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Sustainahillbilly: n., Any hill dweller who knows that the best path to the future is through the arts of the past mixed with the smallest possible dose of newfangled ingenuity.
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In the humid south we can usually expect plant diseases to start showing up in June and July. Some of them are difficult to manage at all, but powdery mildew (PM) has a surprisingly effective organic solution… milk!
 Photo Caption: A simple sprayer and one part milk to nine parts water is around 90% effective at preventing powdery mildew. I know, milk… it seems like one of these too-good-to-be-true crank organic remedies, right?
The September 1999 issue of Crop Protection reported about scientist Wagner Bettiol’s study on using diluted milk as a control for powdery mildew on cucurbits. Backed by Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, the study reported that a solution of 10% – 20% raw milk in water sprayed weekly was equally effective or better than the most trusted chemical fungicides on the market (around 90% effective, depending on the plant variety’s natural disease resistance). Continued studies at the University of Adelaide in Australia seek to understand why milk works so well against powdery mildew (and also botrytis blight, which you may have seen on your squash flowers or strawberries — it’s that fuzzy mold that appears in wet conditions).
The University of Adelaide has also found that the milk solution works on crops other than cucurbits, such as grapes and roses. The full potential of this remedy is still being explored. Scientist Peter Crisp has talked about his findings with ScienceNews Online and the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. The ScienceNews article also quotes professor and winemaker David Bruer saying that raw milk is not required for success. Skim milk and rehydrated powdered milk both offer the same results.
Not only is this toxin-free solution effective, it is very easy! After raiding the fridge (how do you explain this one to your family when there is no milk for cereal?), simply mix 1 part milk to 9 parts water and thoroughly coat susceptible plants once a week. (Bruer says he only sprays once every 2 weeks).
Milk sprays work best in full sun so try to do applications in the morning hours and on non-cloudy days. More isn’t better! A different mold has been found to grow on plants if the mixture contains 30% or more milk.
 Photo Caption: Spa treatment! It is important to start spraying your plants when they still look healthy to get the best protection. This is how my cukes looked yesterday just prior to their milk bath. There may be one small catch: at the Organic Growers School early this spring I learned that milk sprays in our region typically work best as a preventative rather than as a cure. They suggested keeping an indicator crop to let you know when powdery mildew has shown up in the area. PM susceptible crops that give an early heads-up are European grapes (not muscadines), zinnias, and peas. If those plants start to get sick, start spraying!
You can also keep an eye on your neighbor’s gardens. Yards with less air circulation, more shade, poorer soil nutrients, or uneven watering may come down with diseases before you see them at your house. If you see any signs of powdery white spots on the upper or lower sides of leaves, it’s time to spray.
 Photo Caption: I became alerted to the presence of disease in my neighborhood when a fellow gardener down the street sent me this photo of cucumbers. Once a plant is this distressed it may not respond to milk treatment. (Note: this plant also has cucurbit downy mildew). Once your plants get sick, it may be too late, but you can try removing the sickest leaves and then spraying. Be careful, if you remove more than 1/3rd of the foliage then your green friend will also struggle to survive from a lack of energy. You may want to give your plant a dose of liquid fertilizer in addition to the milk spray to encourage replacement growth.
 Photo Caption: This winter squash leaf is showing early spots from powdery mildew. If left alone the disease would soon coat the leaf, giving it a silvery appearance. Heavily infected leaves rapidly begin to curl, turn brown, and fall off the plant. Throw diseased foliage in the garbage instead of the compost pile. If you don’t have an indicator crop on hand you can watch for the earliest signs of small, powdery white spots on your plants leaves. Or, if you’ve kept good garden records, you can start spraying a week or two prior to when your plants became ill in previous seasons.
 Photo Caption: A thorough coating of milk once weekly can make normally susceptible crops all but immune to powdery mildew. Leaves should look shiny on both sides with one or two drips falling from them after you spray. When you spray you will find that the garden suddenly has the smell of a dairy’s milk room. That smell is lactic acid being dispersed into the air. Unless you have a pronounced milk allergy there should be no need to wear the protective gear recommended for harsher fungicides. You can even feel comfortable using your bare hands to lift plant parts in order to spray the underside of the leaves. (If you’re using a new, clean sprayer and would like to give the neighbors something to talk about, try drinking some “fungicide” while they’re watching). 
Milk may also work as a foliar fertilizer and can feed the soil when it drips off of plants. The Columbia Daily Tribune has reported that dairy farmers are using leftover skim milk from cheese processing to fertilize their fields with tremendous results! Some of us would probably choose dentist visits and toilet cleaning over spraying the garden, but at least this chore offers a spectrum of benefits.
Also, though saving a buck on garden care is always tempting, please consider buying high quality, organic milk for your spraying needs. Inferior milk may work as well but your organic purchase votes for the integrity of farmers with well-treated, healthy cows and land.
 Photo Caption: We decided to spray our zinnias for powdery mildew along with our vegetables. Definitive studies only exist on a handful of crops but you can safely try milk on most plants that are in danger of powdery mildew or botrytis blight. Milk might damage plants with delicate tissue (perhaps African violets, for instance) but shouldn’t harm sturdy foliage.
Try milk to prevent PM on cucumbers, summer/winter squash, pumpkins, melons, okra, peas, beans, zinnias, crape myrtle, roses, dogwood, phlox, or any other plant that contracts this disease. Get milk!
I was inspired to feature these weirdos after a friend of mine mentioned that she found some recently.
Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora) are also referred to as ghost plant or corpse plant. They are in fact plants, though some people mistake them for mushrooms.
 Photo Caption: Indian Pipes look like the souls of long-gone plants due to their lack of chlorophyll. They aren’t fungus but do prey upon it. They are parasites of mycorrhizal fungi associated with tree roots and do not make their own energy from chlorophyll and sunlight. Pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys) is a close relative.
I found mine at the Rattler Ford Campground near Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest May 2009. They’re more common in eastern US regions though they occur in many areas on multiple continents. Hard to spot due to pale coloration, they’re easier to see sprouting up in the middle of a hiking path. Look for waxy, translucent white stalks with black spots (especially as they age). Some may have pink, red, or purple color variations.
Indian pipes occur all summer long and can reach 10″ high, though they often grow stunted, close to the ground. Each plant bears a single flower but little is known about their method of pollination.
These plants are rare and mostly harmless if they show up in your yard or garden. Enjoy them for their natural oddity, they’ll wilt and vanish shortly after they appear.
Don’t get me wrong — I love vacations. Edisto Island in May was paradise and our family spent June bonding on a cross-country trip. One thing I learned on the way to California and back was that your home’s location is everything — but you can certainly add your own personal touches.
Click for larger photos.
If you get an itch for the ocean and you wish it could look as pristine as the Appalachian mountains, Edisto Island in South Carolina is the place to go. What you won’t find is a skyline of high-rise architecture, floods of shopping malls, and cigarette butts mixed into the sand. You can rent a simple beach house but I highly recommend the Live Oak Campground at the Edisto Beach State Park for shade in between your seaside afternoons. Or you can camp right behind the preserved sand dunes like the one above for an even shorter walk. You might even see a loggerhead turtle nest!
Until now I’ve never had a real understanding of how arid the majority of the west is. In the populated areas I rarely saw food gardens, though I did see lawns with alarming frequency. Beautiful landscapes, but it made me homesick.
Only in Texas! Well, probably not. But this is an oil pumpjack (nodding donkey) with wind turbines in the background. I think the turbines are much more attractive.
We saw almost a dozen National Parks, some state parks, and various landmarks on our trip. It was a special time for our family — educational, and fun. But oh, home sweet home! It’s so nice to come home to a burgeoning vegetable garden. My friends and I built this garden in March and I got home just in time for harvesting. We’re eating the produce almost as fast as it comes in but this is a nice sampler of what we’re getting.
Our garden is 42′ x 42′ (or so) and we are using intensive planting methods. When people ask, I’ve been saying we’re growing everything but corn and watermelons… it’s hard for me to think of many major or minor annual food crops that we don’t have in the ground.
Flowers to attract beneficial insects increase the functionality of the garden while also making it more beautiful. I think that intensively planted crops have a fullness and beauty similar to landscaped ornamental beds (whereas farm-style spacing looks more utilitarian) so the flowers are more like icing. Carpenter bees are great at pollinating open-faced flowers like squash and cucumbers but tend to cheat when they can’t fit their heads into a thin blossom. This bee is chewing holes in the base of ‘Lady in Red’ salvia blooms in order to get to the nectar.
We put crops we needed less of (such as amaranth greens) in patchwork patterns to save space. Lucky for us it is also prettier! Short species or cultivars of flowers such as the Cosmos ‘Carpet Mix’ and bedding Celosia in this photo bring in the good bugs without taking up too much room that could otherwise be used for food.
Our eggplants are as beautiful as hostas and they’ve successfully reached the size where flea beetles aren’t going to slow them down. We have a small patch of zinnias at one end of the bed to make sure the pollinators in our area find them now that they are uncovered.
Here’s the same eggplant bed from the front with the zinnias featured prominently. The eggplants are above 2′ tall at this point. I’ll probably put some low wire fencing around the bed to keep them from leaning into the rows and making it harder to harvest.
Nasturtiums are a ornamental and edible with a vibrant, peppery flavor. Both the flowers and variegated leaves are stunning additions to salads. They can also act as a sacrificial crop later in the season when it is time to put in fall cole crops like broccoli and cabbage. Brassica pests like cabbage butterflies lay their eggs on the nasturtiums, distracting them from your vegetables. You can dispose of the pest larva and eggs by ripping out the nasturtiums if they become too infected.
Even the flowers of your regular vegetables can be appealing to the eye. This squash flower is as big and bright as a sunflower. Okra, a hibiscus relative, is another crop which looks as good as it tastes.
What can bring greater home joy than backyard tomatoes? We certainly think so — this row wraps around the side of the garden and extends all the way to the swingset in the background. I admit to having a tomato problem. I think it gets worse every year!
We’ve had some smaller varieties starting to ripen but the big beefsteaks and heirlooms are still hanging there, tempting but green. Good thing I’ll be home to enjoy them when they finally turn bright and juicy!
If I had to guess which snake most commonly gets mistaken for water moccasins (also known as cottonmouths) or copperheads, I’d choose the northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon). They have many color variations as they darken with age, sometimes to a nearly black color. Between its swimming habits and its confusing markings it easily fools paranoid hikers and swimmers. Fortunately, they’re not dangerous to humans.
 Photo Caption: When northern water snakes have a reddish, banded coloration they often fool observers into thinking they are copperheads. Alternately, nearly black specimens can cause people to believe they have seen a water moccasin (also called a cottonmouth). In addition to blackish-brown and coppery-red hues, northern water snakes can have tan, brown, and gray markings as well. I most often see them with a tan background and bands of red-clay orange that are wider on the back than they are towards the belly. In other regions of the country it is more common to see a brown or tan background with black or dark brown bands. In Paris Mountain State Park I’ve watched a handful of specimens ranging from nearly black to nearly red all feeding from the same shallow lake shore. The herpetologist I was with assured me it was all the same species.
Their bellies also vary, ranging from a more common cream color to orange. Juveniles are more vivid but generally have the same coloration as adults. They can reach up to 40″ in length.
Although there are some other species you may mistake a northern water snake for, you can be certain it isn’t poisonous by looking at its head. Both copperheads and water moccasins are pit vipers, which have distinctively diamond-shaped heads. With water moccasins you should also pay attention to their range. In spite of countless eyewitness accounts they’re not supposed to exist in the Appalachias and foothills.
It’s great to identify a non-venomous snake but you should still show it respect. Even if a snake is not dangerously poisonous to humans it can defend itself. Cornered snakes may still bite and their teeth are unpleasant. They can also musk you, which is the reptile version of being sprayed by a skunk.
Northern water snakes hunt along freshwater shorelines and swim in the shallow water to capture small aquatic life such as fish, frogs, salamanders, and insects. They will also eat mammals or birds if they can find and catch them. They’re commonly seen swimming through the water or sunning themselves next to the shore.
These live-bearing snakes mate in the spring and females give birth to up to 30 baby snakes in the fall.
Homegrown tomatoes (and basil) are the reason most of us began growing food in the first place. Though some people direct sow their tomato seeds, most begin the season with transplants. Tomato transplants are a little different than other vegetables — there are some simple tricks that can improve their root system and vigor in your garden. This photo tutorial will show you how.
If you just came for the produce pictures, check out How to Increase a “Tomato Problem” (with Gratuitous Photos).
 Photo Caption: You can increase your tomato yield with the method you bury your transplants at the start of the season. This mix of heirlooms harvested in 2009 began in home-grown seedling trays. First, decide if you’re going to direct sow from seed or if you would like to use transplants. One factor is your season — you need at least 4 months between your spring frost-free date and your first frost date in the fall in order to successfully direct sow tomatoes. Tomato diseases are another thing to consider. In many areas a head start from transplants will mean that you get a good crop before late summer pathogens attack your plants. Personally, my main reason for using transplants is pests. I find that tall, thick-stemmed transplants are less tempting to slugs, snails, cutworms, and pillbugs than newly emerging fragile seedlings. I often struggle to get direct sown crops to flourish when these species are abundant.
Next, make sure you are planting in an ideal tomato location. Full sun is crucial. If you have 6 hours or less of sun a day you’ll have better luck with small-fruited tomatoes like cherries. Big, flavorful tomatoes need lots of sun and plenty of leaves to photosynthesize with. Loamy soil, high fertility, consistent irrigation, strong support (cages, trellising), and some kind of mulch are also recommended.
Once you’ve decided on seeds or transplants and a planting site you can put them in the ground on or after your area’s frost-free date. In addition to throwing some fertilizer into the planting hole you can give your tomatoes an edge by planting them deeper than they were in their pots. Most vegetables suffer when their crowns are buried too deeply, but tomatoes thrive on it because they can produce roots all along the length of their stems.
If you decided to direct sow from seeds you can still use this method. Instead of seeding on a level garden bed surface, dig a shallow pit (about 6″ deep) and sow your seeds at the bottom of it. Once your seedlings have grown at least 10″ tall you can fill in the soil so that the tomato has a larger length of buried stem. Alternately, you can try leaning a seedling on its side and covering it with soil — but this is risky since tomatoes are often brittle and will snap.
For transplants, the photo tutorial below demonstrates how to plant them in order to maximize root growth. Click on the image to see a larger version.
 Photo Caption: My photos are of some overgrown "replacement" tomatoes I put in to compensate for cutworm losses. This method works particularly well for tomatoes that have become lanky after spending too much time in a pot. First, dig a hole where you can lay the seedling down at a 45 degree angle when you plant it. Remove the lower leaves (make sure at least 2 sets of true leaves remain at the top).  Photo Caption: Set the transplant at the 45 degree angle in the hole and make sure the true leaves are above the surface. Most people think tomato roots grow downwards but they tend to spread horizontally. The extra buried stem will allow the tomato to produce more roots in this manner.  Photo Caption: Bury the transplant up to the true leaves. This will become the new "crown" of the plant. Don't worry if your tomato looks like it is laying on its side -- within one sunny day it will right itself into a vertical position again. A thorough list of tomato seed sources can be found here. Transplants are frequently available from farmers markets (they’re a good early season product while farms wait for their summer crops to come in). Also, locally owned feed & seeds usually have better veggie transplant prices than big box stores.
You can have leafy summer salads in the hot southeast! Though “heat resistant” lettuce only gets you so far into the season before bitterness and bolting set in, you don’t have to go without greens until fall.
Amaranth greens are by far my favorite lettuce substitute. The first time I tasted it I was trying too hard to compare it to lettuce and it wasn’t until my second or third amaranth meal that I began to notice the sweet and nutty undertones in the tender, spinach-textured leaves. The young stems are edible too — they remind me of skinny asparagus.
 Photo Caption: Different colors of amaranth greens can be grown in patterns to enhance an ornamental edible garden. They continue to look beautiful even when they are being harvested since you only take the top part of the plant. They grow back quickly for nearly unlimited harvesting all summer without ever becoming bitter. In addition to being a lovely, versatile vegetable (eat them raw or cooked!) they are incredibly easy to grow. The direct-sown seeds germinate even in the sweltering heat, grow rapidly, and are scarcely bothered by pests or diseases. Many people grow amaranth varieties that are used for grain, but fewer people know about the varieties grown for their tasty foliage. This includes varieties of Amaranthus blitum, A. cruentus, A. dubius, A. tricolor, and A. viridis. Some people eat the young shoots of grain amaranths, too.
Get your amaranth green seeds at Asian markets or from mail order catalogs.
Online Sources:
I originally picked up a cheap packet of their seeds at a nearby Asian grocery store. You may be able to buy yours locally, too. Make sure to look closely at online amaranth green photos before you go shopping since the paper packets may not be written in English.
You can sow amaranth greens directly into your garden beds any time after your frost free date, they take only 30 days to reach harvest size. Full sun is recommended but I’ve found they’ll grow in shady spots in the south with almost the same vigor. Succession sow a new patch every month of the warm season if you like (warning: this is a prolific veggie — 4′ x 4′ of it nearly overwhelmed my 4 person family last summer). The seeds are tiny so I sprinkle about 3 – 6 seeds every 2 inches (in rows around 3″ apart) and barely cover them up. I don’t bother thinning them later on, it doesn’t seem to matter. Prevent the soil from drying out much until their tops are at least 2″ tall. After that you can irrigate them the way you would any garden vegetable. They’ll tolerate some drought but the most tender greens come from unstressed plants that receive plenty of water.
If you have trouble germinating your amaranth it could be that your soil has formed a hard crust that the small seeds can’t penetrate. This can be particularly problematic in heavy clay. You can avoid this by mixing more compost into the top inch or two of soil just before planting. In wet climates seedlings may disappear as they emerge due to hungry snails and slugs. Use beer traps or an iron phosphate bait product like Escar-Go! to protect them.
Out of all my emerging seedlings I’ve had the least problems with amaranth. It’s so eager to perform in the garden that it can reseed itself and become weedy. Either let it reseed for the following season or avoid weeding by pulling it before the feathery flowers set seed.
 Photo caption: Amaranth greens look as good in the bowl as they do in the garden. Buy several different colors if you'd like to present stunning food centerpieces with minimal work. Just wash them, clip any tough stems, toss, and serve! I start harvesting amaranth greens when the plants are about 8″ high. Simply cut the small plants just above the first or second set of leaves, taking only the tender tops. They are ready to cut again when they have put out new tender shoots that are 6″ or more long. It doesn’t take any time — harvest often! Once you have harvested the first time you may want to apply a nitrogen-rich slow-release fertilizer.
Using amaranth greens is as simple as washing, tossing, and applying your favorite salad toppings and dressing. Or throw them stems and all into your next stir-fry. Substitute them in any recipe that calls for greens like lettuce, spinach, or kale.
Here’s some recipes to help you use up your bounty of summer greens. If you weren’t able to grow them yourself, try your local Asian grocery store’s produce section.
AMARANTH GREEN RECIPES:
Amaranth Green Salad With Asian Dressing
- A big bowl full of washed, trimmed, and tossed amaranth greens
- Seasonal veggies (like tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, carrots, celery, zucchini, green beans, etc.) sliced into ribbons or bite-size pieces
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (can be soy diluted with water if it is strong)
- 3 or more tablespoons of fresh sesame seeds
- 1 – 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil
- 1 – 3 cloves crushed and finely minced raw fresh garlic
- 1 tablespoon (or more) fresh grated ginger
- black pepper to taste
- (optional) 1 – 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil (unusual basil varieties such as Thai, holy, lemon, and licorice are very good in this recipe)
- Mix the greens with the other salad veggies (or simply sprinkle the non-leafy veggies on top).
- Mix the oils, soy sauce, sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, black pepper, and optional basil in a bowl and whisk until emulsified.
- Just before serving pour the dressing over the salad and use clean hands to lightly toss the vegetables until they are thinly coated.
- Serve!
Links to Online Recipes:
*Both amaranth greens and taro are referred to and used as “callaloo” and they can be substituted for each other. Callaloo soup is also called Pepperpot Soup. There are other regional recipes referred to as “pepperpot soup” but this is the Creole or Caribbean one.
**”Bayam” is another term for amaranth greens. Most Americanized “bayam” recipes use spinach as an amaranth green substitute. You simply need to reverse the recipe again to use the original amaranth in it.
Once I got frustrated with cilantro’s reluctance to grow at the same time that I have piles of fresh tomatoes to turn into salsa, I started researching heat-loving substitutes for it. Papalo is a frequent recommendation and it certainly survives our hot summers.
Papalo (Porophyllum ruderale) is also called papaloquelite, poreleaf, mampuito, summer cilantro, and Bolivian coriander. It doesn’t have identical cilantro flavor but if you just want a vibrant herb substitute it’s excellent! I think it tastes like a mix of nasturtium flowers, lime, and cilantro. If you haven’t tried nasturtium flowers, they taste exactly like papaya seeds. If you haven’t tasted papaya seeds either I don’t know what to tell you. Papalo is unique.
 Photo Caption: Papalo is a beautiful and large (6') annual herb with a flavor that reminds me of cilantro, lime, and nasturtiums. It’s also generous with its leaves. A single plant can reach 4′ – 6′ by the end of the season! I give mine a full square foot of space per plant in the garden. It’s so pretty that I recommend surrounding it with edible flowering herbs such as pineapple sage.
I haven’t seen this one in the nurseries yet, even in the obscure herb racks. I start mine from seed that I got from the Johnny’s catalog in 2006. This year I didn’t get great germination, only 2 seeds out of 36 came up. I’d say this one lasts in storage for about 2 – 3 years. They’re easy to start from seed if it is fresh and they look a little like marigold or cosmos seeds. I bury mine horizontally about 3 x the depth of the seed and keep them moist and warm until they germinate.
You could direct seed them in the garden, but I start mine as transplants. I harden them off and plant them into the garden when they reach about 6″ tall in the pots. When they are young I pinch off the growing tips to get them to bush out into a sturdier plant. They prefer full sun but I had great luck even with some that got only 4 hours of sun a day.
Here’s some places where you can buy seeds:
 Photo Caption: Though the leaves constantly have the succulent and tender look of new spring foliage, this plant can take whatever our southern weather dishes out. I love it as an edible ornamental because it seems oblivious to drought, pests, or disease. If you can’t grow your own your may be able to find it in Mexican groceries or at local farmer’s markets.
In Bolivia, Mexico, and other areas of Central America papalo is so popular it is often kept fresh in vases on restaurant and kitchen tables. Diners pluck the leaves and shred bits of the pungent herb onto their food before eating it. It doesn’t dry well, but it can be frozen if it is pureed with water or oil and put into ice cube trays.
You can use papalo as a substitute in any recipe that calls for cilantro. Papalo is more strongly flavored so you may want to use 1/3rd the measured cilantro amount recommended by your recipe.
RECIPES:
Guacamole with Papalo
- 1 or more (to taste) jalapeno or serrano chili, finely minced (optional)
- 2 – 3 tablespoons finely diced white or vidalia onion
- 1 – 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 – 2 tablespoons finely chopped papalo
- coarse salt to taste
- 3 – 4 avocados
- 1/2 cup finely diced garden tomatoes
- topping: 1/4 cup finely diced garden tomatoes, 1 tablespoon finely diced onion, 1 teaspoon finely shredded papalo leaves
- whole papalo leaves to garnish
- Crush the onions, the chilis, the salt, the lime juice, and the papalo in a mortar & pestle or a molcajete until they are paste-like.
- Add the avocado flesh and mash it roughly into the paste until well mixed.
- Stir in the tomatoes and then put the guacamole in a serving dish (or serve in the molcajete).
- Mix the tomatoes, onion, and shredded papalo that were reserved for the topping and pile it on the surface of the guacamole.
- Garnish with whole papalo leaves and serve.
Papalo Guacamole Tacos
- Papalo Guacamole (see above recipe)
- Soft or hard taco shells
- Shredded lettuce (romaine or other non-iceberg types recommended)
- Shredded cheddar, Monterray Jack, Queso Blanco, or other cheese
- Optional olives, sliced
- Put a hefty dollop of guacamole with toppings into your taco shell.
- Top with shredded cheese, lettuce, and optional olives.
- Eat it up!
Fruit and Papalo Salsa
- 5 garden paste tomatoes
- 1 – 3 small chilies (serrano suggested)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 avocado, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped papalo
- 3 – 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup of any fruit, diced finely (peaches, mangos, pear, melon, pineapple, etc.)
- Optional 1 – 3 teaspoons fresh grated ginger (if pineapple is the fruit used)
- Optional 1 – 3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint
- Optional large pinch of sugar
- Whole papalo leaves to garnish
- Put onions and chilis in a bowl with lime juice and set aside for at least 5 minutes
- Add salt, papalo, avocado, and optional sugar, mint, and/or ginger to the mixture
- Add diced tomatoes (last, because salt draws out the juices)
- Garnish with whole papalo leaves and eat immediately!
Citrus Salsa with Papalo
- 1 pound of tomatillos, husked and diced finely
- 1 – 3 tablespoons finely chopped papalo
- 1 – 3 jalapeno chilies, finely minced
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 fresh orange, cut into small pieces
- salt to taste
- Whole fresh papalo leaves for garnish
- Mix tomatillos, jalapenos, and onions in a bowl
- Add the chopped papalo and orange juice
- Mix in the chopped orange pieces and salt
- Garnish with whole papalo leaves and serve.
Fresh Tomato Salsa with Papalo
- 5 paste tomatoes, finely diced
- 1/2 cup onion, finely diced
- Juice of one lime
- 1 – 3 jalapeno or serrano chilies, finely diced
- 1 – 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh papalo
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Whole fresh papalo leaves to garnish
- Mix the onions and chilies in a bowl.
- Add the lime juice, salt, and chopped papalo to the mix.
- Add the tomatoes to the mixture just before serving (salt draws out the water and will make the salsa watery).
- Garnish with fresh papalo leaves and serve.
Papalo Pesto
- 2 cups of papalo, large stems removed
- 1/2 cup blanched almonds or pine nuts
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1 teaspoon (or less, to taste) chopped and seeded serrano or jalapeno chile
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Optional juice of 1 lime
- Mix the papalo, nuts, onion, chilies, optional lime juice, and salt until paste-like (food processor or mortar & pestle required).
- Slowly mix in the olive oil and continue working into a paste. If using a food processor, add the oil in a slow, steady stream.
- Makes around 1 cup, whatever you don’t use right away you can freeze in ice cube strays. Pop the cubes into a freezer bag or long-term storage container.
- Recommended as a sandwich spread, mixed with cubed Monterrey Jack or Queso Blanco as a salad topping, or on pasta served with fresh garden tomatoes.
Papalo Recipes on Other Websites
It’s time to plant summer veggies! If you didn’t start transplants early there is no time now — get to a garden center or farmers market and purchase some tomato, eggplant, pepper, artichoke, celery, sweet potato (slips), herbs, and tomatillos before they’re all gone (or stressed from neglect). For beans, cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, okra, corn, and amaranth greens you should get seed packets and direct seed them… they’ll come up quick and easy!
I’m sure I’ll be adding lots of food growing articles this season but here’s the ones I have so far. I hope they help your garden grow!
 Photo Caption: One of my day's harvests from a previous gardening season. Vegetable Gardening on Appalachian Feet:
Tent caterpillars aren’t the end of the world. They may attack your ornamental or orchard trees but unless a tree is already suffering from other stresses it should recover quickly.
These native, spring ephemeral caterpillars are often confused with fall webworms (Hyphantria cunea) or gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar). Fall webworms also have a brief life cycle (in the fall instead of the spring) and cause minimal damage to their host trees. Gypsy moths are an invasive species that can breed all season and destroy the plants they eat.
 Photo Caption: Eastern tent caterpillars (left) and forest tent caterpillars (right) emerge in the spring and live in clusters on their host trees. Shortly after hatching from the previous season’s eggs, eastern tent caterpillars begin building silk nests which they enlarge over their short feeding season. Their preferred host trees are wild cherries but they will also eat other species in the apple (Malus) and cherry (Prunus) families.
 Photo Caption: Eastern tent caterpillars hide inside their silk nest during the day and feed in the evening. It is an effective barrier against most predators and pesticides. Most of the time the caterpillars do little damage, even if they completely defoliate the tree. Once their life cycle is completed the tree simply puts out new leaves and moves on.
 Photo Caption: Did you ever dissect owl pellets in class? A fun project to do with kids is to dissect a tent caterpillar nest. The onion-like layers of the nest will correspond with the growth of the caterpillars. In the center layers you will find tiny frass (poop) and discarded exoskeletons tangled in the silk fibers. You can compare these to the much larger frass and exoskeletons left behind in the outer layers. It's an easy illustration of insect metamorphosis and growth. Forest tent caterpillars do not build an enclosed nest like their eastern relatives. Instead, they huddle together on silk pads spun on the bark of their favorite trees. They also eat a broader range of species than the eastern tent caterpillar but in the Appalachians this is usually some sort of oak.
 Photo Caption: Forest tent caterpillars prefer various oaks in the Appalachias. They are also known to eat sugar maple, aspen, birch, cherry, sweetgum, tupelo, cottonwood, basswood, elm, willow, and ash. Forest tent caterpillars are more likely to be spotted singly or on the trunks of trees while you are hiking.
 Photo caption: Birds love to eat the tiny berries of this native wild cherry and spread them to roadsides and fields throughout the southeast. White eastern tent caterpillar nests litter their branches in the spring but the cherries recover quickly with a new leaves and a (tasty) crop of fruit in early summer. Both of these tent caterpillar species are furry and harmless to touch. They make great educational pets if you have their host plant nearby so that you can replenish their food supply. A well-ventilated container (cleaned frequently) makes an excellent caterpillar home. Crowded or dirty cages are prone to an insect disease called grasserie. All caterpillars are voracious eaters and if they are allowed to run out of food they may pupate early as an “emergency.” This usually results in a smaller-sized butterfly or moth (though sometimes they will die).
Tent caterpillars turn into somewhat plain, clumsy brown moths. Their adult photos can be seen here:
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Every post in this blog is a green living “How To” that can be applied to your own life. The primary focus is local food and growing in the varied altitudes of the southeastern mountains and foothills.
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