ST201904

Our advice...

What we’ve learnt

* Wild watermint tastes like peppermint, only a little sweeter, and works well in place of

garden mint. Any good wild plant book will show you how to identify it safely.

Hybrid chicks
(above)thatthe
couple bred from
their heritage-
breed hens.
Right: year one
on the veg patch,
with vegetable
beds mid build
and the apiary in
the background

“Go for it! The good life is available to everyone

• whether it’s keeping beehives on a rooftop or

growing tomato plants on a windowsill”

Go for it– whether it’s a couple of hens in

the back garden, beehives on a rooftop, or

just growing windowsill tomato plants.

And, with help from an identification guide,

wild ingredients can be foraged even in

urban areas. We built up our knowledge

and experience over time and it has been

endlessly interesting, challenging, joyful

and ultimately life-affirming.

We’ve learnt so many new skills: how to

build an apple press; ferment home-grown

cabbage into sauerkraut; how to incubate

and rear chicks, render beeswax to make

candles and build our own composting

bins. We’re now experimenting with

making charcoal, cultivating mushroom

logs, and debating whether ducklings

would be a feathery addition too far.

A favourite pudding for early spring,

when the wild watermint* has appeared

at the stream edges and the rhubarb

crowns are pushing up their sage green

and electric pink stems.

Serves 6

150g plain white flour

3 tsp ground ginger

80g cold unsalted butter, diced

50g demerera sugar

600g rhubarb

6 tbsp granulated sugar

Handful fresh watermint leaves (or

garden mint leaves)

TO SERVE

Vanilla ice cream and watermint leaves

1 Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas

6. Sift the flour with a pinch of sea salt
   and the ground ginger into a large bowl.
   Using your hands rub the diced butter

into the flour mixture until it resembles

breadcrumbs, then stir in the demerera.

2 Tip the crumble onto a baking tray,

spread out evenly, and bake for about

35 mins, checking and stirring halfway

through, until golden brown. Leave to

cool, stirring occasionally.

3 Meanwhile, cut the rhubarb into 3cm

lengths and place in a single layer in a

small roasting tin. In a blender, blitz the

granulated sugar and mint leaves

together (or use a pestle and mortar),

until the mint is crushed into the sugar.

4 Scatter the mint sugar over the

rhubarb, cover with foil and bake for

15–20 mins until the rhubarb is soft but

still just holding its shape.

5 To serve, lift a few pieces of rhubarb

into each bowl and spoon over some of

the juices from the tin. Top with a couple

of spoonfuls of crumble and decorate

with a few small watermint leaves.

Rhubarb, wild watermint

& ginger crumble

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