Fruits and Veggies

Here is a rundown of the vegetation that’s going on here at the farm. For staples, maize is here in abundance. There are also a few beds of potatoes. In addition, a starchy vegetable called karkaro, which is a root veggie similar to yams.

Karkaro greens are also delicious when cooked down. There are also a few beds of elephant kale, and many varieties of wild greens all used to cook saag (cooked greens). There is also a field of cabbage and radishes which make for great achaar (pickled…. well anything really; I’ve had mango achaar, lemon achaar, melon rind achaar, the list goes on). There are also terraces for tomatoes.

There’s a ton of different herbs and spices growing here too. Most abundant is zhimbu, an herb similar to chives. Also grown is timur, a spice similar to cloves but much stronger (much stronger... I found out the hard way that just a nibble will make your entire mouth go numb). Mint grows wildly pretty much everywhere. Also classics such as garlic and cilantro. Stinging nettle is also everywhere (you get used to the burn) and is used to cook with and to make tea. Besar (turmeric) also makes an appearance.

Fruit trees too! There is a whole bunch of kiwi trees (sadly for me they aren’t quite ready yet…). Orange and lemon trees are scattered about the farm, and lapsi is scattered about the entire subcontinent. Lapsi is a very sour, semi-sweet small fruit with a large pit. It’s great fresh but especially good as achaar.

Zhimbu

Golbedha (tomatoes)!

Trellises of kiwis

Lapsi!