Today we had fresh homemade pasta. For the first time ever! (Thanks Jamie Oliver…)
Not only was the pasta fabulous, it was astonishingly simple. 400g of flour on the bench, 4 eggs cracked into a well in the flour, mix and stir and knead. Grind through the benchtop machine. Ready!
But the second best thing with the lunch was what we had with it. I had no plan but came back from the garden with a handful of fresh ruccola, marjory, basil and chives. Chop chop and in they went with the only-just-blanched pasta. Then a handful of fresh mangold (which is its Swedish name, I think its called chard or something like that in English) into some olive oil sizzling with fresh garlic and chilli. Just a quick stir to heat it through.
The lunch was delicious. Such a treat to have a garden of stuff just waiting to be picked.
But the real point of my story is this: The whole lot had grown in Bokashi. The seeds were planted in seed soil atop a layer of Bokashi-enriched planting soil. The repotted seedlings were of course planted into a Bokashi soil mix and regularly watered with Bokashi juice and/or EM. The garden beds have had Bokashi dug into them for well over a year now and are jumping with worms. And they get a dose of EM watered onto them now and then for good measure.
It’s all very unscientific I know but the plants look great. They’re growing well, they taste great, and so long as I keep the snails off they are really healthy. I’m no super gardener and no super cook but I think its one of the rare luxuries in this world to go and pick lunch.
All that’s missing now is a few hens chooking around to provide us with all the eggs we’ll be needing for this new-found pasta passion. Watch this space!
Bokashiworld 