Solanum muricatum

Also known as the melon pear, tree melon, or pepino melon, this evergreen shrub is a native to South America. In the same family as the tomato, pepper, and eggplant, it is a sun lover. A perrenial plant, sensitive to chilling, it is sold in farmers markets in Chile and Peru. The fruit is of variable shape and size, more or less rounded or oblong, and can be up to about 6 in (15cm) long. As it ripens, the pale green color becomes more yellow-cream, with purple stripes. With juicy and moderately sweet flesh, having the same texture as a melon, its flavor is quite similar to a cantaloupe. Propagation is via cuttings, as the seeds germinate poorly. Delicious in chutneys, it is great for pickling, and I am curious to add it to gazpacho. We have five plants, just now forming fruit. Apparently they do better in a greenhouse, growing to two meters and swarming with fruit. Ahh, next year!

A little history...squash seed were found on archeological digs in Mexico, dating between 9,000 and 4,000 B.C. When the first European settlers were introduced to squash, they originally thought it to be a type of melon since they had never encountered them before. Now there are hundreds of cultivars all over the world.

We grew our acorn squash on a hill, enriched with horse and cow manure, fish parts, and compost. We covered the hill with black plastic to increase the warmth factor, and as a mulch to conserve water. Now you cannot see the plastic unless you get close enough to pollinate the flowers! It keeps the fruit clean and free of soil born disease. We simply water by drip irrigation directly under the plastic. They are thirsty plants!

Acorn Squash

We have two acorn squash vines in our vast and varied garden, each with five huge fruit on them. Each fruit is over four pounds and amazing! We've never grown these beauties before, so we are quite proud of our success. They are Table Ace Acorn Squash, I believe the seeds are Burpee, but I've thrown the seed package away. We will save seeds from the maturing fruit for next year and hope to have even more vines growing next season.

Spear Fishing

We finally took a day off and went to the ocean. WOW! I have never seen so many fish. After swimming in the Caribbean and Bermuda, where every fish over six inches has been caught and eaten, I was simply amazed at the abundance of large yummy fish everywhere.

Konswan got to snorkel for the first time, which she is now hooked on.

I shot us some lovely Parrot fish and a Pig Fish, man, I forgot how good fresh fish is!

We also toured the coastline by boat from Santa Cruz to Ponta Delgada. Simply amazing, the cliff walls are dotted with natural springs and waterfalls, leaving a trail of flowers in their wake.

We also explored several caves that are only visible from a boat at low tide.

Next time we will take the camera, although I don´t think photos can do justice to the magnitude of 1000 foot vertical cliffs shooting up from crystal clear waters, speckled with bright fish.