Food and nature

The blueberry pie that Susan made yesterday is excellent. We will be enjoying it for a couple of days. Some of the hot peppers that I am currently drying. I imagine that they will be dried by Monday. Then I will put them into a container waiting to be turned into chili powder later this year or next year. Additionally, the cucumber kimchi that I made yesterday was sampled today with lunch and is quite nice. Maybe I’ll post the recipe in a few days. Now on to nature.

This female preying mantis was found patrolling our garden. She can eat to her hearts content. Now, if she could only keep the chipmunks out of the garden.

We took an early evening walk along Mill Creek in Dexter. I found a gall I hadn’t seen in years. This is the sumac leaf gall. It looks like a funky pear to me.

There were quite a few interesting plants. Giant sunflower on the left. Turtlehead in the middle. Sneezeweed on the right.

Cup-plant is an interesting species. The leaves form little cups where they clasp the stem of the plant.

Finally, an Evergreen bagworm moth’s cocoon.

More tomorrow…