Harvestman

Today the weather was windy and much colder than it has been. There were no insects to be seen and everything else was blowing around so much it made photography difficult. It might have been a good day to try for some creative blur. While I was wandering around the garden with my camera I picked three large mo qua. When I took them to the garden sink I discovered this harvestman hanging onto the stem of one of them and at last I had the daily blip.

If spiders give you the creeps - no problem. These harvestmen are not spiders. They are different in a few ways. Their legs are very long compared to body size. They can eat chunks of food as well as liquids. They produce no silk and therefore cannot make webs. Harvestmen also differ from commonly eight-eyed spiders by having only two eyes.

Back to the mo qua. You can find recipes and other information on the web but I grow them mostly as a novelty vegetable and to see how large they will grow. I have cooked mo qua with other vegetables but I prefer zuchinni. Another thing I tried was East Indian candied mo qua flavoured with rose water. The candy was interesting but also a lot of work.