Since I finished the studio yesterday, today I changed my focus to the garage. I’ve now fully organized the dyeing/surface design equipment, on a giant set of utility shelves, and have more or less unpacked the weaving equipment. I need to clear more space before the loom is usable, though, and need to repair a cable, re-set the live weight tension, and reattach the treadles and Compudobby before I can start weaving again. Still, we make progress!
Meanwhile, other things are making progress, too. This may be the last zucchini photo – the plant is now large enough that I can barely fit it into the camera frame! But here is the latest photo of the rampaging zucchini:
Each of the three main branches is now about ten to twelve feet long, and in addition to shooting forward like lightning (six+ inches of new growth per day), they are also sending out side branches.
And to think that just four weeks ago it looked so sweet and innocent:
I’m morbidly curious just how long the zucchini can keep this up. I egged it on a bit last week by applying some organic fertilizer, and am wondering if it will go all the way up to the backyard fence if I keep giving it more water. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, if the zucchini doesn’t eat the house entirely!
At any rate, here’s something just as exciting: our first zucchini!
It’s bigger than it looks, about 3.5 inches across.
The puzzlement, of course, is that this is clearly not an Ambassador Zucchini as it was labeled. So what do we have? The stems are prickly, which suggests that it’s a summer squash of some sort, and I’ve seen photos of ball-type zucchini that look similar to this one, so I’m continuing to call it zucchini until I have positive identification otherwise. But if you recognize this variety, please leave a comment to let me know what it is!
There is a Mexican zucchini that looks a lot like that (only usually not quite as round). The flesh seems a little bit denser to me and I like it better than Italian zucchini.
http://sustainableseedco.com/Round-Zucchini-Seeds.html
In Europe this is known as ‘Rondo di Nice’. and 3.5 inches is just perfect. Cut it in half, and stuff either with chopped meat with the removed zucchini chopped finely and mixed in plus salt pepper and nutmeg OR cooked plus cottage cheese plus teh chopped innards + etc. Either way sprinkle breadcrumbs and some olive oil Bake in oven.
Up here in MN that is called an 8 ball zucchini.