G is for Garden

The letter of the week in preschool is G.

The hat reads:

G is for garden. Growing and learning together in 2008.

See those little green shoots in the middle of my purple ground cover? Those are from heliconia, which is a beautiful plant my neighbor planted on the other side of the mailboxes. They have a crazy under-root system, and we can't seem to get rid of them.

Fruit on the Farm

This is an exotic fruit commonly called Star Fruit or Five Finger. It is grown all over the world, primarily in Asia. In the US it grows in Hawaii and in Florida. These were given to us from Son1's preschool aide at the Thanksgiving banquet. Star fruits are crunchy, and have a slightly tart, acidic, sweet taste, like pears, apples, and sometimes grapes. The fruits are a good source of vitamin C. Its seeds are small and brown. They have a tough outer skin and a tangy white inside.

When they are cut into their five sections they look like five fingers.

When they are cut across they make a star shape. These are often in exotic salads at the fancy shmancy restaurants. When we take a salad to someone's house we put these in there, too. The only time we have gotten Star Fruit has been as gifts from people's yards. You can buy them, but they are a little expensive and not always available.

Another one of our banana trees is flowering. See the banana buds poking out?

It's also a papaya week. We have gotten 2 ripe papayas this week. We have three or four trees. This one is flowering at the top, too.