I've never liked "Lagos Spinach" (Celosia argentea?) raw as I can taste and feel the high levels of calcium oxalate on my tongue and in my mouth and throat. But unlike the cyanogenic glucossides in chaya, yuca, lima beans, jack beans, sword beans and hyacinth beans it won't out gas during cooking...it has to be leached out. So today for the first time I cooked some chopped in a small pot with water, sea salt and coconut oil for about 15 minutes......delicious, just about identical to true spinach! I was amazed at how purple the cooking water got. These plants came up self sown in an 18 gallon Water Wise Container Garden in the center east bed out back...they are so decorative I will sow seeds in my front street beds that I am colorizing heavily.

I've been making fermented foods like kombucha, natto, tempeh, cheese, dairy kefir and kimchi for years. But I keep learning new techniques from folks at gardening gatherings, on FaceBook and on-line in general. A few months ago I saw on YouTube a new-to-me way of making kimchi...you skip the usual overnight salting/brining and just add the amount desired for taste. Yesterday I made these two jars of green papaya kimchi that way...they will sit on the counter for a week then spend until October in the fridge before I start to enjoy them. One contains pureed dried salted green backs I caught at Picnic Island Beach for added protein. The other contains one pureed ripe Scotch Bonnet pepper for heat. Each contains one pureed frozen Raja Puri banana to provide sugar for the lactic acid forming bacteria. When I've done this "skip the brining" before I got wonderfully crunchy kimchi.

Releasing a few tens of thousands of these tiny wasps in the spring of 2003 in my front and back yards has made aphids a non-issue here both on my roses and my food crops ever since. The females lay their eggs inside adult aphids, then the babies hatch and eat their way out. Like mosquitoes, the females need a protein meal to lay eggs, but of pollen vs. blood, especially the pollen of umbillifers like dill, anise, cilantro or cumin. Year after year I have JUST enough aphids, generally on cow peas, to sustain a healthy population of lady bugs and lace wings to further control aphids. Growing roses here as a monoculture, and spraying pesticides, would eliminate this balance that effortlessly controls pests FOR me.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/604938/trichogrammatid

I know both are good for me but I just don't care for the taste of turmeric or raw moringa, but today I made a DELICIOUS smoothie containing them plus soy flour and dry oatmeal, coconut oil and several vitamins and minerals based on pineapple juice and frozen Raja Puri bananas.

Looks promising!

http://www.offgridquest.com/energy/779-pinwheel-in-the-breeze

For folks not on FaceBook: ANDY FIRK'S BAMBOO GROVE ANNUAL PLANT SWAP & SALE GARDEN PARTY October 4 - October 5 Oct 4 at 2:00pm to Oct 5 at 1:00pm More details coming soon. SATURDAY: 11 am, onwards: Gates open, $5 entrance fee. Noon - 2: Open meeting of the Southwest Florida Permaculture Group - come network with us, especially if you live from Naples north to Bradenton and inland a bit! 4-5: Garden tour. 5:30-7: Mega plant swap (bring cuttings, seeds, potted plants. Three areas: For give-aways, trades, or plants for sale. I will also have many plants for sale at this event, mostly edible plants. - Times to be announced: Tampa area gardening wiz, John Starnes, will present a workshop on Probiotic Gardening. My favorite worm expert, Sean Moore of Green Leaf Worm Farm, will present a workshop on "The Benefits of Vermicomposting." 7 pm: Potluck dinner (I have all of the utensils, plates, etc., that we need. Plus, the house kitchen will be open for all to use. 8 pm: Slideshow on Florida Food Forests (an updated version of the slideshow that I will show at The 2nd Annual Florida Permaculture Convergence). 10 pm: Quiet time. SUNDAY: 9 am: Potluck breakfast for campers. 1 pm: Gates close. I am heading out at 1 for a hike (my 50th birthday). (Cracker and I have attended 4-5 events there and always have a wonderful time with great folks, cool plants, fun camping and fine potlucks. Plus Andy is the consummate host.) **************************************************************** I've begun propagating and sharing Mary Jo's wonderful red pentas that dates to at least 1993 and that puts to shame any of the modern hybrids of any color in terms of vigor, longevity and constant bloom. Plus unlike the nectar free modern hybrids, it attracts butterflies. Despite the heat I now HOPEFULLY have two batches of Florida's iconic "Pink Cracker Rose" rooting rather than waiting for the autumn cool down. One of my life missions in my 60s is to get this super reliable, fragrant, Florida-friendly rose that was a common sight up until the late 80s back out into landscapes. No diseases or bugs, thrives own root without sprays, with the biggest best formed blooms in the cooler half of the year. ***************************************************************** There's been an increase of backyard chickens and ducks being killed, even in daytime....raccoons and coyotes are suspect. So far no problem here but is happening in Tampa and Pinellas communities.

A wonderful Mom and Pop business that sells MANY Louisiana Irises at very fair prices!

http://www.iriscitygardens.com/