kieranblakewriter

Why do I grow my own food? To eat of course.

Apart from creating a more sustainable way of living for people and the planet and saving money on my grocery bills or enjoying the process of problem solving while I get my hands dirty, I grow my own food so that I can eat it – or share it.

The most abundant plant in my garden at the moment is my eggplant; it is thriving.

The garden is at the back of a rental property on the south coast of New South Wales, about 2 hours south of Sydney, Australia. The soil is generally fertile in a region famous for dairy farming and viticulture, although the garden had been stripped of much of its nutrients when I moved in, courtesy of the previous tenant’s neglect and a dry winter. The garden attracts quite a lot of sun, during very warm summer months and even during colder winter months in what is typically a temperate climate. The area is also famous for beaches and surfing, which is great after a day of hard yakka in the garden.

I’m regularly harvesting dark, smooth coated eggplants from the no-dig garden bed and constantly searching for new ways to cook them.

This dish consists of the eggplant, with some Moroccan soup/sauce plus chickpeas, tomatoes, carrot, parsley and Greek yoghurt. There’s definitely a north-African, Mediterranean theme or fusion to the dish and I think the plant lends itself very well to Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern cuisine. Mind you, my dish is nothing like the eggplant dishes I’ve savoured in the past, which were prepared by real chefs. Mine was just simple and tasty.

Alas, the only ingredient in this meal which came from my garden was the eggplant. I’m sad to say that even the cherry tomatoes came from the shop. My tomatoes aren’t doing too well at the moment, but I gave them some much-needed attention this afternoon after a remonstration from Ben the Berserker, the guardian of my garden.

By the way, don’t ask me for the recipe – I’m sure you could all do a better job yourselves.