Update 2023-05-30: Maypop fruit 2023-05-29.
This maypop is growing in an area we burned in January, and it had nothing to climb up on.
![[Staking a maypop]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-05-07--staking-a-maypop/20230507_093744.jpg)
So Gretchen put in a stake for this Passiflora incarnata.
-jsq
Mushroom on log 2023-05-11
Two views of mushrooms on a log.
![[Mushrooms on a log]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-05-11--mushroom-log/many.jpg)
Anybody know what kind of mushroom this is?
It’s in a wet area near Redeye Creek, which runs into the Withlacoochee River.
Looks like Pleurotus ostreatus is the consensus. Apparently, “Cleaned mushrooms can be sautéed, stir-fried, braised, roasted, fried, or grilled. Use the mushrooms whole, sliced, or simply torn into appropriately sized pieces.”
-jsq
Arrow and the downed limb 2023-05-19
Arrow was bemused by this big sweetgum limb in the drive path, that Gretchen had noticed the day before.
![[Limb, Arrow 2023-05-19]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-05-19--arrow-downed-limb/many.jpg){kind=icon}
She wanted to know what I was going to do about it?
Amusingly, it fell so it was supported like a pyramid by its own limbs.
I brought the tractor and a logging chain and dragged it away. Continue reading
Two methods of picking potatoes 2023-05-15
Two methods of potato digging.
![[Two views of 'tater digging 2023-05-15]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-05-15--potatoes/many.jpg)
Two views of ‘tater digging 2023-05-15
On the left, tractor and blade. Upside: digs them right up. Downside: and buries them in the dug dirt, so you have to dig them up again. Continue reading
Cultivating corn 2023-05-12
The cultivator worked surprisingly well.
![[Cultivating Corn]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-05-12--cultivating-corn/20230512_123307.jpg)
Should be obvious which is before and which is after.
And now it’s raining.
-jsq
Sugar cane weeding 2023-04-30
The recently planted cane was well-sprouted a week later.
![[From the winter bed]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-04-30--cane-weeding/20230430_101034.jpg)
A somewhat closer view. Continue reading
Planting sugar cane 2023-04-21
Was less work than expected.
![[Cane planting and planted 2023-04-21]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-04-21--sugar-cane/many.jpg)
Cane planting and planted 2023-04-21
Not burying it as deep this year, though. Only need four inches of dirt to keep it from freezing, not two feet to shovel off. Continue reading
Deadfall, orange kayak, pond, Blondie 2023-04-11
If a tree falls in the forest, does it land on a boat?
![[Deadfall on boat 2023-04-11]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-04-11--pond-deadfall-orange-boat-blondie/many.jpg)
But if it didn’t make a hole in the hull, I bet the boat will still float.
-jsq
Native wild honeysuckle 2023-03-30
Not a common sight anymore: native wild honeysuckle.
![[Lonicera sempervirens L., Coral Honeysuckle, Trumpet Honeysuckle, Woodbine]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-03-30--native-wild-honeysuckle/20230330_130549.jpg)
Lonicera sempervirens L., Coral Honeysuckle, Trumpet Honeysuckle, Woodbine
This Lonicera sempervirens L. is also known as Coral Honeysuckle, Trumpet Honeysuckle, or Woodbine.
It is native to the U.S. Southeast, with some found farther north, possibly as garden escapees. Continue reading
Canebrake rattlesnake relocated 2023-03-21
This canebrake rattlesnake was too close to the farm workshop at Okra Paradise Farms, so I used a hoe to put it in a cardboard box and took it far away.
![[Snake, hoe, box 2023-03-21]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2023-03-21--snake/many.jpg)
How? I show the snake a hoe. It either gets in the box with a nudge from the hoe, or it gets in the box in two pieces.
Here’s a
video playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk2OxkA4UvxPbeykZkfos36dRbcvIIeu Continue reading