Here’s a new format I’d like to try out: a week’s worth of ferally noteworthy finds, forwards, shares, and recommendations, all dumped into one random post. Let’s see if I can keep up with it…
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First of all, I created a Facebook page for this blog! Please click here to like it! All the future FG updates will be linked there from now on, instead of my personal FB page. Hooray!
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Recipe of the year, so far: Cara Cara Orange Prosecco Sabayon. Made it in El Granada with Murzik, having successfully conquered our shared fear of double boilers. We literally licked everything it touched. Instant enlightenment. We’re both still raving about it.
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The next recipe I haven’t tried yet but would really love to. Doesn’t it look like an amazing idea for a dinner party? Momofuku Bo Ssam – “a slow-roasted shoulder of pig, a meal that can be picked apart by a table of friends armed only with chopsticks and lettuce. A tight and salty caramel crust sits on top of the moist, . . . CONTINUE READING → Monday digest
Between the fishermen’s loot (the crab season apparently just started), the seagulls and the pelicans, there is a lot of instagram material there… (Do you follow feralgardener on instagram?)
Last year I, too, planted some pumpkins and was very excited about cooking all kinds of stuff with them. They grew big and pretty but turned out to be completely inedible. So, this year I decided not to plant any; yet, this one somehow grew on its own!
And I’m very happy it did. First of all, it proves that my feral gardening method works. And secondly, even though it isn’t large enough to turn into a carriage or round enough to be carved into a jack-o-lantern, it 
We still don’t know who did it but judging by dental imprints (and occasional hoof prints around the garden), I suspect the deer.
It might be time for a fresh bar of Irish Spring soap! (Last year, local professional gardeners recommended hanging a bar of fragrant soap as an effective deer deterrent. You’re supposed to hang it on a string, unpacked, in the box. According to them, deer have a special aversion to Irish Spring brand, for some reason…) The old one that’s been hanging there for over a year has, evidently, worn off.
Here’s the same bed of my beautiful and delicious rainbow chard back in 
As Persephone (or Proserpina, as she is known to the Romans) made her upsetting but carefully negotiated (six pomegranate seeds and all) return to Hades today, following the Autumnal Equinox and accompanied by the pouring-rain tears of her mother Demeter (who cried a lot in New York today), I made my return to the garden, after another two-week-long absence.
And that’s why I saved the best for last. I’m talking about the latest photo quiz, of course. Those green cherry-sized tomato-like berries, as correctly identified by both Kristik and Husband, are the proper fruit of the potato plant. Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) are basically brothers (or sisters); so, if you confused them in the quiz, it was for a good reason. Just make sure not to confuse them in real life: potato berries, according to my sources, are poisonous and contain toxic compounds glycoalkaloids, that affect the nervous system and can cause weakness and confusion. (Wait, am I sure I haven’t been eating them? Because that would explain a lot…) These toxins are also present in other nightshades, like tomato and eggplant, especially in their foliage, and also in the potato tubers that have turned green due to photosynthesis. Wikipedia assures, however, that potato poisoning is quite a rare occurrence.
The time has arrived to reveal the vegetable behind the flower of our penultimate photo quiz from a few weeks ago. It was an eggplant, a Japanese Choryoku hybrid, to be exact. Here it is again, photographed flirting with a different bug, our old friend Agapostemon.
2. They reach very impressive heights. You can even try using them as a natural trellis for pole beans, as I did this year. Just don’t plant bush beans instead, as I did, due to not labeling last year’s seeds, thinking that, of course, I’ll remember everything…
3. Even at times when your garden looks like a total dump (which is obviously not the case here), they create instant rustic charm, making you think: where am I? Is this Provence? Kansas? Ukraine?
4. They look great in a vase (not the case here either). I just saw that FreshDirect sells them for $19.99 a bunch. Just imagine all the savings!
5. Waiting for tomatoes to ripen (when it’s already August!!!) is much more bearable when you have pretty sunflowers to look at.
What a perfect day for a virtual feral garden tour!
But enough about me, let’s get moving.
We were watching it through binoculars and it was, indeed, great. And blue-ish. Too bad my camera didn’t provide a better zoom. The heron walked around a bit, studying the landscape, then picked up a dead frog (or, possibly, a toad — there’s a few dead toads after their annual mating party, which we seem to have missed this year, luckily) out of the water and immediately spat it out.
When I tried to get a little closer, it flew away. I never got a chance to find out what was wrong with its food.
So much for bird watching and wildlife photography.
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