So today's work included tearing down one of the old net houses in order to rebuild it properly, it was one of the first net houses that we built and although it managed to stand for over ten years, there were a few flaws in the design causing the net that covered it to sag, and because untreated wood poles were used for the structure, those have started deteriorating and needed to be replaced. But I decided to take a break from that and snap some pictures of some strange food and other fascinating things to share with you guys today.
The first thing that I was looking at while in the net house was these strange fruit that created a floor cover in the un-planted beds:
These spiky yellow balls, strangely resembling a cats play-toy are more commonly known as wild cucumbers or spiny cucumbers, and although they are edible, I would much rather eat piles of a homeless guys ass than try eating these, they are quite unpleasant and bitter and personally I can honestly not see how anyone would make that a part of their diet when not even my goats want to snack on them. I did however see that the seeds to the spiny cucumber were selling online and I couldn't help but think about the age old saying "one mans trash is another mans treasure" I would however like to go a bit deeper into this plant at some stage and figure out if it has any medicinal uses, but at this stage from what I can tell other than looking and feeling really cute in a strange, spiky, rubbery way, they are simply a weed to me.
*Just look at those hands and tell me that's not sexy!*
On a more edible note though, I have harvested the first few pods of my giant lima beans today, these were just the first of many pods that were ready for harvesting, this is a great tasting meaty bean that is packed full of proteins and other sustainable nutrients perfect for a hearty winter soup, and as much as I am looking forward to having enough of these too cook with I will just have to admire their gorgeous mosaic like appearance in the mean time.
Who's a pretty bean... you are
There's blood in dem dere orchards ...
Currently Limpopo, South Africa is in the peak of their citrus season, and citrus is certainly not something that I have had a short of this year, I have already processed over a ton of shaddocks (honey grapefruit), 500kg's of ruby red grapefruits, and had my fair share of naartjies , clemengolds, navel oranges lemons and limes, but what happens when the citrus turns bloody? Well, we eat that too!
"Even if the monkey has a nose bleed - the circus must go on!"
Ah good old blood oranges:
This is some of your less commonly known citrus, it is called a blood orange, and it stems from your common navel oranges and despite its color it has absolutely no relation to a grapefruit when it comes to the taste, now if you go read up on the internet you will see descriptions like "Blood oranges have a unique flavor compared to other oranges, being distinctly raspberry-like in addition to the usual citrus notes." source but fuck me sideways - I honestly don't taste any of that when I bite into it, it simply tastes like a sweet, rich rendition of a well grown orange to me.
And judging by their divine flavor I am sure that I can convert this into a damn fine jam.
Oh wait I almost forgot about the fascinating finds part.
Here is something interesting I came across in the bush today that I thought I'd share with you guys, and seeing that it is still alighted with the plant theme, it kinda maybe almost fits into place with the rest of this post, okay - maybe not at all, but it is still cool, and I still want to share it.
Natures own abstract art:
This is a natural occurrence that only happens to some indigenous trees in the area, this strange growth on some of the trees is due to a specific birdlime that will be inoculated onto established trees forcing the branches of the tree to misinform and grow these claw like abstract features. These are some that I managed to take off of a Maroela tree that is growing on the farm.
These growths are often harvested and polished up a little after the bark is removed and used as table centerpieces, or mint vases or gawd knows what else people could use them for, but you can often find them selling at quite a hefty price in African curious shops, especially on the way to the Kruger national park, hmmm maybe the tourists buying them knows something I don't?
But anyway - moving along swiftly - this is what you can expect once you start cleaning and polishing them, and now that mine is almost finished being cleaned up - I am already wondering what the hell I am going to do with it...
But at least there are two things that count in my favor in this regard - One being that I have no place to keep it and the second that I really REALLY REALLY love burning shit - so there's that, so there will always be something for me to do with it.