Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

QUICK HITS

12:15 Fish gym
12:30 Grasping the nettle
12:50 Pacific gridiron
13:10 iPlot: first plantings
13:35 Backing up: portable hard drives
13:50 Wicked plants

The Small Print

First up this week meet Sunil Kadri. He's an expat kiwi who's just won an entrepreneurship award in the UK for his fish fitness technology. Apparently fish that work out are leaner, have more muscle mass and taste better. So he's developed a cross between an underwater gym and a disco complete with flashing lights. Salmon dance video here.

Then at 12:30pm we're foraging for free food and this week we meet a nettle fan who grows hers in the garden. Plus we're cooking an ancient stinging nettle recipe that dates back 8,000 years and try some tea and nettle fudge.

Left to right: Johanna and Maryanne, nettle, and nettle products

Before the news at about 12:50pm we head to the US where Pacific Islanders are making a big impact in the sport of American Football.

Then after the news at on e we're planting the first crops at the iPlot: that's our urban veggie garden. We sprinkle some seeds and get a few seedlings in the ground...fingers crossed there'll be no more frosts!

At 1:35pm Peter Griffin's backing up our personal data - making a copy of all your important documents, movies, music and emails just in case your PC gives up. Last time we looked at backing up to the cloud, basically putting your data on someone else's computer servers using the internet. This week, we've got a buyer's guide to portable hard drives.

And before we go we're speaking to writer Amy Stewart about the dark side of the plant kingdom. No bluebells in sunny meadows here! Her book Wicked Plants looks at all the stuff that can kill, poison and intoxicate us....everything from coca to hemlock...and she grows most of the stuff that's legal in her garden!

Nettle Web Info

NZ foraging group email list

Nettle recipes

Nettle salt
(Source: Isla Burgess' book Weeds heal; a working herbal - The Caxton Press)

1 cup of dried nettle leaves
Freshly roasted sesame seeds (approx. 1 cup)
1 tsp kelp

Few sprigs fresh or dried thyme and sage
Grind together to use as a condiment or add a little water and oil to use as a spread

Milk Jelly with tomato and nettle syrup

Ancient nettle pudding

TRACKS

Track: The Salmon Dance
Artist: The Chemical Brothers
Album: We are the Night
Label: ASTRALWERKS
Catalogue #: asw 94158
Broadcast at: 12:30

Track: Hymn from a village
Artist: James
Album: Factory Records: Communications 1988-1992
Label: FACTORY
Catalogue #: 463379
Broadcast at: 13:30