'Dirty Food'.. What's all that about then?

What exactly is “Clean Food”?

Apparently we now buy more avocados than oranges from the large supermarkets. When did that happen? Maybe it was the introduction of the so called ‘5 a day’, which as it turns out should now be eight portions of fresh fruit and veg a day.  Or it could be the huge popularity of food blenders now creating a drink from anything you happen to have in the fridge or vegetable basket. 

One of the reasons could be something to do with food diet fads. The latest one claiming that a “Clean Food” diet is the way to go. Just when did food become dirty? It’s hard to keep up.

There was a very interesting article in a national newspaper (The Guardian) recently that debunked most of the new diets and especially the “Clean Eating Diet” 

At its simplest, clean eating is about ingesting nothing but “whole” or “unprocessed” foods (whatever is meant by these deeply ambiguous terms). Some versions of clean eating have been vegan, while others include various meats (preferably wild) and something mysteriously called “bone broth” (stock, to you and me). At first, clean eating sounded modest and even homespun: rather than counting calories, you would eat as many nutritious home-cooked substances as possible.

But it quickly became clear that “clean eating” was more than a diet; it was a belief system, which propagated the idea that the way most people eat is not simply fattening, but impure. Seemingly out of nowhere, a whole universe of coconut oil, dubious promises and spiralised courgettes has emerged. Some producers are now taking the word “clean” from their labels. 

It looks as though a lot of eating is done, not to be healthy, but to avoid getting sick. Chef Nigella Lawson she expressed “disgust” at clean eating as a judgmental form of body fascism. “Food is not dirty”, Lawson wrote. 

Families who would once have eaten potato waffles are now experimenting with lower carb butternut “squaffles” (slices of butternut squash cut to resemble a waffle)

This isn’t a new phenomenon. In the 1850s, a chemist called Arthur Hill Hassall found out that the whole food supply of London was riddled with toxins and fakery. Hassall found that much of what was for sale as food and drink was not what it seemed: “coffee” made from burnt sugar and chicory; pickles dyed green with poisonous copper colourings. In 1881, he set up his own firm, The Pure Food Company, which would only use ingredients of unimpeachable quality. The Pure Food Company of 1881 sounds just like a hundred wellness food businesses today – except for the fact that it collapsed within a year due to lack of sales (social media wasn’t around). 

The article in the newspaper, written by Bee Wilson goes on to say that we are once again living in an environment where ordinary food, which should be something reliable and sustaining, has come to feel noxious. Unlike the Victorians, we do not fear that our coffee is fake so much as that our entire pattern of eating may be bad for us, in ways that we can’t fully identify. One of the things that make the new wave of wellness cookbooks so appealing is that they assure the reader that they offer a new way of eating that comes without any fear or guilt.

Clean eating, whether it is called that or not, is perhaps best seen as a dysfunctional response to a still more dysfunctional food supply: a dream of purity in a toxic world. To walk into a modern western supermarket is to be greeted by aisle upon aisle of salty, oily snacks and sugary cereals, of “bread” that has been neither proved nor fermented, of cheap, sweetened drinks and meat from animals kept in inhumane conditions. The food industry is in a bit of a copper coloured pickle at the moment and it looks as though washing the soil from vegetables might not be enough to make them “clean”

Top Vegetables in Ireland

What do we buy in the fresh fruit and veg isles?

Bananas are the most popular shop bought fruit; a large supermarket research has shown. We collectively buy more than 700 million of them a year.

Tesco localized shopping habits even more too. Bananas were the second most popular fruit and veg in Clare, Donegal, Galway, Kildare and Mayo where people favoured berries ahead of the yellow fruit.

The data was collected over a 12 month period.

Cauliflower and kale are the least popular across the country. Dublin bought into the trendy vegetables more than any other county, especially with the avocados and kale.

Sligo shoppers buy a larger proportion of chillies and fresh herbs than the rest of the country. Kerry shoppers buy the most cucumbers.

Berries, sweet potatoes and oranges are favoured by Donegal shoppers and potatoes and swedes are the most popular foods to be bought in Offaly. Cavan shoppers buy a more apples than the rest of the country.

Sligo cooks clearly enjoy adding some spice to home cooking buying a larger proportion of chillies and fresh herbs than the rest of the country, while cool Kerry shoppers buy the most cucumbers.

Donegal shoppers are displaying a sweet tooth by buying a larger proportion of berries, oranges and sweet potato.

Bald Patches on the Leylandii Hedge? It could be Mites and Aphids

The spidery web of the Conifer Mite

As a neighbour there are hundreds of things we can do to irritate the people next door.  It could be as simple as having a dog bark late at night, blocking their driveway, argue over boundaries or have late night parties and treat their garden as a bottle depository.

One of the main reasons for falling out in estates or houses with small gardens is planting leylandii hedging on boundaries or so close to the neighbours house you eventually block out all of their light in the kitchen and sap the nutrients and moisture from their garden. 

Planting leylandii as a boundary has been a popular method of irritation since the 1970’s and since leylandii can grow up to three feet in one growing season it’s only a handful of years before you have your day in court with the neighbours or at least being aware of their disapproving looks through the ever growing boundary hedge as you take the shopping into the front door.

There is help at hand though for anyone who have these massive out of control boundaries. They are tiny and can be extremely destructive.  The conifer mite and cypress aphids have taken full advantage of the growing number of hedges and have spread unhindered since the 1980’s.

Up until recently you would have thought that the brown patches on the hedges were down to over zealous cutting back – Once you cut off the green growth of leylandii the green doesn’t grow back. This type of over trimming will account for a number of brown patches but it’s these small insects that are causing the main bulk of the problem. Most of them are so small the only tell-tale sighs are the small spider web looking fibres on the brown leaves. There are over 500 species of sap sucking aphids and a couple of them are having their moment in the limelight.

The two most attracted to leylandii are the conifer mite and cypress aphid.

Conifer Mites Oligonychus ununguis -

These spider mites also love spruce, fir, juniper, pine, hemlock and others. The infested trees display mottled foliage which may appear brownish-grey, and needle loss may occur. 

To confirm a mite infection, lightly tap the damaged branches over a white paper and examining the paper for reddish-brown mites which are about the size of pepper grains. In heavy infestations like in the image, spider webbing may also be conspicuous. The actual mites are so small they can harly be seen

2. Cypress aphids -Cinara cupressivora

Damage caused by cypress or conifer aphid develops in late spring and summer. It is found most often at the base of the hedge, but can develop at any height. Large greyish greenfly are sometimes found, but the hedge browning often develops long after the aphids have left the foliage. Clues are left behind, including cast aphid skins and a black fungal growth (sooty mould) that grows on the sugary honeydew excreted by the pest.

There are ways to minimize the infestations and plant damage but generally the damage has been done by the time you see the brown patches and the insects have moved on to pastures new. Chemical spraying would be extremely costly, difficult to cover the entire area and pretty dangerous on a large hedge. Some people put a hosepipe into the tee and flush out the insects as they don’t like too much moisture. 

Maybe the best way to control the spread of mites and aphids would be to start taking the hedges out and replacing them with alternatives. In Inishowen the best hedging we have is escallonia although this wouldn’t suit colder inland areas and it also has a few problems of its own namely fungal leaf spot. 

There’s also the lovely slow growing box hedge which will give a fine boundary but wouldn’t be too invasive or antisocial. These again have a problem called the Box Tree Moth. It’s the caterpillars that do the damage and they are spreading quickly with no predators at present. They were first noticed in 2007 and since 2014 they have become more established with sightings throughout the country.

It seems there are no complete solutions to neighbours boundaries, even fencing needs looking after every year. For some the best solution for happy neighbour relations is to avoid erecting boundaries all together and have an open dialogue with the people across the way, not blocking them out, just giving them the nod when you see them. 

I’m all for that, as long as they don’t keep popping in for cups of tea .

Let's Make it Easy - Low Maintenance Plants

I bought some Poached Egg plant seeds after talking about them a short while ago. 

Limnanthes douglasii or poached egg plants are really easy to grow and within four days of planting them out they germinated. Another three days saw their first true leaves. I think I should get a colourful show of flowers before the summer is out and hopefully they will self-seed to give us earlier plants next year.

The ease and simplicity of sowing and germinating these seeds make them an ideal choice for youngsters to build up their confidence in the garden. I remember myself when, as a child I started growing cacti and was devastated when one of them died. I got that same feeling for years as any house plant that shrivelled up I took as a failure on my part, instead of looking at it as a continual learning process. 

Plants

There are a lot of great plants children can grow other than sunflowers 

Crane's-bill, Geranium; grown for its white, pink, blue or purple saucer-shaped flowers and its dense foliage, which is great for keeping down the weeds.

Lamb's ears, grown more for its foliage than its flowers. As its name suggests, its downy leaves resemble the ears of a lamb. It can be a bit of a pest if left unattended.

Houseleek, (Sempervivum) a rosette-forming succulent that produces flowers on long stems. It is a great plant for dry areas of the garden. They grow from offsets so if a friend has one, nip a few off and replant.

Forget-me-not, pretty clusters of small flowers in either blue, white or pink. They love well-drained soil and polytunnels. They are the third biggest weed in there just behind chickweed and rogue tomatoes.

Primrose, a spring wildflower that comes in a variety of colours. Great for planting in pots and containers and divide easily.

Bellflower, 'Canterbury Bells'; a blue, white or lavender, summer-flowering plant can easily be sown from seed.

Pansy, Viola; the cheery face of the pansy is a popular choice for an abundance of both summer and winter colour.

Seeds

Flower seeds could include:

Sweet pea, Marigold,Nasturtium, Cosmos,Cornflower for examo[ple. Next time you are out and about at a friends house or on a walk, collect some seeds and plant them in pots.

   

Herbs

Herb seeds prove to be easy to germinate. And can be sown anytime in a pot on the windowsill if it’s too wet outside.

Spearmint, mint will thrive in most soils, to the extent that it can easily become a nuisance. To avoid this, try growing it in a container on the patio.

Rosemary, this pretty herb produces blue flowers and has highly-scented, needle-like leaves.

Thyme, grow thyme in a well-drained, sunny area of your garden.

Chives, For a regular supply of delicious leaves for your salads cut off the flowers before they open.

Sage, this strong-flavoured herb has grey-green leaves and spikes of blue flowers.

Oregano, planted in a sunny area of the garden, marjoram will grow as vigorously as mint. Children may recognise its taste as it's often used in pizza and pasta.

Coriander, this popular herb, frequently used in Indian cookery and salads.

Fruit and vegetables

Even if it’s too late for some vegetables to give a serious amount of produce – or any, just watching them grow can be so much fun. A runner bean will grow a foot a week.

Radish, a great starter vegetable for kids because as well as being problem-free to grow, the colourful roots are ready for eating within a month of sowing.

Lettuce, lettuces can be grown all-year-round. Simply choose from the many varieties to ensure you have a crop for every season. Once sown, seeds should begin to sprout within 12 days.

Courgette, courgettes are simply marrows harvested before they have been allowed to grow to full size. Plants get quite big so be sure to give them room.

Carrot, sow carrot seeds thinly in a sunny area of the garden and they should germinate within 17 days.

Spinach, start picking the young, tender outside leaves of the spinach as soon as they reach a reasonable size, this also encourages new growth.

Swiss chard, one of the hardier vegetables, chard to survive winter.

Beetroot, a slow starter but once seedlings start to push through it picks up speed. You could speed up germination time by soaking seeds for a few hours before planting.

There you have it. A selection of random seeds and plants we could play with in the summer. It’s not about getting a large crop or a competition winning flower display. It’s more about just getting children interested in the wonder of nature and watching things grow. We can teach them about taking cuttings next year.