greg mosser

simplest water-boiling in that day’n’age was probably using a clay pot, and you add a rock that was heated in the fire to it.

sure looks like a Physalis! not a species i’m familiar with, though.

this is one of those times i would probably go for one of those seam-cutting can openers. whatever you decide to make would be less dangerous anyway. i always seem to cut myself on the sharp edges on opened cans, even if i’m being intentional about trying to avoid it.

what are you trying to make? do you need seeds and skin separated out or just the skin?

also aphids.

from what i’ve seen (some hundreds of walnuts planted), it’s root first, then the shoot separates from that. either way, planting it out horizontally is a great way to simplify planting.

fun game! i’ve played it a few times, but i suppose somewhat more loosely, with both native and introduced plants. some parts of the year are definitely more tasty than others!

i’ve had some startlingly pink aphids on my common milkweed during the year, is why i was thinking aphid honeydew. funny that the bugs seem to match the flower color so well. that sooty residue could be powdery mildew in Asclepias, too. seems a farther stretch that the vespids would be interested in that, though…

any chance there’s also aphids on the milkweeds? those two pictured seem to be in ‘licking something up’ position, and honeydew from aphids (or other homoptera) seems a likely reason, there on the top of the leaf.

that’s great. bill is one of my partners at the nuttery. i didn’t know he had done that one.