Ann's Air Gardens

Calabash Soup

 

Here is something I have never seen in a supermarket. The squash in this soup,  a gourd really, is cucuzza.  I didn't know that the seeds I bought on Etsy called Serpente di Sicilia needed to be scarified and soaked in warm water to sprout.   So when they had not sprouted in my vial after a month, I threw the seeds into a box of potting mix.  Just one plant came up as a volunteer alongside okra in August, but I wasn't sure what it was until it flowered in September.

I picked it when it was just starting to lose its fuzz and as 18" long with a diameter of 3" at the fat end, tapering off toward the stem.

I put a handful of garden greens in my soup in addition to the cucuzza, including its own leaves, scallion tops, and edible chrysanthemum leaves and buds.

 

 

The mums are hiding behind my melon.

 

 

How my Cucuzza Plant Got me FREE Crypto Currency

Maybe you would like some too. 

Here is an invitation for membership in a free network that is giving its members hourly Pi coins.  All you have to do is download the app on your phone, prove that you have an invitation by typing my code name  "tenerumi" in when prompted, fill in some very basic information, and then interact with the app for just 2 seconds once every day.   Early Beta testers will be given a continuous flow of Pi coin, which at present has no value, but the IOU equivalent is showing a value of $.33 per coin on crypto tracker.  I signed up because the owners are academics with public profiles and open humanitarian goals.  Any possibility of the coins becoming valuable  someday trails far behind their educational value.

minepi.com/tenerumi

I chose the username tenerumi for my account because that is the name of the tender young leaves and tendrils of the cucuzza plant, a gourd that is eaten like a squash.  Cucuzza leaves are not as thorny as most squash.  They grow very quickly and taste delicious.

I didn't scarify the cucuzza seeds I bought to try nor did I soak them long enough, so when they had not sprouted after a few week I threw them in the compost.  Only one sprouted, but it is a beauty and already has a 16" long gourd.  

Looking at the cucuzza plant with its tendrils reaching for the sky I thought of the many people who had an opportunity to buy bitcoin for $10 and passed it up, not seeing its potential for growth.   Just as misinformation on how to sprout specialized seeds caused a loss for me, misinformation about the Pi Network almost caused me to disregard it.   Pi is kind of like the gourd plant, slow to start, but tenacious and valuable in more ways than one.