Sunny July’s Allotment Produce & Garden Flowers

Sunny July's Allotment Produce & Garden Flowers

Author: Sarah Potter Writes

Sarah is a British eccentric who writes offbeat fiction, haiku and tanka poetry. When stuck for words, she sketches or paints instead. She's into nature conservation, sustainability, gardening, dogs, natural health, and reading. Her sociability is something that happens in short bursts with long breathing spaces in between.

20 thoughts on “Sunny July’s Allotment Produce & Garden Flowers”

  5. Sarah, the edibles look delectable and the flowers are gorgeous. Every few years the running/fitness community, it seems like, comes out with a miracle food. Beets, of late, have been that food, owing to their (if I’m remembering this correctly) heart-healthy properties in dealing with blood nitrates and nitrites. Along with tart cherries, which I think are supposed to reduce time to tiring. … Anyway, care to share a beet recipe? I’ve tried them in what so far? . . . I think smoothies (not so good) and once in a crockpot refried bean recipe (or maybe chili). The latter was better. I still have some beet puree I should use in the freezer, if it’s not too old.
    As far as gardening, besides the harvest, I find particular (weird? “control freak”) pleasure in ridding gardens of weeds. However, I am very anti-pesticide/anti-chemical (in general). Anyway, you’ve had a productive July it seems. When does the book come out, by the way? I want to make sure to buy up!

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    1. Leigh, have you tried beetroots roasted in olive oil (small ones cooked whole and large ones cut in half)? One warning, the juice is really concentrated when they’re cooked this way, which means the colour maroon may dominate certain excretions! No need to rush off to the doctor if that happens.
      Like you, I delight in pulling up weeds, although some of them are a bit of a battle.
      My book should be ready to release in early September, but this time I’m planning to do some structured stuff in the pre-launch stage. More of that when both versions of the book are absolutely ready. Progress report soon. Mister is working on the cover. I’m going to email you about a certain issue with a hyphen, as your editorial opinion is required.

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      1. I haven’t tried beetroots in olive oil. Dumb question: where/how do you roast them (could I do it on the ‘broil’ function with my oven)? Or would a simple skillet work? I’ll have to think a little bit about the hyphen issue; I’m definitely pro-hyphen, but as to the caps of dog-people, I lean toward Dog-People (because each is a stand-alone, important term to the definition of the phrase, like if I said I’m a writer-mother or that Stephen Fry is an author-actor-comedian or something like that). I’ll get back to you soon on that; and thanks for the Amazon tip. I definitely need to do a review!

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      2. You roast them in a tin in the oven, as you would with roast potatoes, but without parboiling them. Turn them once during cooking, to coat them with oil and stop them sticking to the tin.

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      3. Are you supposed to poke them before cooking (as you might do with baking a potato)? I know, when I’ve steamed them in the wok and steamer, that the skin is very easy to peel off afterward, but I guess you don’t need to do that here. I’ll let you know how they turn out when I get ahold of some beets!

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      4. No need to poke them. They won’t explode like baked potatoes, even with their skins left on, at least they never have for me (don’t sue me if they do!). They’re a good accompaniment to a roast dinner, especially chicken or lamb (if you eat meat — not sure if you do). I tried being vegetarian for 10 years and became so anaemic and susceptible to germs that I had to start eating it again, but I’ll only eat meat from animals that have been farmed responsibly, with freedom to roam and enjoy the fresh air. In my mind, it’s better to eat less meat that’s more expensive (hopefully organic as well as free-range) than more meat that’s cheap and comes from animals kept in dark, cramped conditions, and fed antibiotics. As my father once said to me, if all people gave up eating meat, there’d have to be mass genocide of farm animals as they’d no longer serve a purpose. …The debate goes on. PS I’ve a food intolerance to mass produced soya, but not to organic soya, so I guess that’s to do with the pesticides!

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      6. No problem. I’ve had a busy last week with work and school preparations. I think the cover looks really nice. Refresh my memory: is the dog in the circle at the bottom supposed to be a character from the book or more so a representation of what the Dog-People look like? I’m forgetting any bull terriers from your book; just remembering borzoi, retrievers, and Monsieur Pudelle (which I’m sure I’ve misspelled), as well as the friends Noah acquires along the way.

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      7. We’ve enlarged the font of the lettering on the cover, as it was too small to read in thumbnail size. The dog in the circle is more a representation of Dog-People — like a logo. There were pitbull security guards (in particular, Darren), so we’ll also call it slight artistic licence! It was either Percival Poodle or Monsieur “Poodelle”, depending upon whether people were talking behind his back, or to his face.

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