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| Osteospermum and a Volunteer Carob(?) Seedling |
It's not very obvious, but, if you look closely, there's a volunteer seedling growing (slightly off centered in this photo, to the viewer's left) with leaves that look a little bit like rose leaves. M is convinced it's a carob seedling. It's growing under the orange tree and I'm not sure if I should leave it in place or try to dig it up!
Ever since neighbor S notified me of her mother-in-law's passing, I had been wondering what I could make to take to them. I had debated making a cake, but, I knew that many visitors would bring cakes and sweets. I thought a savory, vegetarian dish would be better, as I know that there are a couple of vegetarians among S's family. So, on Friday, I prepared a dish of sauteed garbanzo beans, which could be eaten as a snack or as a side dish. I took the dish over and visited with S and her daughters and condoled with them. I timed the visit well because there were no other visitors (in any case, I wore an N-95 mask). Of course, S sent me home with more food! A subway sandwich, some cheese filled pastries, some lahmajoon (Armenian pizza), a bowl of tabouleh her sister-in-law had made, some pickled vegetables her mother had made, and a variety of sweets!
I shared some of the tabouleh and some of the sauteed garbanzo beans with M when he came to tend to the garden. He declined the pastries and other items.
I ate the subway sandwich for dinner as I didn't want to keep it in the fridge, overnight and a few of the sweets for dessert. Brunch had been toast with peanut butter.
The postal service is having their annual "Stamp Out Hunger" on Saturday:
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| "Stamp Out Hunger" Notification |
The postcard notification was left in my mail box on Wednesday. I filled a bag with some canned food (tuna, condensed milk, peaches) and a large bag of dried beans and stapled the above notification to the bag; I will leave the bag by the mail box to be picked up, tomorrow.
Today, I'm grateful for:
- Being able to participate in the food drive
- S sharing food with me
- Being able to participate in the food drive
- S sharing food with me
- M tending to the garden
- Emails and phone calls
- Today's garden harvest of snow peas, a few blueberries, curry leaves, and a lemon
- Emails and phone calls
- Today's garden harvest of snow peas, a few blueberries, curry leaves, and a lemon
Friday's joyful activity was knitting while I watched a musical program on TV.
We are supposed to have some warm temperatures on Saturday! I'm looking forward to that!
How was your Friday? What are your plans for Saturday?
I have eaten carob, but never seen it grow. What kind of form does it take? Do you have other carob plants in your yard?
ReplyDeleteIt's a tree that can grow up to 50 feet high. Very drought tolerant and requires very little care, in terms of fertilizer, etc. I think it might be a good plant for the front garden, but, I don't know if it would survive if I dig it up. No other carob plants in my yard and I haven't seen any in my block, but, there might be other carob trees in the neighborhood. Perhaps a possum or one of those visiting raccoons dropped a seed?
DeleteHow sneaky of that volunteer seedling to hide in the Osteospermum!
ReplyDeletePlants have a way of appearing. Our neighbour has been battling what looks like ground ivy in one of her vegetable beds. It is nowhere else, and not in our yard either.
I'm sure S and her daughters appreciated the garbanzo bean dish and your visit. How funny that you returned with a variety of foods!
I have been doing a little laundry, boiling eggs for egg salad sandwiches for lunch, and I'm going to fetch some groceries after I hang out the second lot of laundry. Meanwhile DH and a neighbour are cutting and splitting the wood left from the tree felling.
Yes! It is sneaky of the seedling to hide in the osteospermum! :D
DeleteThank you, Bushlady; I hope S and family enjoyed the dish I took over to them. I should have known that S would send me home with more food! She's such a generous person.
Sounds like you are having a busy day! I've been taking it easy after a bit of a rough night (I really shouldn't eat raw bell pepper, not even the tiny bit that was in the sandwich).
Oh, what a nice donation you left. I didn't get my notice yet. I like doing that food drive. I am interested to hear if your volunteer plant is a rose or carob.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Stephenie. I usually try to donate things that people can eat straight from the can without cooking, just in case they don't have cooking facilities, but, I've been hearing there's a shortage of dried beans in stores, so I decided to add the bag of beans, as well. Partly because I don't keep many cans of beans.
DeleteThe volunteer plant is not a rose - the leaves are arranged in a different manner. I'm going with gardener M's identification that it is a carob. :)
The vegetarian dish was a good idea for your friend. I am sure it was appreciated. I hope you have a really good Mother's Day-xo Diana
ReplyDeleteThank you, Diana. :) Hope you, too, have a lovely Mother's Day.
DeleteIt will be interesting to watch the seedling grow and if it is a carob plant as M suspects. That was nice of S to gift you so much food and your donation to the food drive will be much appreciated. There is a food bank in the church near to me and I have dropped off dog food before as I'd like to think pets don't go hungry.
ReplyDeleteI will be keeping an eye on that seedling! It was very kind of S to give me food in return, wasn't it? I enjoyed some of it for my meals, today. That was very kind of you to donate dog food to the Church food bank. I wondered about including some cans of cat food with the donation to the post office food drive, but, I didn't know if they would accept them or not. Maybe I'll ask them, next time.
DeleteIt was a good idea to take the chick peas to neighbor S I think. You are right that a lot of sweets were probably offered. And no surprise, you coming home with food from S - she must have quite a bit of food from people's gifts during this time. What a nice variety of food she gave you too.
ReplyDeleteSo a carob seedling - that's an interesting thing to pop up. I don't think I've ever seen that plant/tree. I hope you let it grow for a bit just to see how it progresses :)
Thank you, Debra; I wanted to take something that was not a sweet, especially since I know that S tries to limit her sweets intake. Yes, she showed me her dining table covered with a spread of food that people have brought! She said that she was giving food to everyone who visited! LOL.
DeleteThe carob seedling is growing well! I will let it grow and see what happens! It'll be at least 8 years before it bears fruit, according to what I've read and that seems like a long time away, but, we'll see how things go. :)
The Osteospermum look beautiful. Although I'm also curious as to what the seedling will be now. Xx
ReplyDeleteThank you! The osteospermum flowers have been lovely this year. We are going with it being a carob seedling!
DeleteI can't speak as to what you should do about the seedling, but I think it makes the photo of the pretty flowers even more interesting. I noticed one of the leaves immediately, and then zeroed in on the plant.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll keep the seedling for now and see how it does. I guess I can always remove it if I decide I don't want a carob tree! :)
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