Sidelined, Part II

Meant to include a few more animal photos in the last post…. including this lovely butterfly that took a ride on Henry’s jeans.

A striking catalpa worm and his friends made short work of the leaves on the catalpa tree.

And moles are burrowing away under the yard. Henry has been pursuing them, almost like Bill Murray in Caddyshack…. short of blowing up the meadow. They are intriguing little critters, albeit destructive.

Of course, one of the reasons the mole is not welcome is that it interferes with landscaping/agricultural activities. Like so many, the enforced isolation led us to plant a fairly ambitious garden, a portion of which is shown here.

Beans, purple hull peas, tomatoes, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers, eggplant, radishes, pears and okra…… some of it in great abundance.

At its peak, the summer squash yielded as much as 11 pounds…… IN ONE SINGLE DAY!

In this household, wasting food is a sacrilege. The challenge, therefore, is how to use all of this fresh produce. Pickled squash, grilled squash, fried squash, squash fritters, squash soup, steamed squash, squash casserole (several recipes), dried squash, squash chips, roasted squash, squash bread, anyone?

Food was prepared and consumed with a sense of urgency while the next batch ripened. Of course, we gave quite a lot of it away…… once friends and family had had enough, other beneficiaries included Henry’s hired helpers, the local food bank, the UPS driver, and our postmistress, Sharon.

Here’s an action shot of the pea-shelling operation, which Henry precariously but effectively rigged…

We even grew sprouts and mushrooms on the kitchen counter….

The prize for best use of home-grown produce, however, goes to this very effective incorporation of pickled okra……. into a Bloody Mary!

Next time – a few other pandemic activities……