by Noel | Jul 18, 2019 | CobraHead
Our four-acre property is more than half wooded. Woods means mushrooms and we are now identifying more and more edibles free for the picking. Almost all oyster mushrooms are edible and these golden oysters proved to be easy to harvest, relatively clean and bug free, and delicious. Oyster mushrooms are extremely high in nutritive benefits. Finding them in the yard and not having to pay $15 to $30 a pound makes them taste even better. Sautéed Oyster...
by Noel | Jun 26, 2019 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
Monarchs love milkweed. If you grow it, and you’re in the range of their travels, you may get them to lay eggs and hatch caterpillars. I’ve got milkweed in a few areas on the property, and I always let a couple plants survive in the garden growing area. The monarchs almost always show up. It’s going to be tough going for the monarchs if they are to survive, and it will require humans to change some bad habits. As gardeners, our efforts to...
by Noel | Apr 24, 2019 | CobraHead, Garden Tools, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
I took advantage of some really warm April days to set up my low hoop tunnel. Several years ago I stopped doing an additional potting off of my seedling starts and instead I’ve been placing the small starts directly in the soil of a bed covered with a low tunnel. I first had to clean off a leaf covered bed and loosen up the compacted soil with a broadfork. I then added 25 gallons of composted soil. Ready to Plant I had to work in the compost and shape up the bed....
by Noel | Nov 24, 2018 | CobraHead, Garden Tools, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
I planted garlic yesterday, November 23rd (Black Friday). Coincidently, I did this last year, when the Black Friday temperature was 66 degrees and quite pleasant with the soil warm and soft. This year was a different story. The ground froze early, and like last year, I was left waiting for a warm spell. That warming almost always happens in either late November or early December but this year it didn’t happen yet and the forecasts looked bleak. I was faced...
by Noel | Nov 9, 2018 | CobraHead, Gardening
I finished my compost pile yesterday. It snowed last night. The pile is already warmer than its surroundings and it’s only two days old. The internal temperature of the pile when I took this picture was 60oF, outside it was 29. I learned to build these structured piles from my son Geoff who years ago was a horticultural apprentice on a biodynamic farm. Geoff taught me a lot of practices used by excellent growers who approached gardening using sustainable...
