Smarties Bar & Grill #77

Good luck with that.

 

Thanks. Scary but exciting. Change can be good.

 

Good luck!!!

 

Last report from this year's experiments in the vegetable garden and it's on the zucchini and pumpkins I grew.

First the good news: The Cocozelle Italian Zucchini was a smash success. I grew six plants and they produced more zucchini than I could keep up with. In addition to being super-productive they handled the heat like it was nothing and I had no issues with diseases such as powdery mildew. I didn't take this picture, but I picked more than a few of these (and larger) this summer:



Ordinarily, this would be a big fat no-no, but it didn't phase the plants and the zukes still tasted great even at that size. Another great thing about this zucchini is that when it gets big it doesn't create a large/wide soft core, so you get a lot of firm and tasty flesh/meat out of the larger zukes that you can throw in soups and casseroles. My wife also suggested using them to make zucchini boats, which was an excellent idea:

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/zucchini-boats/

Coming to our kitchen soon.

Since Cocozelles are an heirloom variety I'm going to save one of the big boys for seeds and plant them next year. This plant gets an A++ and I won't be planting any other varieties in the future. The only knock I have on this plant is that the zucchinis grow from small to huge in no time - you really have to keep an eye on these guys when they start producing.

On a less successful note, the Jarrahdale pumpkins did not live up to expectations. They went gangbusters at first, but as the growing season went on they lost their vigor and weren't very productive. Granted, we had a real not summer and its challenging growing pumpkins in these parts, but their heat resistance wasn't as good as advertised (and hoped). I was warned this wasn't the most productive variety and that turned out to be the case - we'll have just enough pumpkins for a few Holiday pies and soups. If I do decide to continue growing pumpkins, I'll probably go back to growing Blue Dolls - the best all-around cooking pumpkin I've ever grown - and Musquée de Provence (aka Fairytale), which is a sweeter-tasting variety that is great in pies and cakes.

 

I gathered and ate some chanterelles this summer and they are delicious. I satisfied my curiosity finally.

 

Good luck hope you do better than you can even imagine.

 

We got rain today and it couldn't have come at a better time we were headed for a serious drought.

 

Is it Muhly grass?

 

I just ate another one today. Went foraging in the same spot I have found them twice before. Only found one large specimen today.

A very delicious mushroom. I like to slice mine and saute them in olive oil and usually dip them in garlic butter.

Still on the lookout for chicken of the woods and oyster mushrooms. Unfortunately it is my understanding that chicken of the woods usually grows more in the northern part of Florida.

If you were to draw a straight line to the west from the middle of Okeechobee, that is about where I am located

 

You might want to think again Steinhatchee is growing like a house afire. Steinhatchee was a hidden treasure till it got found out. Beautiful and now looking more citified.

 

I found one and a neighbor said he found several growing near a peanut field.

 

I sautéed mine in butter and garlic.

 

Give the new boss hell.

 

I find them underneath oaks mixed in with palmetto thickets by the river. That's the third time I have gone to that spot and found some.

It's not far away and it's a nice place to go look at the river so I'll keep checking about every 4 days

 

Due to unexpected bypass surgery on my husband, my tomatoes are still in their germination soil. We were out of the house for almost 10 days.

Nerd is doing well. Today is two weeks since surgery. He’s not quite 54, so very young for a 4-way bypass. It aids speedy recovery, though. He had a calcium score test with off-the-chart results, which led to testing, which led to a procedure to determine if a stent would fix things, which led to, “oh crap, they are cutting his breastbone in two.” Scary.

I’m enjoying reading the adventures of @FatBack and @Talon. I hope I can post some amazing pictures of tomatoes, soon. @Talon - I’ll take some zucchini, please.

@FatBack - I’ve never foraged mushrooms. Every kind we see on our adventures comes up poisonous on our app.

I hope everyone is doing well. I took a break for a bit.

 

That's crazy and I wish him a speedy recovery.

Apps are notoriously inaccurate for fungus ID.
Find a good book for your region written by credentialed mycologist if you are interested and learn the most common one or two first and then learn the toxic look-alikes.

I am far from an expert so I am only looking for about three of them at this point even though I am sure I am passing up good edibles I simply don't know enough about them yet.

But I do know my favorite ones grow directly on cow dung and stain blue that would be the pscilocybes those I have been collecting for the last 20 years and I absolutely know their ID

 

I doubt we’ll seriously find mushrooms in the wild we can saute up at home, but it’s always fun to look. The type that contain psilocybin are especially appealing!

Given how many varieties of mushrooms that exist and the percentage of them that are poisonous, we’ll stick with the farmer’s market!!

 

There are over 200 species containing psilocybin. Chances are there are some in your neck of the woods.

 

I am loving this fall-like weather we are having. Supposed to dip into the upper 40's tomorrow night.

 

I used to pick morel mushrooms up north.....great taste

 

Before this month is over I will have dropped $30K in 30 days on no frills stuff related to my approaching self-employment. This crap better work out. I am now broke LOL.

Saddened to see that James Earl Jones died. I know he had a long life, but he is just one of those people where I think entertainment will be forever less than now after having lost him.

 

It’s gonna work out! And, yeah, James.

 

I would never take a penny but I would give them to you for free if you're willing to sit there and eat them with me... Just a couple of candles along the way towards enlightenment.
Even if you didn't feel like sitting there and eating them with me..... If you are a friend of mine they would be freely given unto you..... Just one of those things.

Sometimes I think I would just be the stranger getting rained on on the side of the road that no one knows

 

I often hope that things will work out but I am in a phase of my life where I am hard pressed to really try to see that.

I know that nothing changes until I myself make it change.

It is very easy to say such a thing until you have to watch someone that you love keep fading away from you in front of your eyes despite your best efforts.

Truly a case of don't talk to talk until you have walked the walk

 

Light a candle and show me the way please...
Because the one that lights the way that so many follow.... Doesn't really work for me.

Just being in the woods hunting for these myself, does a lot more for me than ever consuming them could ever hope to do.

If I could just become a hermit and be left alone... forever.... Just to be totally alone. My idea of heaven is to simply be someone that never was and even be erased entirely from memory.... utterly blotted out entirely

But there is not a drug on earth that could ever accomplish that