My Butternut pumpkin vines have died right back and although I got some nice ripe ones from them, there were three that were still greenish. I wondered if they’d be any good, so Googled ‘pumpkin ripening’ and found this hugely informative pumpkin growing site.
I’ve brought the three pumpkins inside and in the warmth of the kitchen they’re starting to slowly change to their ripe colour, so it looks like I might be in luck and not have to throw them out as I first thought.
This purple-leaved variety of Bok Choy (seed from Diggers) is almost too pretty to pick and eat.
It’s growing well in it’s water-wicking box. I direct-sow the seed (putting 4-5 seeds into each spot and thinning later), because it almost always runs to seed if I try transplanting seedlings.
Back after a posting hiatus with news that my friend KP, who’s a bit of a mushroom expert, has helped me to identify some edible mushroom species growing on our property and I’ve been enjoying some small but delicious mushroomy treats over the last couple of weeks.
Today’s pickings looked like this:
They are really delicious, lightly fried in butter (plus a generous dollop of cream to enrich the sauce), with a much richer flavour than the supermarket variety.
My Field Guide to the Fungi of Australia by A M Young, thinks that this species is Agaricus augustus, sometimes commonly called The Prince in England and Europe.
Certainly has a princely flavour. I hope they continue to appear each year. It’s nice to think I have a food source I can actually ‘hunt & gather’.
Foodnstuff 