by Geoff | Feb 19, 2010 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues
Recently, CobraHead teamed up with Singing Rooster Coffee and Just Coffee to support rural development in Haiti. Singing Rooster has already been working with small farmers in rural Haiti. They bring Haitian grown coffee to the U.S. and work to get Haitian coffee (which is very good) established here. With the devastation in Port au Prince, many Haitians are returning to small towns and will likely be getting back to growing food. Through Singing Rooster, we are...
by Geoff | Feb 19, 2010 | Gardening
Yesterday I decided that it was time to empty the bottom tray of my worm bin and mix up some potting soil. When I managed the greenhouse at the Tsyuhehkwa Center on the Oneida reservation I would make a potting mix that consisted primarily of one part worm castings to two parts sphagnum moss. I am now trying to avoid sphagnum and use coconut coir in this mix. Here is the recipe that I used for this batch: 1/3 five gallon pail worm castings 2/3 five gallon pail...
by Geoff | Jan 14, 2010 | Gardening
This morning the lid on the compost bucket in the kitchen would no longer close, so it was time to make the first compost pile at my new home. Unlike my dad, Noel, I prefer to build my compost in layers first with materials high in carbon, then a nitrogen layer, followed by a cap of soil, repeating the process until the pile gets to be three to four feet high. I have to mention here that I learned a large part of what I know about composting from my gardening...
by Geoff | Dec 22, 2009 | Gardening
Last month as I spotted some plants growing out of my compost piles, I was reminded of a fun course that I took at the University of Texas with Dr. William Doolittle called Environment, Development and Food Production. Professor Doolittle introduced us to Edgar Anderson and the idea of Dump Heaps and the Origin of Agriculture. Hyacynth Bean Flower In his 1952 book Plants, Man and Life, Edgar Anderson devotes a chapter to the idea that early humans may have...
by Geoff | Nov 16, 2009 | CobraHead, Gardening
After a record hot summer with virtually no rain, this has been a most perfect fall for gardening. Right now I am enjoying sugar snap peas, cilantro, Japanese mustard greens, pole beans and radishes. Broccoli, broccoli raab and tatsoi will be in full production soon. Cascade pole beans I use a raised bed gardening system similar to the one presented in the John Jeavons book How to Grow More Vegetables. I learned how to create raised beds through a two year...
