• Eat well to live well - in a changing climate

• Grow nutritious food that’s good for you

• Reward for effort - perennial crops rather than annual

• Realistic about what we can grow - without having to spray pesticides and fungicides.

• Moving away from cool climate edibles to those suited to the tropics and subtropics - especially during the summer growing season. Still some place for cool climates edibles in our more productive winter season.

• If we can find dual purpose plants, we’re on a winner! ie Edible + biomasse

• Substitute for English Spinach

• raw in salads, on a sandwich, in smoothies, cooked in stir-fries, soups, pasta, in lots of one-pan dishes by adding it just before the end of cooking

• as mulch, as chop and drop, cut and used as a mulch everywhere – it decomposes very quickly and enriches the soil nearly straight away

• weed suppressor in the garden

• Oxalates are natural compounds found in vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains.

• Oxalates can bind to minerals like calcium in the kidneys and form calcium oxalate kidney stones 

A typical American diet will have 100-150 mg of oxalates, however, ½ cup spinach will provide 330-520 mg which, on an everyday basis, is very likely to lead to overload.

• starchy and sweet-tasting tubers are what is most commonly eaten (raw even!)

• the growing tips and leaves can also be eaten as leafy greens - best to blanch or boil them if eating a lot of it.

• Fresh shoots in salads

• one of the most prolific, heavy yielding, nutritious and appetising green leaves

• leaves taste like fresh green peas, with a nutty flavour, they are popular with everyone

• contains protein 49%, fibre 14-18%

• leaves are used chopped in sauces, soups, salads and as a garnish.

• flower buds steeped in vinegar give it a mild garlic flavour and can also be used as a garnish

• attractive in salads. The peppery leaves can be used like garlic in salads and other dishes

• flowers are on the peppery sweet side, onion-ish. 

• beans (not the pods) can be eaten fresh, while still white before any colour shows. 

• dry well on the vine to a beautiful speckled red and white bean that can be stored for winter soups and casseroles.

• beans are rich in folate, proteins, fibre, and iron. In addition, it is a healthy, tasty, and versatile food to cook.

• a crunchy texture and asparagus-like flavour that is delicious both raw or cooked. 

• Leaves are used as a leaf vegetable and are comparable to spinach.

• high in protein: the seeds contain 34% protein and 17% oil; the root contains 20% protein

• Need to be planted now - to have enough cover to crop in April.

• Very tasty, easy to grow, and packed with important vitamins and minerals

• Fresh green beans are harvested and used in the same way as green beans

• Dried seeds can be used in the same way as other legumes

• mature pods and dried beans contain toxins so should be well-cooked with a change of cooking water.

• grown for its young, tender pods, edible leaves and flowers and is a popular vegetable in South East Asian and African cooking.

• a hardy plant that thrives when it is warm and wet

• nutritious vegetable; the leaves are high in vitamins B3 (niacin), B2, A and C. It is high in protein and an excellent source of antioxidants and anthocyanins

• young leaves are known for their pleasantly tart flavour, eaten either raw or cooked

• contain oxolates

• Flowers are used to make teas or other drinks where they contribute colour rather than taste

• hardy plant that thrives when it is warm and wet

• the leaves are high in vitamins A and C, and iron, and have 2% protein by dry weight

• young leaves and young shoots may be eaten raw, steamed, boiled, stir-fried or added to soups

• large soft leaves can be used to wrap food, similar to vine leaves

• not a bean, but a squash - vigorous climber

• if you eat it raw, tastes like a cross between zucchini and cucumber - nicer than raw zucchini

• substitute for zucchini

• harvest them when they are about 30 centimetres long

• likes hot weather and produces its leafy greens throughout the summer

• leaf is rich in potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, ascorbic acid, and carotene. Good source of protein, folate, magnesium, vitamins, and dietary fibre.

• an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids (more than 49 %) than any other vegetable

• grow happily even in the hottest areas

• good raw, if that’s your thing. But you can use snake beans in most recipes where you use regular supermarket green beans

• especially awesome in Asian stir-fries

• A good crop of snake beans can easily produce more than you immediately need. Seal them in a plastic lock bag and they will last up to 4 weeks in the fridge.

• Much of what I do is by seed or cutting. 

• Seed Swap (February and August) - just prior to autumn and spring plantings - acclimatised seeds for the region. Rarer seeds. Probably not hybrids, but that’s fine.

• The bulk of the plants I strike in water - easy! And if it doesn’t work, what have you lost.

• I propagate many plants during mid-summer in case the plants die through heavy rain downpours - always a risk. 

• The Capricorn Coast Produce Swap is held on the Second Sunday each month at 4pm, at Jack’s Paddock. It’s informal and simple, and works on one main principle: people bring whatever surplus home-grown produce you don’t need and can freely give, and then take whatever you believe you can use.