A Happy Hobbit

 Day 287: Like any Hobbit worthy of the name, when Mother Nature lays her finest at my feet, I do not hesitate to gather it in. Kevin and I left work together and walked toward the car, but as we rounded the end of a fallen tree, he heard me yell, "Oh, my gawd! DESSERT!" and just that fast, I'd swooped down and picked the best two of four specimens of Boletus edulis, a wild edible I have not found for decades. This, dear readers, is the King Boleta, and it deserves acclaim. It is, in my opinion, the best wild mushroom the Pacific Northwest has to offer. If plates of Morels, Chanterelles and Edulis were placed side by side within my reach, I would choose the Boleta without further consideration. Those massive, bulbous stems are edible as well as the fleshy cap, although oftener than not, one or both are riddled with tiny worms. In this case, the mushrooms had sprung up during the day; at least Kevin is certain they were not there when we parked the car in the morning. I made a side trip before going to the office and might have missed them. Freshly sprouted, there were still worms in the stems and a few in the caps. These were judiciously pared away, and the remainder of the caps were fried up in butter with only a little salt and pepper for a condiment. What a treat! Why didn't I pick the other two, you wonder? Because I never take them all. Ma wouldn't like that.

Jelly Beans

Day 229: You might think these are blueberries, but the tag claims they're jelly beans - Jelly Bean Dwarf Blueberry, as a matter of fact. There's nothing "dwarf" about the berries, though! They're in the medium-to-large range, and the bush is absolutely covered with them.

Several years ago, I planted two blueberry bushes, two varieties to ensure cross-pollination since they were not the "self-fertile" type. One of them died off, shaded out by the contorted filbert which is the showpiece of my yard. The other one wasn't doing well, so I decided to move it to a large pot which I'd sunk to its waist in the ground. I wanted to add another bush to replace the one which had died, but somewhere along the line, the cultivar tags had gone missing and I couldn't remember what variety either plant had been. Trying to re-follow the logic which had inspired my original purchase, I bought a mid-season bloomer (Blue Gold), and last year got a nice crop of berries. This spring, I wanted to add another bush, but couldn't find a full-sized mid-season plant. That's how my garden has come to be full of Jelly Beans.

All three plants are bearing well, although the foliage on the older bushes is rather sparse. I'm hoping some judicious pruning and a little blueberry-specific fertilizer will give them a boost next year.