Will we be the richer
If we are willing
to try
to learn
to like
Some foods
Previously avoided?
Robyn
Home January’s Challenge: BE TIDY
The camera gear needs a new storage spot. That's because a Hornby train has moved into our home, and it has taken over the camera's spot!
While son-number-3 came home with a new ipod - an absolute "must" for his first teaching job which will begin in a couple of weeks - hubby and I came home with a wind-up O gauge Hornby train. What excitement it was to put the track together on the lounge room carpet, wind up our new train, and watch our 60 year old bit-of-tin chug around its track until it ran out of puff, and needed a new wind-up! Good for the arthritic knees, down there on the floor!
But having the Hornby train and track meant that we needed a new spot for my camera and camera accessories. I guess the camera gear can sit on the small table in the bedroom for a while. If it is in sight, at least it will remind me to take more photos.
While son-number-3 came home with a new ipod - an absolute "must" for his first teaching job which will begin in a couple of weeks - hubby and I came home with a wind-up O gauge Hornby train. What excitement it was to put the track together on the lounge room carpet, wind up our new train, and watch our 60 year old bit-of-tin chug around its track until it ran out of puff, and needed a new wind-up! Good for the arthritic knees, down there on the floor!
But having the Hornby train and track meant that we needed a new spot for my camera and camera accessories. I guess the camera gear can sit on the small table in the bedroom for a while. If it is in sight, at least it will remind me to take more photos.
Garden EGGPLANT syn. aubergine Solanum melongena
Because eggplants are a warm climate vegetable, they grow well in our home garden in the sub-tropics and our few bushes are not bothered by pests or disease. Our eggplants with their large, coarse, hairy grey-green leaves, and star-shaped mauve flowers are looking very attractive in the garden, growing to about 1 metre tall. Pity I have not yet learned to enjoy them, but rather than giving away our ripe eggplants, I should really persevere this week and see if I can learn to enjoy them, perhaps stuffed with a tasty cooked mince, and grilled with a sprinkling of cheese on top. I might even learn to be kinder to our eggplants by giving them some water and by pinching out the tips to encourage branching and fruit formation.
A Brief Introduction
Commonly known as brinjal or an aubergine, Eggplant is an edible purple-colored fruit of the family Solanaceae. This member of the nightshade family has a shiny skin typically dark purple, but occasionally white or yellow. This egg-shaped vegetable is regarded as a satisfying substitute for meat in many countries of the world. This member of the nightshade family is closely related to the tomato and potato.
Eggplant is a warm-seasoned vegetable cultivated worldwide for its fleshy fruit. A native to India, they are quite common in almost every corner of the globe. Its Sanskrit name is vatinganah, the French and British know it as the aubergine, and the Hindi name, brinjal, is recognized in South Africa as well. When raw, the fruit is hard, with a bitter taste. On the contrary, once cooked the fruit bears a tender texture. Popular purple-fruited varieties (cultivars) are Black Beauty and a number of hybrid varieties.
Since this plant is capable of enhancing the ambiance of a garden, it is also used for ornamental purposes. These ornamental plants bear white, brown, yellow, and green fruits and are widely used as a garden plant. China is the largest producer of eggplant in the world and contributes around 55% of the world's output. Other major producers are India (28% of the world's produce), Egypt, Turkey, and Japan.
Eggplant is a warm-seasoned crop which grows upto the height of 40 to 150 cm (16 to 57 inches). This plant of the nightshade family has large coarsely lobed leaves which are 10 to 20 cm (4-8 in) long and 5 to 10 cm (2-4 in) broad. It is a delicate perennial often cultivated as an annual. The flowers are white to purple, with a five-lobed corolla and yellow stamens.
The large, glossy and egg-shaped fruit of the plant is fleshy, less than 3 cm in diameter on wild plants, but much larger in cultivated forms. Certain cultivars of eggplant bear larger fruits which are 2 to 12 inches in length. The fruit is botanically classified as a berry, and contains numerous small, | ||||
soft seeds, which are edible, but are bitter because they contain (an insignificant amount of) nicotinoid alkaloids, unsurprising in a close relative of tobacco.
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How our plants grow
We can’t quite know,
Yet daily we can watch
And marvel.
Robyn
May your garden give to you some plants that need no tending.
from Robyn
Robin in a flowering gum
Painted by Brenda, Robyn’s mum
