Grow your own nutrient- and fibre-rich food

Words MORAG GAMBLE

A permaculture garden is your continual source of wonderfully fresh, nutrient- and mineraldense produce for a healthy balanced diet. The vitality of produce is highest just as it’s harvested. It then rapidly degrades and loses nutrients – even in the fridge. So surround yourself with edible gardens you can harvest from each day or each meal!

Replace processed foods with real foods. By surrounding yourself with a diverse garden full of vegetables, fruits and herbs, you will naturally eat more of them every day. Abundant permaculture gardens produce so much leafy green salads and greens of all kinds that you’ll have the luxury of accompanying every meal with a nutrient- and fibre-packed salad, and surplus to give to friends and neighbours.

Eating whole foods from your garden keeps you feeling fuller for longer. For example, a bowlful of homegrown salad has much more fibre than iceberg lettuce and overwatered spinach leaves. Did you know that broccoli leaves are one of the most nutrient-dense salad greens? They are high in protein as well as vitamin A. Whereas iceberg lettuce is among the least nutritious greens to add to salad.

Why not add some fast-growing greens to your salad and leafy green garden? Try chia greens, radicchio, watercress, cos lettuce, rainbow chard, mustard greens, spinach, kale, beet greens, dandelion greens, tatsoi, bok choy, radish, collards, endive, sorrel, corn salad, turnips, spring onions, fava greens and pea shoots.

The most popular meal in our household is frittata and salad – it’s super quick, super fresh and super filling without the calories. First, we wander through the garden and harvest a bundle of the healthiest looking greens, herbs and whatever other seasonal vegetables look amazing that day. Next, we visit our lovely hens and collect the eggs. We thank them with a bouquet of older leaves from the garden – ones a bit past their prime – then head back to the kitchen to cook it all up together.

It’s a particularly filling and healthy meal because we always enjoy it with a fresh fibre-filled salad. While the frittata is cooking, we go back out to the garden and collect some salad ingredients: cherry tomatoes, snow peas, peas, cos lettuce leaves, mizuna, mustard greens, fava greens (broad bean leaves), basil, oregano, parsley and rosemary – a leaf of this, a leaf of that.

It’s a meal that looks amazing, tastes amazing, keeps me full, and I never tire of it. It’s different every day depending on what we find in the garden, and the freshness is so uplifting. The best part is I don’t have any impulse to snack after eating this – my tastebuds and belly are so satisfied!

www.ourpermaculturelife.com