Hunting veg

We were both in the potager for lunch today.   Artur was hunting moles, and I was hunting for courgettes.

He can stand and quiver for what seems like an hour waiting for a mole to appear from the ground.

He had a victory at Christmas but it hasn’t been a very successful season since.

Actually I’m quite unfussed by the moles, really. No really. The garden gets shared and they don’t eat all the crops.   But I am still trying to be relaxed about all the lost carrots last week.

My hunting was more successful. The first big fat courgette. Hurrah. At long last.

I had to do a bit of research about male and femal flowers as I was losing lots of little courgettes due to lack of pollination.   Now I help them along by picking the male flowers and hand pollinating the female ones.

This one is a monster and I cooked it for lunch in my favourite fashion. I peel it into ribbons with a vegetable peeler; cook it with a splash of olive oil, a pinch of chillis, and a handful of marjoram leaves. Delicious.