The Complexity of Caterpillars

Yesterday in Kanawha State Forest we came across a large (about the size of my little finger), smooth, bright green caterpillar. When we got home I looked in 'Field Guide to the Insects' for it. Nope - no pictures of caterpillars.

So I tried on the web, and found the Discover Life Caterpillar page, where I determined that our caterpillar was the larva of either an Oval Base Prominent or White Dot Prominent moth. The Caterpillar page allows you to check off characteristics (main body color, main pattern, hair, etc.) to narrow your search.

Go - find a caterpillar, check the web site.

Tomato Love

A gem from the farmers' market. It's large, lumpy, and very tasty. This is a yellow brandywine, an heirloom.

In case you're not familiar with heirloom vegetables, they are the old, open-pollinated varieties, as opposed to modern hybrids.

Seed companies develop hybrids to have regular, pretty shapes, and to stand up to shipping. Heirlooms were bred by generations of growers selecting for hardiness and flavor.

Farmers Market - Outside the Box

This morning we made a fast trip to Charleston's farmers' market. We came home with heirloom tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, peaches, several varieties of squash, beets, apples, peppers, and ....Chinese eggplant.

Think ' West Virginia farm', and Chinese eggplant is not the first thing to pop into your mind. These are tender little beauties. I love it that farmers are growing a variety of vegetables, not just the old favorites.

One of the heirloom tomatoes was devoured as soon as we got home, and it reminded me of my mother's garden years ago.

Sagas of the Royal Navy

Two of my favorite authors, C.S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian, each wrote a series of historic novels set in the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars.

My fondness for Forester can be explained by the jacket blurb on Hornblower and the Hotspur: "In storm, in flame, in blood, and in love, the plot unfolds." To be accurate, there's not a lot of mushy stuff going on in books by either author - their hearts lie in the storm, flame, and blood.

The New York Times reviewer described O'Brian's books as "The best historical novels ever written." To which I add that he could write complex sentences with semi-colons without a reader even noticing. That's a feat.

Strange Fruits, Part One - The Papaya

Down at the super Wal-Mart, not generally the home of the exotic, I spied a 2-lb., lumpy fruit. It was unappealing, rather like a fat, homely zucchini. So I bought it.

After it had a couple of days to ripen, I cut it and scraped out the black seeds. The flesh is soft and smooth, and tastes somewhat like coffee with cream. Papayas are chock full of nutrients and low in calories. Their rich flavor gives a pleasant feeling of indulgence.

Raw papaya is good by itself or in salads. I also tried a green papaya roasted like a butternut squash. My experimental subjects (family members) liked it, after being unenthusiastic about the ripe fruit.

The Heavy Ten Pounds

After lugging the 10 lb. dumbbell around in a day pack, losing ten pounds just seems like the sane thing to do.

And carrying around a dumbbell in a pack seems, well, not so sane. It feels wonderful to put it down.

What's the flower?

This spring I was given a paper cup containing a few nasturtium seeds - a plant I haven't seen much since I was a child, when we had a skimpy border of little plants. I stuck the seeds in the ground without expecting much.

They are striking. The flowers are hot, tropical orange. The foliage looks like lily pads, floating gracefully. The plants are spreading beauties - and if they spread too much, they're good in salads. A new garden favorite.