Beliefs and stuff

[johnty greentoes]

LOL - but at least the roots of couch grass are edible (according to Mrs Leyel, Herbal Delights, Grammercy Publishing Co, NY. 1938 pp46-47) and the middle bits of stems taste ok too.

How do you prepare/cook it because tomorrow I will be digging up miles of the stuff.

[Hazel at the Hill]

.... and the middle bits of stems taste ok too.

Goodness, that takes me back.... pulling the juicy grasses up and munching on all the sweet stalks.

An adventurous youth - eating wild things/cycling anywhere & everywhere within a 5 mile radius of home/playing out all day, back at sundown OR ELSE etc etc ...given the restraits on todays children, I am still surprised that any of our generation made it to adulthood!

Happy (rose tinted!?) days....

[madderbat]

How do you prepare/cook it because tomorrow I will be digging up miles of the stuff.

Sorry Johnty, don't know and it doesn't say, but the quote says 'The root is so nutritious it has been made into bread when corn was scarce.'

I guess you could try drying it and grinding if you want to go that far, or just chop it fine and roast it - experiment; maybe boil it like sweetcorn??

Sorry not to be more help. ~do let us know if you try it.

Hazel, I am glad it wasn't just me!! sometimes I wonder if I live up to my name, but I did have a wonderfully unrestrained country childhood.

[Alison]

Been away for the week so only just catching up on a million and one threads which have been posted since the start of the month - need to plant some more seeds this afternoon so need to get a move on..............

Very interesting, from a quick read, would say that I agree with all the reasons listed for why I grow my own, have found it especially good for stress relief / depression a few years ago but now it's more of an environmental / healthy taste / miracle of growth kind of thing as well as I enjoy the challenge every year to grow something different / better.

Also found the Humanist site interesting - seems to agree with a lot of my feelings, in particular the taking responsibility for your own actions, too many people use either a religion or culture as an excuse to live a certain way rather than questioning how they act. I have no problems with anybody's beliefs, so long as they have thought out the consequences of their actions and don't feel they are better than other people simply because they chose to live their lives a particular way. To (semi) quote a scientist, everything we do has an equal and opposite reaction, I know that wasn't what was origianlly meant but if you think what effect you action will have on other's / the environment before you act and then maybe the world will be a better place without that much effort!

[johnty greentoes]

Goodness, that takes me back.... pulling the juicy grasses up and munching on all the sweet stalks.

An adventurous youth - eating wild things/cycling anywhere & everywhere within a 5 mile radius of home/playing out all day, back at sundown OR ELSE etc etc ...given the restraits on todays children, I am still surprised that any of our generation made it to adulthood!

Happy (rose tinted!?) days....

I don't think you are being rose tinted.

We played out all day from breakfast to tea, got into all sorts of scrapes, ate things that hould have killed us, smoked things that were unsmokable. It was all part of a relatively paranoia free world. The media would have us believe that half the world are padophiles and the other half are gun toting crackheads. So our kids stay indoors and fill their heads with TV the www and PS3 games. Now what is really the more dangerous?

So the media have it both ways!

[Hazel at the Hill]

A theory of sorts....

My dad had a theory of child safety...it's a bit like the wildebeast migrations, there's safety in numbers. Let's say that 1 child per school is going to have something horrible happen to them. The fewer pupils walk to school/play out etc, the greater chance of the victim being YOU.

So the fewer children there are out playing, the more comparative danger each child is in, so the best thing that you can do to keep your children safe is to send them out to play!

[johnty greentoes]

My dad had a theory of child safety...it's a bit like the wildebeast migrations, there's safety in numbers. Let's say that 1 child per school is going to have something horrible happen to them. The fewer pupils walk to school/play out etc, the greater chance of the victim being YOU.

So the fewer children there are out playing, the more comparative danger each child is in, so the best thing that you can do to keep your children safe is to send them out to play!

Makes mathematical sense.

[madderbat]

This ties in with what I tried to say earlier on this thread - fear is our worst enemy. People today are being frightened and encouraged to instil fear into their kids and it really is scary. The world is changing so fast (or I am just getting older!) because of this. Folks are losing a sense of trust and belief in themselves and each other. It explains quite a lot of what is wrong with society and the media have a lot to answer for.

Here in Loughborough recently there was a local paper headline 'Sex attacker on the loose.' 5 Students had been 'attacked' by a man late at night. On reading the stories, apparently he had tried to KISS two of them and touched two others. When confronted he had run away.

In my day that behaviour was not a 'sex attack', just a sad git who couldn't talk to girls, and needed to learn how to behave himself. Today he is a 'sex' attacker!

We need to stand up and refuse to be scared before it's too late and we end up in Big Brother land, not knowing what is true and what is false.

[Flummery]

Well I'm new round here but I'll have me say! Brought up Roman Catholic, science degree, scepticism but still play the music at church and love singing in the choir. If I had to define my belief system it would be Christian Agnostic Pagan. Christian because it's cultural to a great extent. It's how I was brought up. All major religions seem to me to have much truth in them, especially about how you should treat others. I think we have a duty of care to each other, our planet, our descendants. Agnostic because I really don't know the answers and I'm very wary of anyone who reckons they do. Pagan-ish because as a naturalist I believe in the cycles of the seasons (don't like eating flown-in foods out of season) and the cycle of life, death, decay, regrowth/rebirth. I grow my own grub because it's gorgeous (isn't that what you all do it for?) but also because it's a way of leaving a smaller footprint on the planet. Some people would like to leave their mark on the world. I'd like to leave it unmarked.

[johnty greentoes]

Well I'm new round here but I'll have me say! Brought up Roman Catholic, science degree, scepticism but still play the music at church and love singing in the choir. If I had to define my belief system it would be Christian Agnostic Pagan. Christian because it's cultural to a great extent. It's how I was brought up. All major religions seem to me to have much truth in them, especially about how you should treat others. I think we have a duty of care to each other, our planet, our descendants. Agnostic because I really don't know the answers and I'm very wary of anyone who reckons they do. Pagan-ish because as a naturalist I believe in the cycles of the seasons (don't like eating flown-in foods out of season) and the cycle of life, death, decay, regrowth/rebirth. I grow my own grub because it's gorgeous (isn't that what you all do it for?) but also because it's a way of leaving a smaller footprint on the planet. Some people would like to leave their mark on the world. I'd like to leave it unmarked.

I know the feeling

[madderbat]

Some people would like to leave their mark on the world. I'd like to leave it unmarked.

Very well said Flummery, tread gently.... and I totally agree about the flown in, out of season stuff. It just seems so unnatural to me.

[manicorganic]

Gardening is such a wonderful thing, I just sow some seeds, plant some plants and wow, step back, nature creates a beauty that cannot be imagined. There is an explosion of colour and fecundity all around me. Just walking around my garden I can see so many flowers, some I nurtured from seed and some self sowed themselves. I love to get up in the morning and walk around my yard with coffee cup in hand.
There are memories of each and every person who shared a seed or a plant with me as I walk.
Last year some new neighbours told me that my yard was their dream yard.
Yes, I take great pride in my gardens and one can't even explain the taste of that first cucumber or tomato. Just wished it wasn't snowing out and that spring would come. I need to garden. It is my connection with my higher power and with nature itself.

[Earthbabe]

Found this on another (non-gardening) forum. Bit of fun but interesting nonetheless

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html

The site asks a number of questions and then tells you which "religion" you "practice" (or is that practise? - where is Peter when you need him?.

I came out 100% neo-pagan with a 10% gap to the nearest next one. Well no surprises there then.

[Alison]

I came out as a Mahayana Buddhism, don't actually know what this means. Also scored higly on Neo-Pagan, New Age, Theravada Buddhism and Unitarian Universalism. Think this just means I'm pretty liberal minded. Scored pretty low on some of the more traditional religions in this country which is OK by me but then again, not sure I answered all of the questions right and would probably get a different answer next time!

[TonyF]

I came out as a secular humanist (100%), Unitarian Universlist (95%), Liberal Quaker (85%) and Neo-Pagan (70%).

Sounds about right except for the second one - far too organised in the Unitarian Church for me, but secular humanist - for which read well left of centre atheist - is good for me.

Except of course for Gaia and all the really interesting threads on beliefs linked to the earth without the guiding intelligence expressed here.