PLANTS, FUNGI AND TORTOISES

 

Kaoutar recognized this plant as mallow, called hbiza in Arabic. People here understand it as a spinach-like edible, and it is delicious in Kaoutar's omlettes! I guess it was either in the bird seed or perhaps it came up as a volunteer.

We have fava bean pods! The other beans we planted all died, 

shaded out by the mustard forest, but the favas in 

one bed that was almost mustard free are producing.

Kaoutar discovered this in one of the small garden beds. It is Blistered Cup Fungus.  While all mushrooms are fungi, not all fungi are mushrooms and that is the case here. Trying to communicate this to Kaoutar is difficult first because we only share bits of our respective languages but also because in French, the word champignon is used for both fungi and mushrooms.

Almost all of the mustard is flowering and the bees love it.

The foliage of the potatoes we have growing is so lush and beautiful-and I see online that the blossoms are going to be gorgeous as well.

This is a succulent that traveled from Essaouira with me this past summer. It has the funny name of "ostrich toe"

MUSTARD FORESTS AND SUNFLOWER OMELETTS

Omar and our largest mustard plant.

Mustard blossoms

This is a Red Admiral butterfly on our largest sunflower bloom.

Sunflowers are such gorgeous plants. I have loved them all my life but only recently found out that the sunflower blossom is not one flower, but a multitude of tiny flowers, in the head of the plant. The large yellow petals are not true petals at all. They are edible though, as is the whole plant. Fake petals and leaves have been finding their way into the omelettes Kaoutar  has been making for our breakfasts.

WINTER AT THE GARDEN HOME

 The sunflowers are attracting plenty of bees now 

but this spotted beetle was also a visitor, and 

I don't think he was there for pollinating purposes.

Kawtar and I finally finished breaking/cutting up those piles of 

zeitoun branches and we now have small twigs for 

mulch and branches for future garden paths. 

It was a nice surprise to see how much this small patch of 

clay benefited by being covered by the largest pile of 

zeitoun branches over just a couple of months.

These clear winter days offer beautiful views of the Atlas Mountains.

Frankie can affect some strange poses in the morning when he is trying to warm up. He held this odd leg position for nearly an hour.