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| Pic: "Dirty Girl" saved-seed tomatoes |
Two of the seven tomato varieties planted this Spring are already ripe enough to eat. One is the Monster Mystery 'Mater (the volunteer from the compost pile), and the other is the Dona F1 hybrid. The MMM has sweet flesh, but the skin is slightly bitter, which is actually the norm for most tomatoes - still quite tasty. The Dona F1, however, has both sweet flesh AND sweet skin. Very interesting! Will save seed from the Dona, and see if it re-seeds true to its original form next year.
The "Dirty Girl" tomatoes are just beginning to redden. Looking at the plants, I'm thinking this variety is a "determinate": one big harvest, then the plants will give up the ghost for the remainder of the season.
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| pic: plums with bird alterations |
The one plum tree that has kept fruit 'til, well, full "fruition" this season has been noticed by the local birds too. In the mornings, I now pick breakfast off the tree - any ripe plums that are also bird-bitten. The birds eat a few chunks from the ripest plums, then leave the rest. Rather than waste an otherwise perfectly good plum (of which these are absolutely delicious, by the way), I eat around the bird bites, then throw the remainder of the plum to the chickens. We all get a nice morning treat, and no waste. I could go to the trouble of throwing bird-netting over the tree, but the harvest isn't so large as to be worth the time or effort. I am happy to share... THIS year. May have to install a few more white mulberries as birdy food-distraction trees for the future.
The limoncello experiment made earlier this year - with Everclear as the base, mind you - has been taste-tested by five different folks now. The initial comment on the flavor after initial sip (then a head-rock backwards, followed by wide-eyed rapid blinking) is a diplomatic "medicinal!" After a few more sips the comments change to "not bad", then a few more sips ends with "hey, this is all right!". I think the later opinions may be influenced in a blood-altered sort of way, and not truly impartial *ahem*, but that's okay. We're all happy by the bottom of the glass, and that's what counts. This particular vintage is being named "10K Limoncello" in honor of
@Virgotex's Twitter remark that she'd tried a shot of 10000-proof limoncello at my place. I think a label needs to be created...
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Pic: 10K Limoncello. You know you want some of this
head-rockin' goodness, yes you do! |
Ah, yes... a medicinal round for me, please!
ReplyDeleteI bet mixed with hot tea this stuff would be divine...
DeleteYummmmm, grazing for breakfast! Sounds great to me, and I'd be willing to share with the birds too. Now, what's in this limoncello stuff?
ReplyDeleteBasically, it's leftover lemon rinds (I used some leftover Meyer lemon peelings), sugar, and an alcohol base. Usually it's 100-proof vodka, but I didn't have that so substituted the Everclear. The Everclear version will put hair on your chest! Here's a recipe for the standard limoncello... http://allrecipes.com/recipe/limoncello/
DeleteOh, my gosh... my kind of aid!!! We've had to put two of the 21'L x7'W bird nets over the grapes. I'm hoping all the hens are in the freezer before they ripen on the bottom row. Wenches are on strike. Big mistake.
ReplyDeletesounds like everclear is closer to the"real" thing- traditionally made with grappa or other grain alcohol
ReplyDelete