(critter watch, garden, cooking)

[elainegrey]

Critters this week:

Watching a doe step on the mesh fencing to eat the young greens of the Tahitian squash. Well, those are squash blossoms not making it to a meal. Doe had friends and a fawn with her.

Sink skink. Our skinks are delicate and beautiful five lined skinks. I was in the bathroom when i caught movement out of the corner of my eye and screamed (blush). I had enough tome to realize i was seeing a tailless skink before it ran down the drain. Overnight i and apparently Christine both worried about the creature dying in the U, but the next day i saw it again. We put out food (a tiny beetle, fig), alternative shelter, water in the other (drain closed!) sink, and Christine finally found the skink far enough from the drain that she could close the drain and scoop it up to move it to the skink promised land colony where there are no cats. Apparently the next day there was another skink to be relocated.

A great blue heron flew up from the creek as i walked down the hill (trying to coach my Dad through posting to What's App). While i enjoy seeing the flash of fish in the creek, the heron lift off was also a pleasure.

Eyes. When i go out with my headlamp at night, i look around for eyes. What does not please me at all are all the dewy glistening points i see. The first time i noticed it was near the road, and i thought "glass shards." Then i saw a glistening point where there should be no glass. I approached and eventually resolved that it was a wolf spider. So. Many. Wolf spiders. Shudder. North Carolina has one of the largest wolf spiders. Shudder.

In fig news, i knocked all the overripe figs out of the tree last evening with the goal of reducing the big red ants and wasps from focusing on the tree for food. Overripe but un-eaten figs have been added to the jar where i am attempting to make fig vinegar -- because the overripe fig i ate tasted pretty fermented. This is the first year i've had overripe figs: i think last year i was picking the figs too early. This year i am letting them get more ripe on the tree, but this has brought the overripe risk.

Last night I made fried then baked green tomatoes, fried okra, and fried then baked mahimahi last night. The fish recipe is essentially to create a crisp fried crust on the presentation side of the fish, then bake until done. I had over poured out bread crumbs and didn't need a whole egg for the fish, so frying the garden produce was an unexpected treat. I do like the sour tartness of green tomatoes. This was the first tomato i've picked from the beefsteak style tomatoes. Thinning fruit might make sense as it cools.

Comments

[amaebi]

How I adore young five-lined skinks. The change to their adult forms is definitely some kind of parable of aging, though.

[elainegrey]

I hadn't realized there was a subtype where the male becomes so dramatically different. The change i am used to as they age is only a slight fading of the brightness of color. (Parable, yes.)

[amaebi]

Oh! I had no idea that was a subtype! It was just the Southern Illinois five-lined, to me, and I assumed it was all five-lined skinks.

[cmcmck]

Green tomato chutney is hugely popular here.

[elainegrey]

I imagine it would make a lovely chutney, and with high latitude tomato growers thinning fruit for best results, it certainly would leave one with green fruit to exploit. I do hope i get a happy run of fruit this September before i am faced with trying to discern what to do before the frosts. (Although we may have all October before the first frost.)

[annie_r]

I like wolf spiders. They sometimes reside in the shed; I'd move them outside if I found one in the house. Andy is kind of afraid of the dark (or predators), and won't walk further than the somewhat-lit part of the driveway at night, so I haven't really walked away from house lights in a while. Headlamp sounds good. Why are you looking for eyes, or is it just the wolf spiders that are shudder-inducing?

[elainegrey]

Carrie's willing to go with me for the walk down the dirt road across the street if i need more steps to hit my daily goal. I have seen a few interesting mammals at night, including a fawn bedded down, from the glow of their eyes. I am excited to catch a glimpse of more. But i am generally creeped out by spiders.