Water hyacinth

     Hands down, my favorite vegetable to grow in the garden is an edible perennial called Water Hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes.) It's the vegetable that I eat most regularly. It requires very little ❤. It's hardy in our winters. It's edible by the rabbits.

     My favorite way to eat them is to slice the airbulbs lengthwise until the size of greenbeans, then stir fry on the stove with mushrooms, garlic, and oil. The water hyacinth ends up tasting like green beans and is just as healthy.

     I literally love this plant so much it's become part of my retirement strategy - to cut down on food costs by growing as much as possible at home. I plan on cooking and eating it several times a week at least. And it does need to be cooked to ensure safety.

     In the summer I harvest the plants, cut off the roots, and feed them whole to the rabbits. The plants are high in plant protein, which is difficult for the rabbits to get in their diet. Between the water hyacinth and the napier grass, I think that I can make a complete diet for the rabbits.

from the Catalogue of Rare Florida Flowers and Fruits: 1894

Job stuff

     I have had the same job for the past 5 years. Its been enlightening, tough, sometimes emotionally rough, but always interesting. Its been at a hospital during the night shift - where I am assigned a team of patients, and have to manage all their healthcare needs. It can be fun, even enjoyable, to help a person. It can be rough, even disheartening, to be manipulated by patients.

     I'm not leaving the hospital. At least not soon. But I am going to slide into a different position at the hospital, and pick up a part time job during the day seeing patients in their homes. I would work more at the hospital, but no one in my family seems to be interested in watching the youngest overnight. Ever. Even though he sleeps great. Ok thats not totally true my mother does help sometimes but she lives so far away. But his father refuses to take him for half the week, just will have him the minimum amount of time possible.

     I am so excited about this day job. I just dropped off the money and paperwork for Peanuts first day at daycare. He will theoretically be at daycare two days a week, not a terrible trade off. I will have to make enough money to offset that investment, if i see three patients in two days its paid for and it pays for the wear on the car. So if i can see 4 patients each day both Thursday and Friday, it would be awesome. Plus I wont be bored during the day, stuck in the house with the youngest.

Piper auritum, Rootbeer Plant, Mexican Pepperleaf, Hoja Santa

    I found this beautiful plant at a plant sale at the local botanical gardens. One of the cute ladies there stopped me and said, "Are you sure you really want to buy that? It's invasive!"
     I looked down at the inncoent little plant. It had one seed leaf and one true leaf and a REALLY cheap price. Then I considered my scale of invasiveness (fucking bamboo at damn near the top, followed up quickly by burmuda grass and orange honeysuckle) versus her scale of invasiveness (who knows) and replied that yes, I was going to buy the edible invasive Mexican plant. I have other wonderful edible plants of Mexican origin, like the Cardinal Sage and the Agave Americana. What could go wrong?
     It took Rootbeer plant almost a year to start growing, but at the start of the rainy season it took off. Its still one compact plant, and hasn't sent out any runners that I can find. It has started to form the unusual white growths shown in the picture. I can't wait to see what happens with those.
     Culinarily, according to Wikipedia it is most commonly used to wrap food (meat and fish) in prior to steaming much as corn husks and banana leaves are used. It has safrole in it, the main ingredient in sassafrass, which is considered to be a carcinogen. So it appears that eating large amounts of Rootbeer plant is not a good idea, even though it is one of the main ingredients in mole verde and is used to make tea and add flavor to chocolate drinks.

     I have found that rootbeer plant does freeze down where it is planted in my front yard, but it came back in the spring. Its still a very compact plant, attractive, and smells fantastic.

Signs of an Impending Recession

     After living through the uncertainty that became prevalent throughout American culture in 2020, I have been thinking even more than usual about the impending zombie invasion. Kidding. Actually have been thinking about protecting our future selves against the inevitable economic downturn. We know it will be coming. Eventually the price of everything, including transportation and food, will be so high that very few will be able to work. And working won't be able to get a person ahead of costs, at least, not the single householder. People will have to live in government housing, or perhaps in familial compounds or maybe stacked mobile homes like in Ready Player One.

     Perhaps the greatest indicator of our changing economy has been the currency itself. The money is no longer backed by gold. Silver, nickel, and copper pieces no longer contain their metals in quantities in line with their metallic value. And then there's the treasury bill.

     It is known that China owns a large portion of our government debt, and that eventually it will have to be collected on. This debt has arisen out of Americans desire to persue happiness, and to a large degree we have achieved many of the indicators of happiness. People live in relative comfort with full bellies and healthcare to treat their ailments. We feel safe and secure, so much so that a large portion of the population has retreated into depression and drugs, or at least ambivalence to others and ourselves.

     Learned a fascinating fact recently - if the interest rates on ten year treasury notes falls below the interest rates on three month treasury notes, then it's an indication of an unsettling economy. As I'm writing this, 

10 year treasury note interest = 1.58

3 month treasury note interest = 0.03

So right now things are looking good in that respect. 

     Another interesting fact - the unemployment rate always goes up in the midst of a recession. As I'm writing this,

Florida unemployment rate is 4.7, and Michigan unemployment rate is 5.1. Both of these numbers are down from spring of 2020, when they were 14.2 and 23.6 respectively.

     As for economic indicators, it loooks like the unemployment rate and treasury interest rates are pretty easy to grasp concepts of how we are doing. It's unclear as to how to protect oneself from an economic downturn. I'm still working on that. 

     I would be interested to know what you think regarding economic downturn?

Mystery plant, has flowers in the early summer.

          Found this strange looking friend growing in the deep shade of a Ficus tree at my friend's house. He has 3 acres of mostly grass but he thinks its the most amazing property ever. Regardless, I thought this little guy was some kind of raspberry or blackberry due to it's diminutive size and berry looking pods. 

This picture was taken in May

     Later I continued to check on the berries, hoping it was something edible. But it never turned purple or red, instead it burst into color. Into a most familiar color, the native flower known as Lantana.

     I don't know that much about Lantana other than it has yellow flowers or it has pink flowers and sometimes you can find one plant with both colors on it. Some people say the ripe berries are edible. Maybe we should do more with this native beauty.

     Wikipedia says that Lantana is poisonous if eaten, but can be used topically as it has antimicrobial and antifungal properties. It also has chemicals which give it insecticidal properties, which makes it insect resistant. Lantana is native to North and South America.

Eat the Water Hyacinth

Raw

     If you want to grow your own food, you may have to open up to the idea of eating some fruits and vegetables that are not commonly found at the grocery store. And if you live in Florida, you're going to be working with a whole different plant set and growing season changes than them Yankee gardeners. All this flexibility in diet isn't easy, most people eat the foods that they were raised eating and find trying new foods to be difficult.

     Water hyacinth is my new favorite local food. It's a water plant that grows in warm water, and is well known for how quickly it creates baby plants. In the past it has been used to pull toxins out of water sources, indeed, water purification is one of it's advantages. After I had added it to my pond the water instantly cleared and the fish became visible. Because the pond water is kinda yucky, I feel that water hyacinth should always be cooked, and I handle it like it's contaminated with E.coli (as it may be after the great manure spill of 2016). 

     According to Green Deane, the best way to eat water hyacinth is to stir fry, and I completely agree. With oil and garlic preferably. It has a taste not dissimilar from some good fresh green beans, which are hard to come by nowadays. The texture is decidedly different, as the air bulbs are crunchy and airy, like eating potato chips, and can be a bit chewy. Overall I would say that water hyacinth is quite palatable.

     Water hyacinth is very different from other fruits and vegetables. Because it is so unusual I couldn't get the kids to try it, what a shame! It's so easy to grow in the pond - right plant, right space - that is seems to be ever bearing. Like ever bearing crunchy green beans! Even if the kids never eat it, I know I can eat it and the rabbits do quite enjoy the green bits (they won't eat the roots.)

     This video talks a little bit about how water hyacinth is used at this lake to feed local livestock, including chickens.

 

Crockpot Hot Process Coconut Oil and Coconut Milk Soap

     Having had an epiphany regarding modern life, I have decided to start making my own soap and wine again. Also I decided not to buy anymore soap or wine, might even start making my own lotions and lip balm. Might even start making my own laundry detergent again, even though you aren't supposed to use good detergent in this high faluten washer. Since its low sudsing it will probably be alright.

     This revelation isn't really out of the blue yonder. I have that forest property that I'm saving money to put a well on, plus I'm pregnant. Yay me! It was not exactly unexpected but also not exactly planned. So it's good.

     Tonight I had off from work, so I decided to go out for a walk and then come home to make some soap. I thought it would be nice to have in hand for the baby. It also would make super nice Christmas gifts for my family and the bosses, of which I have many at work.

     The hardest part of making soap is gathering the ingredients and preparation, the actual process is easy and not too time consuming. There are three main ingredients:
     - Lye: sometimes available at the hardware wtore, always available online
     - Oil or animal fat: Any vegetable oil will work
     - Water or milk: Goat and coconut are at the grocery store in the canned milk section.

     You will also need an accurate scale, a crockpot, a shoebox and wax paper, glass measuring cups/bowls, an immersion blender or my choice - a drill with a paint mixer.

     My recipe: Coconut Milk and Coconut Oil Soap
935 grams coconut oil
350 milliliters coconut milk
163 grams sodium hydroxide

     The hardest part of putting everything together is estimating how much soap to make to fill your container. Its not like shoeboxes have volunetric measurements stamped on the bottom. Since I've vowed to start making my own soap a lot more, I may just invest in one of those cool looking silicon molds from that one online retailer. It should have an accurate volumetric measurement on it.

     It smells like sweet milk as it's cooking. I also have an additive to put in it at the end, a tiny bottle of essential oil that I got at the dollar store, coconut and lime scent. If it works out well I may have to go back and buy more for future batches. Can't beat the price if it's effective. I have been wary in the past of additives because they can change the color, not carry any smell, and jack the cost up.

     Let me mention superfatting - I only superfatted this a mere 5%. For laundry detergent, you would not want any superfatting, but for hand soap and bady wash, a little extra oil makes it less drying. And man is my skin dry!

     It does smell really good. I decided it was done when it tried to escape the crockpot, and I ended up patting down the top surface to make it look pretty. It sure is brown. But its homemade, handmade, from safe ingredients.

Acalypha wilkesiana, Copperleaf

     I bought this gorgeous plant at the botanical gardens near my house. At the time, I had hoped it had edible value, but as my research continued, I discovered that Copperleaf is used largely as a topical antifungal agent.

     There is an entry in a book from Archive that talks about the edibilty of Acalypha, written in 1943. It says the young shoots and leaves may be cooked and eaten.
     The internet assures me that copperleaf is not frost hardy and will surely freeze in my area. Bring it, winter!

Kiddie Pool Gardening

   I have been wanting to plant cannas into a kiddie pool for years. Maybe I wasn't brave enough before. Maybe I just didn't " have the time". Either way, I somehow managed to bring home a kiddie pool late this last spring.
     I wanted to make sure it was sunken into the ground for two reasons: to protect the corms of the cannas from temperature extremes and to keep the edibles hidden from the NSA/the Sheriff's Secret Police. I would really like the dirt and water to be able to insulate the cannas enough in the winter that they will no longer need protection.

   Managed to dig the shallow pit in less than an hour. After placing the pool, I took it out a few times in order to get it leveled - which was when I discovered the front yard was sloped at much steeper angle than I had ever realized.
     Once the pool was mostly level I filled up the water and began placing some plants in it - which was when I realized that though the pool looks shallow it is actually deeper than the height of my one gallon nursery pots. The plants were rolling/ floating sideways and then were losing their surface soil and mulch. I decided to fill the floor of the pool with plant matter from plants that I didnt want to keep, mostly African orange honeysuckle and purple Tradescantia pallida 'Purple Heart' (which I am unclear if it is edible or not.) I raised the floor of the pool about an inch, then began filling it with a few plants.

     It was at this point that I had to break for the week, which gave me some time to think about pool pond garden. I decided to try putting a few fish in there. The next week I hit the local Walmart and bought 3 goldfish, knowing that one or all would probably die. Then I repotted a bunch of my cannas since I now had space to place them. I ended up filling the entire pool with pots, and didn't see a single goldfish as I did so - the water was a bit brackish at this point. Almost all of the cannas survived dividing and replanting, and most have bloomed now that a few months have passed.

    I have been taking the plain red cannas out of the front yard and putting them into the back. I am going to be taking them out to the forest garden and the river garden, both of which have low areas which are moist at this time of year. I plan on keeping the yellow, yellow/orange, peach, and pink cannas here in the front. It's my hope that they will cross and make new colors. I have potted up two volunteer seedling cannas I found in my yard, plus saving and planting any seed.

Monarda punctata, Horsemint, Spotted Bee Balm

   I was at the forest garden and snapped a nice picture of an interesting looking flower near the road that I had never seen before. It was growing under the edge of shade from trees but also getting a few hours of sunlight as it was near the road. To me, these are among the harshest conditions known to plants.
     Then later I found an article on social media put out there by the Pasco County UF IFAS office that touted the horn of beebalm. It specifically mentions how the flowers of beebalm herald the beginning of Florida's fall wildflower season. What it neglected to mention in detail was beebalm's edibility and medicinal uses, plus the fact that it's a native that grows with no irrigation!
     Green Deane says it has more thymol than the other mints. It can be used as a cough suppressant, an antihelminthic, anti-inflammatory. He also says that it can make a sedating tea. Which might be good if you have a cough.

     On Archive, there is actually a book discussing the production of thymiol using beebalm, and breaks down the costs by acre. It's an interesting read. The information from 1916 is still every bit as true today, even if our currency's value has changed over the years.
     I have often thought about the value of creating herbal teas and tisanes to treat some common ailments. Dehydration would be necessary, of course, along with a delivery system such as tea bags. Beebalm would be a great herb to start out with, as it is medicinal, safe, and native.