Because the thought occurred now and it might be gone tomorrow
Who doesn’t like a fuzzy little caterpillar, even if they might have small amounts of toxin in their barbs? I noticed this on my rain barrel as I was tending to my pumpkins:
It would appear to be an American dagger moth. I reviewed a number of sites, but the general consensus is that it’s pretty benign, content to simply munch on a few tree leaves. Very well, young moth. You may stay, but I shall not extend such courtesies to your hornworm cousins.
–Simon
We’re starting to get more tomatoes. Granted many of them are because we cheated and bought plants, but it makes a good opportunity to try some new varieties.
Yellow Boy: Sweeter and less acidic
Black Prince: Mediocre and they tend to rot on the vine
Indigo Rose: Somewhere between a cherry tomato and a typical Big Boy, both in terms of size and taste
Pink Girl: I like this one the best so far–sweet and with a nice soft texture (sort of awkwardly validating its name I suppose)
Mr. Stripey: Haven’t tried it yet, but it looks pretty:
And, we received our first pear tomatoes, and these are genuine grown-from-seed heirlooms. They remain high on my personal preference.
Even the little princess enjoys humbling herself to do a little gardening. I take advantage of those youthful eyes to find what my aging ones miss. Here she is looking over the Black Prince (there’s a joke in there somewhere):
–Simon
During the Lubbock years, mom grew a lot of dill. I don’t recall her ever using it, but I do remember her saying that she mainly grew it for the swallowtail butterflies, as they had a preference for it. I still remember those beautiful little creatures and their iconic striped larvae.
So I’m naturally pleased whenever I see them now. They had a fondness of my garden a few years back.
Recently, as I went to harvest some dill for my pickling endeavor, I noticed one of these little caterpillars, so permanently etched into memory.
But, despite me actively using the dill, he can stay.
–Simon
A month ago, we had picked up some old wooden boxes for a strawberry garden. My own experience with strawberries generally went like this: I would plant some plants, watch hopefully as some berries grew, then collapsed in despair as the day they ripen an insect had beat me to them. But Liz was hopeful.
And her hopes were not dashed upon the rocks. This last weekend I was tending to my garden and saw these (tasty):
Aside from the Japanese beetles, the bugs have been rather merciful to our produce. In light of these successes, garden expansion plans are in discussion.
–Simon
This is the Year of the Cucumber. And because of this bonanza, I needed to do something with all the extras. One family can only eat so much cucumber salad, after all.
So I thought I’d try making pickles, as I so predicted I would. Know thyself, I guess. Anyway, off to the Internet! Unfortunately, unlike canning tomatoes, pickle-making has a far less unified following. The USDA, who’s sole mission it seems is to sterilize everything, was not helpful. If you sterilize a vegetable, as in–boil it for 45 minutes–it becomes mush. This is fine for tomatoes, but when I tried a similar approach to pickling peppers a few years back, I ended up with a jar of pepper goo. I therefore sought anecdotal information.
It boiled down (see what I did there?) to two main approaches: a high-temp and short duration treatment, or a lengthy but low-temp treatment. I opted for the first simply because it’d be a quicker process.
The brine consisted of equal parts cider vinegar and water, with salt, then boiled. I cut cucumbers into spears, packed two jars, then poured in the boiling brine, then flash-boiled the jars. I added additional seasoning of dill seed, dill fronds, and crushed red pepper.
Admittedly, I have no idea what I’m doing here, but presumably the brine preserves the cucumbers, which supersedes the need for an extended sterilization process. I suppose I’ll find out.
[Edit: 2 days later I found out. Curiosity won out and I opened a jar. I was very pleased with how they turned out, and the red pepper gives them a nice bite.]
–Simon