excellent alternative to apple sauce.

[ina]

Veg in the shops is so cheap at the time - I think they just had far too much, and are now having to sell it off cheap or dump it... Problem is, I'm always tempted to buy more than I need (how can you resist at everything for 19p???), and there is a limit even to how much veg I can eat! (I don't have a fridge or freezer, so that option is out.)