A Man Has Got to Eat

It's getting closer to those chilled winter days in Northern Shmalifornia, where every squirrel grows a thick fur coat and attempts to store up fat for the winter, when temperatures will plummet into the low 50s and snow will blanket the earth, somewhere else. Still, a man has got to eat, especially when he can get his paws around a green pippin from an apple tree at World Headquarters.



Eleven days in the East, followed by four days in Stiletto City, has meant free time for the oxalis and nasturtium to take over the Great Rear Acreage at World Headquarters. Oxalis is the most insidious weed of all, since it grows from a pseduobulb that you THINK, when you pull it out, is the REAL bulb, but it isn't. There's another one down a few inches under that one and as soon as you pull the top one, the bottom one starts growing again. Luckily, the bougainvillea and lemon are still flowering and fruiting.



Nasturtium is not really a weed, since, like oxalis, it also has a very pretty flower. The difference is oxalis is hard to pull out because it grows in armies, whereas nasturtium has just a few stalks that are easily eradicated.



But look closely and you see the wild arugula growing merrily in the middle of the path. The more you cut it the more it thickens and grows even tastier. The Plotniks have been eating this patch since October and it'll probably continue through February or more.