Partenon Zucchini
I ordered Maverick which hopefully has smoother leaves, and Burpee’s Sure Thing, so I will have 3 different kinds of parthenocarpic squash to enjoy indoors this winter.
First Pea of 2026
This is a 2 inch pod and one of the first flowers on the Carouby de Maussane snow peas that SuperGrok recommended for growing indoors in water. I put a few in my outdoor tower planter as well, after Thanksgiving here in the High Desert (zone 8b)
Mulberry Leaves
Changed Maintenance date on Solar panels until after leaves finish falling.
Christmas Day Shishito Peppers
These are the Burpee Hybrid Shishito peppers called Dragon Roll. I bought them as live plants from Home Depot. Burpee offers the live plants on their web site, too, but they sell out fast.
The wrinkled texture is offputting, but I do not know of any other pepper that tastes as good as these, and the leaves are tender and good to float in broth. The plants are fast growing, hardy and prolific even in the scorching dry heat of the high desert.
Christmas Gift from EVGo
$85 of free charging from EVGo prompted me to drive to the coast with 2 conditions from them and one from me:
Had to find EVGo charging stations.
Had to use before EOY.
Chose to see as many as possible places I’d never been before.
Fueled at the Palm Desert chargers and crossed the mountain to Anza.
Unfortunately at the top of Mt. San Jacinto there was a multiple injury accident resulting in a passenger truck smashing into a rocky cliff and rolling onto the road. I chose to stay and wait out the hour or so delay. The sun was shining, the view was beautiful, and I had brought a hand loom to weave.
Due to excessive roadwork on 371, there were additional delays before I was able to charge my all electric car again, this time in Temucula. So, having left at 8 am I did not get to the lodge until 2.
Monday morning I accidentally found free parking above Leucadia State Beach in Encinitas.
Grandview Beach Access
One of the highlights of this impromptu trip was finding the Fasia Buffet Restaurant a short distance from the Escondido EVGo chargers near my room. Fogged in the next morning I skipped any more sightseeing and took the fast way home (hwy 15 to 215 to 10) leaving Escondido just as the rain started.
It rained all the way home and was still raining when I pulled in at the EVGo chargers in Yucca Valley which was full, but an hour later when I was able to plug in, the rain was down to a sprinkle.
Two hours of this. Fueling cost for the whole trip was <$3.
Concusion: I saw a lot of new places, did a lot of new things, and will plan on making this an annual trip. Next time I want to see Fletcher Cove Park in Solano Beach and maybe try Leucadia Beach Inn (which SuperGrok has me convinced will be great for a early in the weekday stayover in early May or late September).
Parthenocarpic Zucchini
First male flower fully open, after the first female had her baby.
The baby squash formed before its female flower opened. I ate it on Christmas Eve ( +/-1 1/2” long, delicious and 4 more on the way).
PancakeMixBread
2 day/4 minutes Yeast, whey, and pancake dough:
This bread, mixed in the Oster then oiled and left to ferment 2 days baked in 4 minutes in ridged MicroHearth [2.5 min then flip and 1.5 min]=
1 cup pancake mix OR 2
1 cup flour OR 2
1/2 cup liquid or 1 - Half whey half water
1/2 T yeast or 1
1 T oil or 2
Mix on Basic cycle, then on dough cycle,oil,cover loosely and let ferment 2 days, punch down, shape flat and bake.
Fast first try:
Press a cooked/peeled tomato into a shallow greased loaf pan.
Sliced butter into strips and stirred into one cup dry Pancake Mix. Add 1/3 cup buttermilk, plus enough more buttermilk to make the dough a little runny and pour over the tomato. Next time also add carmelized onion and fresh greens. Bake at 400° in air fryer, then flip and cover the tomato side of the bread with cheese. Reheat in Hearth Skillet just long enough to melt the cheese.
Serve warm, w/Ann's House Cheese.
Lacto Fermented Black Beans
Using enough salted whey from yogurt (tangy/clumpy) or buttermilk (milder/softer) cheesemaking to cover the beans in a Yogurtia pot. 3/4 teaspoon of salt per cup of whey (less if adding dill brine, ok to mix whey sources for hybrid. Heat in Yogurtia for 1 to 2 days at 100°f.
Buttermilk Cheese
Dill Brine with Garlic
Buttermilk Cheese
1 TBSP cultured buttermilk starter
1 cup half & half
78°F for 8 hrs
Pressed in Keesoo’s wonderful 4-stage Greek Yogurt Strainer
Software
Ask
Bought domain foreverhome.ask 20251017
Empty Folder Remover by Garlic
Bought Lifetime $3.99 on 20251106
Gallery Pro by Apps Specials
Bought 20251106 Playstore $4.99 and to delete emptv folders, I also bought Empty Folder Remover.
Proton email, calendar, passwords
Annual Subscription includes Lumo AI
Panels
Panels is a sidebar launcher that can be intuitively customized, and Text Tracker automatically extracts useful information from screen grabs and sends it in a notification from which you can copy or process it in apps that support text input. Both are from "fosser coding”
TableNotes by Solution Developers
Bought 2 Lifetime subscriptions, 1 for me and 1 for Bill’s S7 which as he is not using I should reclaim.
To-Do List
Android app by betterapptech — Samsung Wearable FE — Phones and tablets — Synchs with all through Google Drive
Lifetime Pro $32 bought dumbphone but synchs as drannh w/GoogleDrive
todolist@betterapptech.com
Rare Elephant Bush Flower
20250925 First blossom on this Portulacaria alba, commonly known as the Spekboom or Elephant Bush
Cress
Cress:
There are several different kinds of watercress, three of which I mentioned in this article:
So far I have grown only two. The one I grew from seed is Nasturtium officinale, which is a lovely plant, but finicky and slow to get established from seeds. It does root beautifully from cuttings, however, and if it gets an alkaline environment and the weather is cool enough, it produces luscious leaves with a deep rich green color.
Nasturtium officinale just started from newly rooted stem cuttings.
The Barbarea verna we have been able to purchase from live-root plants at the supermarket, and that one seems to be reproducing itself by division.
Barbarea verna can be found as live plants in the produce section of the supermarket.
I have high hopes for Leopidium sativum working better for us because it is reportedly heat-tolerant but I am looking for the broad leafed cress and need to be sure that when I order seed it does not turn out to be cressida, the curly variety of this plant.
