Tomatoes and Mushrooms

This year I planted some tomato plants at the edge of the woods next to our yard. While we were gone for a couple of weeks, the weeds took over and now it is solid green....plants.....weeds and all. This year, I have just given in to weeds. There was a day when my gardens were emaculate...yes there were....this year....there seem to be better things to do with my time. Yesterday, I checked to see if there were any ripe tomatoes in the woods. As I walked into the mass of foliage, I heard something run through the jungle and into the woods. When I picked the ripe tomatoes, they had major parts of them eaten by something. They were clean bites and quite fresh. I shrugged and walked to some plants that were more on the edge rather than inside the foliage. Those tomatoes were fine and I picked the ripe ones. There is nothing like the flavor of a vine ripened tomato. The ones we get in salads during the winter bear little resemblance. I love them fresh with fried eggs, on a hamburger or in a salad. When I was a child, I ate them sprinkled with sugar....Ken still eats his that way.

Today I was with a friend who in the course of conversation told me that her daughter in law was picking all her green tomatoes because rabbits were eating them. Hmmmmmm, so rabbits are the culprit. That made good sense because we have had many rabbits run in and out of the yard from the woods this year and the varmint that ran away on my arrival to the tomato plants could very well have been a rabbit. So, when I got home today, I picked all the green tomatoes of adequate size from the plants in the woods. Those little critters don't need to eat my tomatoes. Tomatoes will ripen just fine when picked green (though I still prefer to pick them ripened). At least I won't lose all my precious home grown tomatoes.

Each year, next to our front yard oak tree, a sheep's head mushroom grows. Sometimes it grows next to or near the tree and one year it grew about six feet away from the tree. Only one grows each year. It is quite the mystery. Sheep heads are delicious sliced, battered and fried. They taste like a slice of deep fried meat. The front yard oak was blown off and then cut down last winter. I wondered if the sheepshead would find its way inspite of the missing tree. Sure enough, I noticed the buds yesterday right next to the stump and today it must have grow four inches. One has to pick them just at the right time so we watch them closely when once out of the ground. The right time will be in the next day or two. Then we will soak it in salt water, slice it and cook it. Uusally, it is big enough to share with my parents. We will see.

The power of a seed or a spore is a wonder to ponder. It is also humbling. We brag about the things we grow but we don't really do the growing, do we? God tells us to subdue the earth and we work at it but without His unexplainable creative power, we would be sunk. (and hungry)