weird food

We've long had self-sufficiency on our radar and now we've got a chance to work a little of it into our lives.  We wanted to simplify, so we got rid of half of our possessions.  It seems like we still have lots of stuff, but this isn't just minimalism, it's urban homesteading.  We had to keep a few things, like a garden hose.  We wanted to spend less time shopping and more time cultivating the food forest.

The food forest is planted, first with apples, peaches, raspberries, kale, and the like.  Now we're moving into territory I don't remember at Save-On-Foods:

Behold, the medlar.

We're diversifying our garden, and also our meals.  The medlar is known for being under-ripe until it's rotten, a process known as bletting.  One sample looks a little soft on the corner.  It's almost ready.  We haven't tasted it yet.  I'm a little scared.

My husband was digging in the food forest and he extracted another new-to-me food, a Jerusalem Artichoke, also known as a Sunchoke.

I chopped it up and roasted it.  It tastes starchy and sweet, like a nutty potato.  

We also grow things that many people can identify, yet they don't have the faintest idea how to eat them.  "What do you use those for, jack-o-lanterns?"

"No, we eat them."

Stay tuned, more wierdness to come!