Broom-making?

  Something that never occurred to me is to eat what grows in the marsh.  For one thing, I have never taken a notion that I should fend off the alligators and cottonmouths simply to gather some (otherwise known as) weed.  But...here I am finding out that woolgrass is edible.  For those who don't know, woolgrass is that lovely thing that has large brown seed fronds growing out the top.)  I have always found it interesting but never thought of it as a food source.  For me, not everything deemed edible should be placed on the dinner table.  But...the discovery did make me do a bit of research on the plant and other uses seem to be a bit more fitting.  

  Woolgrass is quite commonly used in basket weaving and broom-making!  Alrighty then!  That seems to be a better fit for the plant.  Now, if I ever get a whim to weave a basket or make a broom, I know just where to go...out in that critter infested marsh.  Actually, since I have not been able to do the yardwork that I have been doing in the past, the woolgrass has spread up the hill a bit which would allow for a much easier harvesting.  To be totally honest, that broom-making is tempting...perhaps not as a utilitarian tool but as a decorative item.  Handmade brooms are expensive!  A good handmade broom can go from around $30 for a whisk broom to a couple of hundred for a floor broom!  Umm...yeah.  If I spend that much on a broom, it will be for display only and would never be seen sweeping the floors of the Little Bayou House.

  Finding the woolgrass in the yard versus the marsh has really made me start thinking that the "natural", untouched state of some of the yard, is not a bad thing.   A lot of plants, that were normally cut by the mower, seem to either have lovely or interesting blooms or lots of household uses.  Yes, food and herbal medicines come to mind but brooms?  Right now, that seems far more intriguing!  

Shampoo Ginger!

   So, thanks to Darling Daughter, I am now "forced" to try something new.  It is no big secret that living like I do, I muddle around with tisanes, poultices, balms and other herbal concoctions.  She knows this and also knows that I grow or forage my herbs.  In fact, she is all for it as she is quite the same.  That said, she and my son-in-law always find some plant that is not in the Small Gardens and they give me that as a gift.  Last Christmas, they gave me a ginger root.  This was unlike the culinary ginger that fills the back garden, it was Shampoo Ginger.  Alrighty, then!  I carefully planted this root in a huge pot to keep it separate from the other garden bound plants.  Well, it took off growing and never stopped!  

  I was meandering the herb gardens while thinking about what to plant for my fall/winter vegetable plot.  Imagine my surprise when I was greeted with nine blooms on the Shampoo Ginger plant!  (Those buds sure look a lot like the pine cones that the squirrels are dropping from the treetops.)  I gave the largest "cone" a gentle squeeze and, sure enough, it was filled with liquid.  It is that liquid that I am supposed to harvest and turn into shampoo!  Tomorrow will find me on my knees with a jar in hand trying to capture all of that lovely stuff before something knocks over the plant and spills everything.  

  This is my first experience growing, harvesting and using this type ginger.  From what I have read, each cone will refill a few times after they are emptied.  According to all information, only the red ones should be harvested as the others are still growing.  That makes sense.  There are a couple of brown cones that will need to be removed so that will be done, as well.  Wish me luck in this new endeavor!  I am making shampoo!

Ok, so what do you do with hot peppers?

   Two years ago, I took a wild notion to plant about six hot pepper plants.  I think that they were supposed to be jalapenos but as the plants grew, they set the oddest assortment of fruit.  Some were long and slender while others were short and stubby.  I shrugged my shoulders and thought "What difference would it make?  I just needed a few for the "Bayou Fire" tonic for the winter.  The six plants were prolific.  They bore far more peppers than I needed so I set to making hot sauce.  Well, you can only use so much hot sauce.  Those six plants insisted on bearing and bearing with no end in sight.  The shelves in my dining room-turned pantry were now filled to capacity.  (Over a thousand jars of assorted goodies are there for our use!)  What to do?  What to do?  Hmmm!  I shall dehydrate said peppers!  The thought behind this was that dehydrated goods do not take up near the space that canned goods do...so, I pulled the dehydrator down from the top shelf and got to work poking holes in peppers...lots of peppers...way too many peppers.  It did not take long to fill the twelve trays.  It did take long to dry them.  It seems that peppers are obstinate about their state of being and almost refused to become shriveled and dried.  They did, however, so into a half gallon jar, they went!  I felt pretty smug with myself for that idea...until I went out to the herb garden and found a bajillion or so more red peppers.  Ugh!  I was taught to appreciate everything and waste nothing...so I picked peppers.  I dehydrated more.  I now have two gallons of dehydrated hot peppers.

  Like I said, this was two years ago.  Those six plants suddenly became twenty-three plants because I inadvertently dropped a few peppers on the ground.  (Learn from my mistakes here, folks.  Never assume that a dropped pepper will just rot.  They do not.)  I have come to the realization that I am well on my way to having a "pepper grove".  Yes, two years ago, I planted six and now have twenty-three.  I thought sure peppers were annuals not cold hardy perennials.  Even when freezes killed most everything else in the garden, those peppers survived...and thrived.  Now during the third "growing season", I have picked.  I have "candied", preserved, pickled, dehydrated, made sauce and infused vinegars and oils.  I have given bowls of the peppers to neighbors, friends, relatives and even tried to give some to the nice lady at the hospital where I take treatments but she politely declined. Just what I need...no takers. What do I do now?  Just how much appreciation can one show to ever-bearing hot peppers?  Several times, I have been tempted to pull the plants and toss them in the compost but, knowing my luck, they will take root, love the rich soil there and bear more peppers.  I am about hot-peppered out here, folks.  Any suggestions?  

Making Friends At the Frog Pond

   It has been a while since I have last written anything but, perhaps, this is the start of a regular thing again.  I am gradually starting to feel like my "old self" after a bit of a stressful ailment.  Doctor's orders said "No being out before dawn or tromping through the creek bed without someone else in tow."  That did not set well as both Son and my husband would rather take a leisurely approach to the morning and neither have the time to traipse in search of some critter or odd mushroom.  My ailment, once again, left me to the "Realm of the Small Gardens" where I adjusted my crown and tried to carry on with the day as best I could.  After 6 months of treatment, those rules are starting to loosen a bit which elates me!  

  I did get to go out to the Frog Pond this week to pull a few of the over abundance of water hyacinths.  Those things are relentless!  Thankfully, they contribute a good bit of nutrients to the compost so not all is terrible.  While there, I had a visitor.  A Praying Mantis decided that my shoulder was the perfect perch.  This thing was HUGE!  I guess the mosquitoes in the pond are a tasty treat so I was happy about that.  What I was not so happy about is that these critters will also eat my baby tree frogs!  I am quite sure that the mantis dined upon a few of those, as well.  It is understandable that the mantis must eat to survive but I would prefer it did not eat the cute, little froglets!  After a bit, I gently lifted the mantis off of my shoulder and let it crawl to the wild petunias on the outer edge of the pond.  There, it can patrol the area without worry. 

  For those who think that the Praying Mantids only eat other bugs, there is a great deal of study showing that they eat anything that they can overpower.  If it moves and the mantis can subdue it, that critter becomes breakfast.  The froglets, tiny lizards, spiders...anything is fair game to them!  If you can look closely at the photograph, you will see their front legs are quite spiky which allows the mantis to get a good grip.  Their patience, stealth and strength usually give the insect the upper hand when hunting.  One this size (a good 5 inches in length) eats whatever it wants.  Hopefully, I will find oothecas (egg cases) soon! Carry on, Beautiful Mantis!  It was nice meeting you.

The Life of Goldie

   Since I have been forced to slow down a bit due to health issues, I have to find things to entertain myself.  Thankfully, as Son has always said, I am easily amused so it is not overly hard to deem something as interesting enough to take a break from chores.  This afternoon after canning hot sauce, I headed outside to empty the remnant pepper stems.  Once I returned from the compost, my attention suddenly was drawn to the eaves of the house.  Aha!  My good friend "Goldie" was busying herself in her web.  Goldie is none other than a Golden Silk Orb Weaver.  The spider, I am quite sure, is the offspring of the one who had a web in the exact same corner of the back porch.  It seems that this is a favorite spot of these huge spiders and I am all for them being there.  With the wet weather we have had lately, there are a ton of every type biting bug imaginable so Goldie is sure to be well-fed.  But...why suddenly has she captured my attention?  Well, Goldie was busy, as I said.  It did not take long for me to figure out that she was in the midst of molting!  Goldie was going to get bigger!  

  Every year since I was a kid, I would seek out the orb weavers simply because they are so huge.  The palm-sized spiders demand attention from all but especially of curious kids.  Back in the day when I was a small kid, I watched as they spun their webs across the window in Pop's shed.  Now, I watch as one molts near the backdoor.  Funny how things come full circle, isn't it?

  Grandmother once told me how these spiders spin their gigantic webs to bridge a gap between the human world and that of nature and whosoever treated the spider with kindness would always be protected.  Well, even though I know that Grandmother merely did not want me to destroy the web (for the same bug-catching reasoning I have now), it would be nice to know that a spider this size is on my side if things ever hit the fan and I am in trouble!  

  Goldie still has another couple of months to grow before she weaves her egg sac and fills it with eggs.  Those eggs will hatch in a few weeks but the spiderlings will stay put in that sac throughout the winter months.  Then!  Then, the tiny critters will spill out and things will start anew.  Man, I love Goldie!

Fish Crow to the Rescue!

  Being tightly bound to the small gardens once again, I miss my bayou critter friends.  So far, none have ventured up to the gardens to do a check on me like six years ago when I had to crown myself "Queen of the Small Gardens".  Then, everything from turtles, snakes, raccoons, owls and hawks ventured into the gardens.  I cherished each of the visits and had some of the best "conversations" albeit one-sided.  I was just happy to have them nearby. 

  This go-round, someone new has taken to a thrice daily visit.  If I am in the back part of the gardens, a Fish Crow will perch itself on the peak of the house and call to me.  It watches my every move and will come down to accept peanuts from the fencepost.  If I am in the front gardens, it perches itself about twenty feet up on an old, dead oak branch. There it calls constantly until another handful of peanuts is proffered.  These are carefully placed on an upturned flowerpot on the arbor.  The bird happily accepts each gift.

  While most folks are not overly fond of crows, I have come to love this bird simply because it gives me the feeling of usefulness in an otherwise useless situation. The bird came to my rescue just when I needed it the most. Perhaps the bird senses that I am "on hold" from my daily routine until the body heals or perhaps it just wants those peanuts.  Either way, I am grateful that it has chosen to visit the Small Gardens.  

Added note...American Crows are much more abundant across the entire nation but Fish Crows are usually found coastally.  While their appearances are similar, their calls are distinctly different.  This is definitely a Fish Crow!

"We need 500 of these quickly!"

   Yes, indeed.  We do.  Darling Daughter made that comment when I sent a (poor) photograph of the Eastern Kingbird and told her that there were several in the yard doing fantastic aerobatic maneuvers around the old, dead oak tree.  I was a bit entranced by the birds' antics and figured there had to be a specific reason behind their actions. I watched as long as I could before I had to make a dash to the house due to being eaten alive by mosquitoes!  It was time for a bit of research on the type of bird and what it may be doing.  I found that the Eastern Kingbird eats those dratted mosquitoes!  Needless to say, I was elated but I continued reading and soon became even happier!  It seems that the birds love to eat swarming termites!  Oh, happy day!  These birds are heroes!

  By this time, it was just about dark.  I sent the photograph to Elizabeth and told her of my recent study.  Her comment was almost a desperate plea..."We need 500 of these quickly!"  Yep, the termites were swarming with a vengeance at her place.  She and Robbie were vacuuming termites from their house in hopes to rid the place of some.  That is when I decided to check our "outdoor termite light".  Oh, goodness!  To explain, years ago, I found that termites were attracted to lights so in the midst of "lights out" inside, a shop light was rigged far down the hillside in hopes that perhaps the critters would mosey on down there.  It worked!  Last night when I checked the light, thousands of termites were swirling under the light!  We literally had a termite cyclone down there!  What made it better was lizards and frogs were devouring many of the bugs!  Oh, yeah!  This was good. 

  I now figured out that the Kingbirds were catching the termites as they were coming out of the old oak tree to swarm. For two hours before dusk, the birds did their aerial stunts while consuming the termites. I hope the birds stick around and reproduce here.  I welcome them all!  Should I mention that I love Eastern Kingbirds?  

  Note...the photograph of the termites was taken from an upstairs window.  What appears to be a small tree decorated with white lights is definitely something far more sinister!  That is the shop light facing downward with a cyclone of termites flying underneath.  The light is glinting off their wings making interesting patterns albeit a bit disturbing when you know that those wings are attached to critters that are eating the houses down here on the Coast.