Hmmm, must say to you folks that I am more of a (student) 'gardener' rather than a 'blogger'...
I take my hat off to some of you folks who can update your blogs so often...
Anyway, been enjoying dirtying my hands in the potager as usual...
But with this heat... ooh, the mercury hits 33 degrees today...
The heat had my tongue dangling, and my body oozing out sweat literally in the liters...
I must be quite mad to be out in the potager in this heat...
The last time I sweated like this was probably when I worked in the construction firm more than 30 years ago...
My sweeto haato continues to walk the hills in the mornings...
And she found these gorgeous looking wild Dianthus aka carnation or pink....
And she found these gorgeous looking wild Dianthus aka carnation or pink....
A check on the net reveals that the word Dianthus is derived from the Greek words dios (god) and anthos (flower)...
And that bug, what's its name?
I know that bug had been chewing on the young leaves of my cucumbers and pumpkins...
Everyday, while my better half prepares breakfast, I go out to the potager to pluck off some goodies... Here, we had some (male) pumpkin flowers and a nasturtium flower...
We eat them together with our breakfasts.....
Those edible flowers, plus of course the tomatoes of the Sicilian Rouge type, cucumbers, sweet basil, dill, parsley...
All freshly picked just minutes before consumption...
We had quite a bit of Japanese plums this season...
Not the 'ume' but the 'sumomo' type (literally 'sour peach')...
We turned them into preserves and we are enjoying it a little at a time with our yogurt...
Summer is the season of cicadas...
These creatures apparently live most of their lives underground...
We were lucky to see this particular specimen molting right in front of our eyes...
The process took hours, giving me a good opportunity to observe and photograph it...
And finally, I'd like to show a picture of a horsefly...
Like the cicadas, they make their appearance in the heat of summer...
When yours truly is sweating like a waterfall in the potager, the horsefly beckons and bites...
Sheesh, I mean, ouch!
Often there'd be like 10 of these little monsters buzzing around my legs...
And they bite through the clothes...
I thought mosquito was bad, but the horsefly takes the cake...
Like the mosquito, it is the female that needs to draw blood...
Apparently they need the blood to help them in their reproduction process...
Funny thing is, my wife does not really get attacked by these flies...
Is it because they prefer the 'juice' (blood) of the human male?
Or is it because, as my wife suspects, they find my bodily scent too sexy to resist?
Your blog format is looking great...and your harvest plentiful. Didn't know pumpkin flowers are edible. How interesting. I had a pumpkin plant and didn't know that.
ReplyDeleteRosie
Rosie... sometimes we harvest the pumpkin when they are about the size of about two thumbs put together... they taste very good and crunchy, actually...
ReplyDeleteYou make salad with the pumpkin flowers? Im sure they tasted nice cos I heard they can be made into soup too.I love the wild dianthus, such lovely colour. Your sweeto haato must be right, you are too sexy for the horsefly to ignore!
ReplyDeletep3... the pumpkin (and also zucchini) flowers taste quite good as a salad... haven't tried making them into soups yet... yeap, the dianthus has a lovely pink color indeed...
ReplyDeletePumpkin flowers are edible? good to hear that! Nice photos taken!
ReplyDeleteI am green with envy, you were so lucky to see the molting right in front of your eyes..
ReplyDeleteMalar... edible and pretty good to taste too...
ReplyDeleterainfield61... actually took loads of pictures of the molting... really fascinating to see the process...
Must be your blood type that attract those insect. I have the same problem, everybody is safe from it if I am there. Me, a human sacrifice...hehehe... Lucky you I wish my other half will prepare some dish while I harvest fresh food from the garden;-).
ReplyDeleteYou do enjoy such healthy breakfasts (and lunch and dinner). :)
ReplyDeleteThose are cool bugs shots. Love them! ^^
Malay-Kadazan girl... good to hear that we are both in the same 'human sacrifice' boat... :)
ReplyDeleteI am thanking my stars continuously for the partner I have...
lina... thank god for that... I just love the menus my missus creates fro me...
You grow lots of good food Lrong! With so much time and effort put into the garden I am sure you will enjoy lots more bountiful harvest. Sorry about the heat but I am sure you don't really hate it. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteYes, renovating is (mostly) fun but sometimes you just hope you'd have a time just sit, watch and enjoy. Maybe some year.. I prefer gardening than blogging too, blogging takes more time than it looks.
ReplyDeleteDelicious (not insects ;)!) photos again!
K
Stephanie... am quite pleased with the produce we are getting this season... so far, so good... the heat... just have to live with it...
ReplyDeleteK... I understand your feeling... we actually renovated our 30 year old house some time ago and we are now sitting back to watch and enjoy... yeap, blogging is quite time consuming... prefer to be out in the garden, really...
ReplyDeleteTalking about delicious insects, some people do eat the cicadas... maybe I can try one day? :)
You always have so much to harvest. Do you give away or sell them?
ReplyDeletemilka... my harvests are 'gifts' for my sweeto haato, who then turns them into delicious meals for me... :)
ReplyDeleteonly joking...
The real story is, we consume most of them, and if we cannot eat them, we give to our friends... want some? ;)
I really envy your healthy lifestyle. Loving too, what you produce and pick, your sweeto haato cooks. It sounds like a great combo/life partnership. Blogging takes a lot of time. Better to do more gardening.
ReplyDeleteAutumn Belle... we are enjoying our life style as it is now, preferring to grow and cook our own food as much as we can... I am very thankful for the partner in my missus for without her, I would certainly not be where I am now... and yeap, I actually prefer gardening to blogging...
ReplyDeleteGreat insect captures!
ReplyDeleteWe usually cook our pumpkin flowers in fermented fish sauce with other leafy vegetables then serve it with fried fish. For fancier dinners, we deep fry the battered pumpkin flowers stuffed with cheese.
Bom... thank you for your comments... battered pumpkin flowers stuffed with cheese sounds like an interesting dish to try in the future...
ReplyDeleteI somehow found your comment and the link to this buggy post in my trash...! I have no idea why Wordpress decided to put it in there! I'm so sorry! Very cool photos!!! Here the semi are singing loudly...well..when it's not raining.
ReplyDelete