Odd-looking veggies may be hard on the stomach
As detailed a couple of weeks ago, strange things have popped up in my garden.
I planted three squash plants that I was expecting to be spaghetti squash. However, the three vegetables on the broad, leafy vines look like one acorn squash, one spaghetti squash and one green Nerf-football-shaped thing with skin like a zucchini.
The local farm adviser said it sounded like cross-pollination had occurred but advised me the odd-looking Nerf vegetable was OK to eat.
A reader named Wendy wrote in that its best to be a little cautious of eating strange things that sprout up from the ground.
A few years ago she was living in Paradise and had a volunteer zucchini plant growing from her compost bin.
Zucchinis are prolific in Chicos summer heat and the plants produce as if they are on fertility drugs.
She ate a few of her surprise garden treats and they were fine. Then, later in the summer she tried another one, off the same plant. It was so bitter she couldnt even swallow and she spit it out immediately.
Then she got extremely ill for three days and ended up losing 10 pounds, becoming close to being hospitalized for dehydration.
Youre right, Wendy, there are far better ways to lose 10 pounds.
She said she called the farm advisers office and was told it is extremely rare, but every once in a while a plant will cross-pollinate and turn into a poisonous wild member of the curcubit family, possibly the buffalo gourd.
After recuperating from her illness, Wendy did some research and came across news reports about several people getting sick from zucchini in New Zealand.
(http://www.hortnet.co.nz/news/2002/n4334.htm.)
I looked at the photo of the buffalo gourd from another Web site Wendy sent me: http://medplant.nmsu.edu/buffalo.htm and it did look something like the Nerf-zucchini still sitting on my kitchen counter, although mine doesnt have a funky smell like the Web site describes.
Be cautious about eating any of those squashes you see volunteering in your yard,? Wendy cautioned. You might want to also alert your readers.?
Buffalo gourd is native to the Southwest, and Native Americans used it for a number of things, including insecticide and soap. The Web site claims the fruit will clean grease spots from wooden floors and the seeds are said to kill worms.
More on gourds
In that same column, I wrote about another mystery plant. I thought I had planted cucumbers, but for some reason when the vining plant started to flower, dozens of orange ornamental gourds started growing. These are those ones that look like miniature pumpkins that you buy at Thanksgiving to put in the middle of the table as decorations.
Cindy e-mailed and said she likes to dry those out after harvest and take a glue gun to attach a ribbon loop at the stem for fabulous Christmas tree ornaments. They make great gifts,? Cindy said.
Thats a great idea, and since I have about 25 of them I could experiment with spray-painting them or painting elaborate holiday landscapes.
More mailbox tidbits
Heres yet another reader contribution folks might get a kick out of. Way back when, I wrote about things to do with empty Altoids tins.
Altoids tins have a tendency to pile up. I know Im not the only person who saves them, thinking they must be useful for something. They could hold thumbtacks or the stash of money you are hiding from your spouse.
The tins could hold jewelry when you are traveling, loose change in the car, paper clips, etc., etc. The problem is, you think theyll become something useful, but then they just sit in a drawer like all of those free AOL trial CDs.
A reader named Margo stopped by one day and showed me what she does with Altoids tins. She has her friends save their stamps for her and then uses decoupage to affix the stamps and seal them onto Altoids tins.
Stamps are often beautiful pieces of art in themselves, and when affixed to the Altoids tins, it makes a lovely little box for storing things. For little party favors or as token gifts during the holidays, the tins could be filled with candy or small gifts like emeralds.
Sow There! loves readers who make writing this column really easy some weeks. For feedback, send to P.O. Box 9, Chico CA 95927 or hhacking@chicoer.com.
