Growing Wild

Part of socializing and having friends is being a good listener even when you don't actually give a shit about the subject.

Your are hurting other people's feelings when you bluntly respond with "Anyway..." and then change the topic.

It can not always be about your preferred topic.

Autistic mom of two autistic kiddos here. I do something with my kids called playing the good friend game. I have them ask me a question like “what did you do this weekend” and then I respond with something they don’t like ie: “I ate some sushi for dinner on Saturday! It was delicious!” Their job is to not make a gross face and not to yuck my yum. They have to ask me a follow up question! Minimum one about what I liked about the sushi or who I went with or what I ordered etc. and they have to be kind. I change up what I answer with for the initial question and for all follow ups. It’s incredible!

You can learn how to chit chat about things because you care about the people around you. Small talk is banal and boring but the people in your life are real and lovely and nuanced. Get to know them. You can do it. You’ll build relationships that last. Don’t do it for the sake of small talk. Do it because you’re deeply invested in learning how to see the people around you as whole pictures.

It is typically measures about 3um in thickness, depending heavily on the cultivar. It is peppered by stomata over the lenticels in the skin underneath which serve as gas exchange pathways but also can provide entry points for microorganisms and moisture loss. The crystalline waxes protrude outwards from the cutin layer.

Some apples and pears are russeted. This can be natural from the cultivar or induced by orchard conditions and is due to damage to the epidermal cells early after petal fall. As the apple grows micro cracks develop over the affected cells in the cuticle. The apple responds by growing a brownish, corky layer of wound-healing tissue (called a periderm or phellogen) to seal the cracks, resulting in a rough, canvas-like tan patch on the skin.

Microscopic analysis of the apple cuticle reveals complex microbial communities (microbiota) of yeasts bacteria and moulds. The cuticle (and its ecosystem changes) as the seasons and weather change and the apple matures and ripens. The organised wax crystals disappear and are replaced by liquid esters which leads to skin greasiness. #cuticle #apples #pears

As you can see, I'm still fighting grass, but my corn is looking quite happy! And I'm very behind on the other two sisters, having planted only 2/3 of the plot with beans, and no squash yet, but the beans that are planted are all up and happy.

They're Mbombo Green, which I bought because I can't resist the color.

Let me check in the back...

Spiny Weevil (Heilus freyreissi), family Curculionidae, Choco region of Ecuador

photograph by Javier Aznar González de Rueda

Filbert Weevil (Curculio occidentis), family Curculionidae, CA, USA

photograph by Ryan Kaldari

Nut Weevil (Curculio nucum), family Curculionidae, Lithuania

photograph by Lukas Jonaitis

Weevil (Cholus cinctus), family Curculionidae, Anton Valley, Panama

photograph by Charles J. Sharp

Banded Pine Weevil (Pissodes pini), family Curculionidae, found across western Europe

"Whose Larva Is This?"

I think this is Pilobolus kleinii, one of the dung cannon fungi AKA hat throwers.

This fungus grows on dung. Its strategy for colonising new piles of dung is to have its spores be eaten by a herbivore, pass through the animal's gut and end up in a freshly deposited stool.

To this end, these sticky black sporangia are propelled clear of the dung pile by the explosive force of the turgid swelling beneath them bursting. Each has a chance of landing on some palatable grass away from the faeces, where they can be ingested.

Of course, the second cucumber of the year:

Got nibbled on :-(

Probably a squirrel or a brown rat.

But then I got two slicers so all was good again. And then the massive heat wave struck and there was absolutely no fruit setting despite an impressive number of flowers. I did find (and squash) one striped cucumber beetle and two spotted cucumber beetles, but I haven't seen any more and the vines remain vigorous. So thankful for the rainy weather that preceded the heat wave that helped most of the plants survive it, though I was hand-watering certain plants twice daily at the end. The heat wave broke with a thunderstorm in the afternoon of July 4th that dropped at least an inch of rain, which was fantastic, much appreciated.

I mostly have to hand-pollinate the squash since I'm keeping most of it under insect netting to foil the squash borers (unfortunately lost one zucchini plant today to them...figure by the size of the worms that the eggs had already been laid by the time I had netting available), but there is one monster squash plant that it's impossible to fully cover and this little bee is absolutely pollen-drunk. Not sure if it will upload with the detail, but if you zoom in you may be able to see that she is just completely dusted in pollen.

And speaking of that monster squash plant...

So I saved the seed from a Honeynut squash I got in the fall and grew up six healthy seedlings from it this spring. I had looked it up and all the seed that I saw for sale was open-pollinated so it should breed true. Five of the plants are nice, polite bush-types. The sixth is sending out huge vines everywhere and had set three fruits that look like this:

That is not what immature Honeynut squash looks like. This is what immature Honeynut squash looks like:

The fruit from the monster squash look more like regular butternut type. So. I figure one of two things must have happened. Or maybe three.

One is that the farmer had OP Honeynut seed but grew other kinds of squash nearby so the particular squash I got had some naturally produced hybrid seeds in it. Two is the seed the farmer used was hybrid and I didn't find that possibility in my quick internet search. Or three, it mutated or reverted. I'm thinking #1 is the most likely. Hopefully they still taste good because it looks like this one plant might outproduce all the others combined.

More carrots and beets harvested today. Going to roast these and turn them into veggie burgers. Probably lentil-based, but I also have some red kidney beans so we'll see. I got another dozen carrots harvested before the heat wave. Still several dozen carrots and a dwindling but significant number of beets left to harvest yet.

I really need to do something about these. I scavenged a big pot and some potting soil from the alley recently so I think if I add some mostly finished compost to the bottom I can fill the pot and transplant all the decorative sweet potato vines into it. Maybe I can put the ones intended for food in the spots where I had to pull blighted tomato plants? I guess it's good that I was able to produce enough seedlings this year that I've completely run out of room, but boy do I wish I had more room.

The Genovese basil I transplanted in a few weeks ago got away from me and needed it's first harvest done so the plants will bush up. I have plenty of pesto in the freezer still so now I've got four very full trays in the dehydrator full of basil. Which is fine because I use a lot of it throughout the year. I'll just sprinkle what I have leftover from last year in the chicken coop.