Vetches

Pliny, Nostradamus and Pliny's mum went to the Willunga Farmers' Market yesterday. There were carrots, leeks, tomatoes, purple potatoes, venison sausages, herbs, spices, oranges, apples, pears, chutneys, olive oils, cheeses, breads, pizzas, cakes and lavender ice cream. There were no vetches.

Pliny was not disappointed. She had Googled vetches the day before and knew that they were not the sort of thing that people generally like to eat. They are mainly grown as food for animals and are a sort of semi toxic bean. People only eat them when there is nothing else to eat. They look a bit like lentils and taste bitter. You must boil them several times to leach out the toxicity.

Nevertheless Pliny is on the lookout for wild vetches wherever she goes. Walking beside the Onkaparinga River yesterday afternoon she thought she saw some hanging on a wire fence to dry. They were black, stiff and prickly and blowing in the wind like dead seaweed .