Stephe about to devour his namesake, a Stephia in Hurdal Ecovillage ;) (since my youth, I’ve shortened my name Stephen to Stephe, as I wasn’t given a v in my name)…
Many years ago, I visited a Polynesian market in New Zealand and bought some tubers that were called Tarua in the South Pacific Islands…similar but different (and larger) to the more common Taro (Colocasia esculenta). For a plant that supposedly originated from tropical lowland Malaysia, Taro is a surprisingly cold hardy plant making a nice edimental house plant that can be outside in the summer even in my cool climate! I took a Tarua tuber home and grew it as a house plant for some years. It is probably Xanthosoma sagittifolium, also known as Elephant Ears, and closely related to Taro and similarly quite hardy! See the pictures below.
My first line of defence against the feared Portuguese slug (Iberiaskogsnegl / brunsnegl) seems to be holding despite a couple of sitings in the garden. Last night I noticed that there were hundreds of leopard slugs (boaskogsnegl / leopardsnegl) gathering to discuss strategy! Only when trapped and starving have I noticed them damaging any of my edibles…
I eat wild fish now and again, but there’s always masses of veggies….and today musk mallow (Malva moschata) is at its most productive, with various Russians sorrels, day lily buds and nettles. Also not shown, I used Croatian St. John’s onion (Allium x cornutum), garlic “Aleksandra” (still going strong, stored in my kitchen since autumn), chili and golpar (spice from the seed of Heracleum persicum, Tromsøpalme)
I’m visiting Hurdal Ecovillage again this weekend, so thought I would post this album of pictures from the Nordic Permaculture Festival held there in August 2013! https://www.facebook.com/events/219614368452015/