Newsletter 16 Oct 2012

Chickweed has five deeply indented-petals that look like ten petals.

There’s a classic tune called “What a Difference A Day Makes.”  In foraging we might say what a difference 150 miles can make.

Where I live in mid-Florida Chickweed is strictly a winter crop. It shows up in early December and is hard to find by Valentine’s Day. It’s the James Dean of winter greens: Grows fast, short-lived, if you don’t collect it when you see it the tasty forgeable will disappear for a year. Thus it was with great surprise to find a couple of sprigs of it growing in Jacksonville this past weekend a buck fifty north of here. Have they had cooler nights than usual in North Florida? Will there be a cooler winter than usual, as one student suggested? As the newspaper ad used to say “inquiring minds want to know.”  Not only was Chickweed sprouting but so was Bittercress, another winter visitor, and in exactly the same place as the Chickweed. Unusual and quite a coincidence, if it is one. It just may be my inattention and me not spying it in the past, or, maybe Ma Nature knows something we don’t. To read about Chickweed which will be showing up elsewhere soon, go here. For Bittercress, here. If you want to hear a very well-done soft jazz version of “What a Difference A Day Makes,”  click here.

Bittercress is a little cool-weather mustard that can tolerate its feet wet.

In Ocala this weekend, 80 miles north, there was one very happy Poor Man’s Pepper Grass. While it’s in theory a year-round plant it, too, favors the cooler months. This specimen was the first fresh one I have seen this fall. Also in Ocala I saw one of my mysteries which I didn’t mention in class. I have eaten a lot of ripe Solanum americanum berries. I know the controversial plant well. In Ocala I consistently see in a particular area a S. americanum that has slightly larger berries than usual, and a slightly bitter after taste, thus is not consumed. This year the berries were sweeter than usual but still had a lingering bitter aftertaste.  While I don’t know the definitive answer why this is so one possibility is hybridizing with a garden variety. In botany, as they used to say in haying, not every thing is cut and dried. Plants are not a settled subject. That’s the only location where I have found such a S. americanum.

Distance is something I have mentioned before. Just south of Portland, Maine, on the coast, there is Black Point and Pine Point, fingers of land that… ah… point into the ocean. They are not 1,000 feet apart. But because of weather patterns influenced by ocean currents Black Point is a degree or two cooler on average and there the predominant conifer is spruce, which are slightly darker in color than the dominant pines on warmer Pine Point. That’s a rare case where 1,000 feet horizontally makes a difference. A thousand feet up (or down) definitely can make a plant difference as well. Every 1,000 feet up or down is like traveling, seasonally, 700 miles north or south.

This solar oven sells for around $135 plus shipping.

Solar Oven Update: In 2008 I purchased a solar oven from Solarovens.org. I have used it weekly if not more than once a week since. I usually cook one meal dishes, not unlike what one can do with a crock pot. Most often I cook a whole small chicken with vegetables. Depending upon the season this takes three to four hours. The oven slowly warms to around 325F though cooking starts at 185F (water become sterile at 165F.)  Accumulating moisture on the upper area of the inner lid and aroma tells one when the meal is done. I use extra reflectors — not really necessary in Florida — and I use it year round. After more than four years of weekly wear and tear how is holding up?

Note the warping between bolts, below are the clamps used to make the clear cover seal better.

While I have no complaints and would recommend the oven the most serious issue is warping plastic, particularly the clear lid, upper left. The warp is small but it allows heat to escape from either end so I’ve had to add two carpenter clamps on each end (right) to keep the heat in and the temperature up. The clear lid has a large sheet of flexible plastic attached to it on the inside. Over time moisture gets in there and makes the whole lid a little less clear reducing heating. Inside the over itself some of the black paint has worn off where I put my oval, enameled pot. Also the plastic inner rim that holds the lid flat has warped between bolts (above) so I may have to look into adding leveling weather stripping as well.

Solar-cooked chicken with mushrooms and brussel sprouts

All these small changes have collectively dropped the oven’s heating capacity. When new with extra reflectors in the Florida sun I could get a little over 400F in the oven. Now 325/350F is is about as hot as it will get. These ovens were designed to be inexpensive cooking tools in poor countries so they are made of plastic and sheet metal (and still cost us the same price as four years ago.) The same design in steel with a non-warping cover might last for far longer than four years making it more cost effective. One thing I don’t know is whether it would not be warped if I did not use extra-reflectors (sold by the oven supplier) in the Florida summer sun. But then again, that’s where I live and use it. Unlike four years ago there are now many different websites selling solar ovens so there is quite a choice and price range now. Presuming I used it on average twice a week for four years the cost per use was 42 cents, less than electricity and it works when there is no electricity.

This solar cooker requires sunglasses and oven mitts and is not forgiving.

Solar oven cooking is very forgiving. If you forget something for an hour or even two no great harm is done. The chicken above was put out at 9:39 a.m. All that went into the pot was the bird, some spices, raw mushrooms and uncooked Brussels sprouts. It should have been done between noon and 1 p.m. I forgot about it until 2:45 p.m. It was still moist, there was two inches of broth in the pan (no liquid was added.) All to show for the extra time was a light browning on the top of the bird. Let a dish like that over-cook two hours in a conventional oven and you might even have a fire!

Weeds cost billions of dollars.

What of that weed, which is a plant growing where someone doesn’t want it to grow? Of the 33 billion acres on earth only 10 percent is farmable. Weeds reduce the amount of productivity of those acres by at least 10% costing upward to $18 billion dollars a year. At least 100 million acres of land are “infested with noxious weeds” in the United States at a cost of $6 billion or more. Some 1,400 plants are considered “pests” in the United States and 106 are on the Federal Noxious Weed list among them cactus and blackberries. I can remember once looking at one state’s top ten noxious weeds, seven of which were edible. There are approximately 1.4 billion weed seeds per acre (30,000 to 350,000 per square meter.) Many can survive in the soil for decades. Now you know why weeds take over your garden. You also now know why learning about eating weeds is a good idea because the odds are they will continue to grow no matter what, and on their own.

Time for one of my two annual rants: Halloween. While the value and purpose of Halloween can be debated — more money is made during Halloween than Christmas because of candy sales — what most of my readers don’t have to endure is what commuters are exposed to each Halloween season on Florida’s Interstate 4 (which runs cross-state from Daytona Beach to Tampa.)  Every year Universal Studios plasters grotesque billboard along the Interstate featuring blood, gore and dismemberment, and that is an understatement. Whatever happened to pumpkins and ghosts? The studio says their events in Orlando and Hollywood are too intense for children but that does not stop the company from putting the debauchery on billboards for all to endure. You can read about how Halloween has changed here. To read about a really ghoulish edible plant, click here.

Updated articles:  Sea Grapes,  Field Testing.

Stinging Saddleback Caterpillar

THE UNTOUCHABLES: Elliot Ness would be proud. To the right is the Saddleback Caterpillar (Acharia stimulea, formerly Sibine stimulea) the most commonly encountered toxic caterpillar in North America. No matter what you call it this creature is strictly look but don’t touch.  It’s the colorful larva of the Saddleback Caterpillar Moth and native to eastern North America. They can be found feeding on apple, asters, blueberries, cherry, citrus, corn, dogwoods, elms, grapes, holly, linden, maples, oaks, palms, plums, potted flowers, sunflowers and viburnums. The adult moth is brown and nondescript. Although the Saddleback may look cute enough to pet, the technicolor display is a huge warning to anyone to stay away, and for good reason. Its spikes, called “urticating hairs,” are full of hemolytic and vesicating venom which deliver a painful sting that can last for days. In fact, the hairs can break off, become airborne, or stick on material such as cloth and still sting. There are at least 20 stinging caterpillars. Leave every hairy caterpillar alone except perhaps the weather-casting common “banded woolly bear” Pyrrharctia isabella. Incidentally, Lady Bugs are toxic, too, and taste bad. It’s coloring is also a warning to predators not to eat it. However, to read about edible insects go here.

Ginkgo Bonsai in Spain

Ginkgo trees are making a stink in New York City parks. The fruit of the female Ginkgo trees release their odor for a few weeks each fall as the trees’ leaves turn bright yellow. Some say the smell is almost unbearable, others say they thought it was dog droppings. Tree experts say the few weeks of unpleasant aroma are worth it for the beauty the trees add to parks the rest of the year.  That’s also why non-fruiting male Ginkgo trees are often planted for ornamental use. “It’s a warm, lush golden color, shimmers in the fall sunlight,” said Neil Calvanese of the Central Park Conservatory. But Calvanese admitted the fruit smells like, “warm rancid butter.” The Ginkgo nut can be toxic to eat raw though cooked nuts are edible in moderation. To read more about Ginkgo click here.

Lastly, this newsletter is something of an anniversary. It was 367 days ago the web-based version was launched and some 42 newsletters written since then. A few weeks were missed by vacations, storms, computer issues and trying to decided whether to write one every week or every other week. One daily newspaper I wrote for required a column a week. Of all the journalistic duties that was the most difficult because one had to find something interesting every week where as life is not always interesting. It was a challenge and good training for this newsletter. Here’s looking forward to another year.

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