Found the mulberry tree! Food forest garden

I had the weekend off, so I took advantage of the nice weather to clean up the old garden, harvest some garden food and eat seasonal veg.

In the apartment garden, I've got some tomatoes and peppers still growing, as well as thr lime fruits maturing. The lime trees keep getting a black fungus on the leaves like soot. They also have been infested with white hairy bugs that I can't seem to ever get rid of. The same bugs were on our old Desert Rose bonsai no matter how many times we bathes in in peroxide or alcohol or just plain water and new soil. With that said, I'm not sure how much longer the lime trees have until they end up like our old bonsai.

Basil plants before a watering

With some Yellow squash, I made fritters mixed with flour, Ener-G egg replacer, nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, onion & garlic powder. I also add a little miso paste and water to the mix and pour it in the skillet like batter. I serve these with chili crisps.

Yellow squash fritters 

While we've been cleaning the old garden, we came across some Ripe figs! They were delicious. 

Ripe Cold Hardy Fig

My second batch of fritters this week was with fresh cabbage and kimchi mix. I used plain flour, Ener-G egg replacer (not totally necessary- I just have it on hand), nutritional yeast (just makes it a bit cheesy), salt, black pepper, miso paste, onion & garlic powder. These were the best fritters I have ever made. These are really versatile, I've made them a million different ways. You can use zucchini, Carrot, potatoes, and probably any vegetable! I'm a southern woman, so anything fried is tasty to me.

I ate these with chili crisps again- chili crisps go on everything these days from Fried Kale to boiled potatoes.

Cabbage & kimchi fritters 

During the weekend off, I also went out of town to buy a Jackfruit. I wasn't on a mission to buy a Jackfruit, but, I had eaten a durian recently and felt like it was about time to endulge in another big tropical fruit that I don't always have access to eating. 

It wasn't the ripest it could have been, but it was pretty dang good.

Like I said, while we have been cleaning up the old garden, we picked a couple of Ripe figs, but we also managed to harvest more mulberries and pears 🍐 

Last week, I found my mulberry tree amongst the jungle of weeds. The only reason I realized what it was, was because of the berries on the tree. Otherwise, I'm sure I would have chopped it down completely! I'm not even sure when I transplanted this mulberry, and where I got it from! I'm sure it was a twig when I bought and transplanted it. Considering it's been nearly 5 years since I've planted anything at the old garden, I'm sure the mulberry has been growing little by little for the last 5 years, hiding and carefully becoming big and beautiful to produce its first batch of berries.

Mulberry tree growing berries in October 

Mulberry tree that grew for years with 
No care & maintenance

The mulberry survived amongst invasive
Ivy, thorns & other plants, growing 
Tall to reach the sun.

Second harvest of pears this year

Of course, I always like to stop by the fall scene every time I visit the grandparents. The gourds and colors are so inviting. 

September Fall things: art, adventure, & listening

Last Saturday after work, Ash and I attended the evening showing of our local Storytelling Festival at the Lake. 

The storytellers were fabulous, the bloomin' onions was pretty tasty, and the sunset on the lake was entrancing.

I took a few pictures of the lake when it was cloudy and at sunset as the storytellers began telling ghoststories...

These last 2 weeks, I have spent my time listening and engaging...Engaging with people from all walks of life...at a conference and at a storytelling festival... engaged with nature....listened to a fire crackling by the creek...

...listened to the sound of the water parting against a riverboat that i got ride...

...going down the Ohio River...

...I stopped and admired some street art murals on the way to the river boat...

...and, stop to have a moment to live your life like you're walking the red carpet...

...stop to have a refreshing drink with the view of the river...

...and, make something beautiful, like an inviting Fall setting...

I cut my corn stalks after they dried in the garden and used them as fodder shocks for the fall scene...

I fully support time away from screens, and tune into your surroundings. When you do stuff like that- you get outside of yourself...

Fall is coming in fast. And as these nights are getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and falling to blanket the grass. I'm excited for our upcoming trekking trip to the Red river gorge with the colorful fall scenery in the mountains. 

It has been so cold, I brought in all my houseplants 2 days ago. 

With that, I know I need to begin covering my cold weather crops in my garden. They also need a good bit of rain and fertilize. I will check in on the garden this week and I hope to report back that there is some greens to harvest!