Fall, Poke Juice and Luffa Omelet

Bucket - O - Berries

Over 4 Quarts Poke Juice

  Happy Autumn! The sun crosses the Equator today at 10:13 PM on its trip south towards the Tropic of Capricorn. The weather hasn't figured it out yet (in the 90s again this week) but as the angle of insolation decreases the less heat hits the Earth causing the Northern Hemisphere to cool. The days are getting noticeably shorter already and before you know it it will be getting dark by 4PM!

 I gathered a bucket full of Poke berries yesterday and squished them, mortar and pestle style, with a large branch yielding about four quarts of pure juice. I will freeze most of it and defrost as needed. I plan to test dyeing/staining a bunch of stuff to see if I can get it to hold it's color and see how it works on different woods.

  I ate some Luffa today for the first time! Most people don't realize that Luffa are edible.They think of the mature fruits that are used as "sponges" and think 'how could you eat that'! The young 'gourds', before they get their network of tough fibers are as tender as a Zucchini(and look like them too)   Many cultures around the world grow all kinds of Luffa just for food. They are members of the Cucurbits, who's familiar members are things like squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and gourds. Like squash plants the flowers are also edible and can be used in salads or fried like Zucchini flowers. I found a bunch of very small fruits that will never mature in time to become "sponges" so I thought I would try them for breakfast. I cut and sautéed about four of them and when they were slightly caramelized, I added some scrambled eggs. I guess it was more of a frittata than an omelet, whatever it was, it was good!     

Peace