[Rosemary]

Kale crisps are fantastic.

[Womble]

What a shame you haven't learnt to eat these foods which are so good for you.

I'm sorry, that's really harsh!  Kale gies me the boak as well  .

It's interesting that Therese Coffey was ridiculed for saying we should eat turnips during the winter (and yes, it's easy to see why). However, she did have a point. I guess we're just used to seeing all veg available in the supermarket all year round. Then when things do come into season they're marked as "50% off" (the price we were charging in March).

My friends were amazed when I said I'd had my first egg for months and it was delicious. "But..... you keep chickens??". "Yeah, and that's why I haven't seen an egg since October".

Ho hum.

[Rosemary]

My hubby grew up the same as so many Scots, with no green veg beyond peas, and he was so delighted to be introduced to a whole range of fruit and veg when he met me. 

Thank God the English are here to educate us poor backward Scots.

[doganjo]

You're not growing or cooking kale properly if it makes you boak.  It's the young fresh green shoots you pick and they are delicious.

lol = nope, I only ate it once - in a restaurant, soon after we married in 1968 - never again

No, shortages won't bother me, I've got a stock of frozen veg and will eat food that is in season 

[doganjo]

I could survive on tatties and pickled beetroot to be honest 

[Womble]

That's good to hear. We might soon have to! 

[Fleecewife]

My hubby grew up the same as so many Scots, with no green veg beyond peas, and he was so delighted to be introduced to a whole range of fruit and veg when he met me. 

Thank God the English are here to educate us poor backward Scots.

You said it Rosemary, not me    Good isn't it    What a shame there's no icon for steam coming out your ears

[arobwk]

I'm not quite understanding the culinary problem.  As regards raw salads, what's wrong with a "winter salad" of shredded carrot/turnip (swede)/crispy cabbage?  Maybe some radish & perhaps apple, nuts and even a few raisins/sultanas also.  Dressing to one's personal preference:  I quite like fromage frais.  As regards cooking, plenty of non-fresh options if one must (canned, frozen, paste etc).

[doganjo]

I don.t have a problem with that at all.  I firmly believe the human race has become lazy - we need to get back to eating foods that are in season and close to home to avoid unnecessary food miles

[Rupert the bear]

Amen to that

[chrismahon]

So really the 'shortages' are self-inflicted. There are no shortages of in-season foods.

[chrismahon]

Interesting programme on TV last night on this very subject. Seems the cost of heating the greenhouses here that grow out of season veg is so high now that production in January and February, due to fixed supermarket pricing and no government assistance, is impossible to the extent that producers are converting their land to industrial or housing estates. In five years there won't be home produced out of season veg. The availability will depend entirely on European producers having a glut and so being prepared to go through all the queues and paperwork to get rid of it to the UK. I saw the Government blamed the shortages on poor weather in Europe, which is correct as it meant no glut. What they haven't done is explain the exact circumstances. Energy is too expensive to the UK producers and the UK is the last choice of sales by European growers because of the travel delays and paperwork.


The other point was the workforce shortage with growers relying on European labour who now can't be there for over 6 months. Begs the question with any unemployment in the UK why can't they fill these jobs? I'm sure we all know the answer- it's hard work with low pay and they don't want it.

[Fleecewife]

I don.t have a problem with that at all.  I firmly believe the human race has become lazy - we need to get back to eating foods that are in season and close to home to avoid unnecessary food miles

and this is what this post is about - growing your own rather than relying on bought items and poorly supply chains 

[arobwk]

Interesting programme on TV last night on this very subject ...................

Interesting thoughts [member=23925]chrismahon[/member] :  I'm no expert on seasonal agricultural employment or UK social security rules, but 2 things: 
I can't vouch for, but I have often heard interviewed growers lamenting at their inability to recruit enough seasonal workers DESPITE paying hourly rates considerably above minimum wage !
Also, as I understand it, UK social security rules are inflexible making it difficult for individuals to take up worthwhile seasonal employment at risk of out-of-season hassles seeking (once again) some kind of financial support to avoid the very worst depths of poverty.  Long since the migration of UK workers from, say, London to Kent to harvest the hops !
Of course, now (in the UK) we have, apparently, more job vacancies than job seekers !?  It seems to me (much like with the NHS) a robust national manpower plan, in association with industry/trade associations & education institutions, is long overdue with matched-up training plans, foreign-worker visa policies, immigration etc AND reformed universal credit rules and reg's. 

What we need is a bit more CLEVER, repeat CLEVER long-term thinking by Government/Governments.  That is not a dig at just the present Conservative Party Gov':  there needs to be a long-term contract between political parties that sets out unswerving "universal" commitments with competing "Party politics" being played-out around the edges.  And having said all of that, I am left wondering whether I will bother to vote at the next local or national elections at all !!  The world is ruled by greed and, more often than not, by greed for more wealth than anyone could ever actually benefit from unless one is into owning a small Nation. 
I was listening to a radio article this week (was it Rad4 or Times Radio?) about the increasing number of UK "nomads" living out of touring caravans and converted trucks because they simply cannot afford to buy bricks&mortar OR to even rent housing at prevailing EXORBITANT rental rates.  We are all on a very rapid downward spiral of economic disparity/inequality and eventual dystopia.  I am just so glad that I do actually own a few acres where I might grow some turnips, carrots and cabbage to make a winter salad. Not sure what salad-dressing I might be able to conjure up though! Lol

[ Interesting little bit of advice I gleaned from the Silky web-site:  apparently olive oil is good for dissolving sap residues on a saw-blade ]

[Fleecewife]

<<< [ Interesting little bit of advice I gleaned from the Silky web-site:  apparently olive oil is good for dissolving sap residues on a saw-blade ] >>>


That should work on my penknife 
Thanks arobwk