by Judy | Jul 31, 2018 | CobraHead, Recipes
We have been growing our own shiitake mushrooms at the edge of our woods for about the last ten years. While it’s fun to walk outside and harvest them, you do have to pay attention to the weather or you can miss some good eating. The shiitakes fruit best when temperatures are between the fifties to the seventies. They don’t do much in really hot weather. But that doesn’t mean they can’t sneak up on you. If you get a day or two of rain...
by Noel | Jul 31, 2018 | CobraHead, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Japanese beetles, along with a lot of other other natural disasters, are making the garden a little less fun this year. The beetles have only been in Wisconsin for about a dozen years, and they are loving it here. Their populations seemed to diminish for a few years, but this is the worst infestation I’ve had. They’ve not bothered the sweet corn before, but this year they are destroying some silks. Most years I can keep up with them by just collecting them...
by Judy | Jun 26, 2018 | CobraHead, Recipes
Further to Noel’s post on chicken of the woods mushrooms we had chicken (of the woods) fajitas last night for dinner. It was a home cooked fast food meal. I sautéed a sliced onion, sliced red pepper, chopped garlic and chicken of the woods mushroom pieces – for about 10 minutes total of cooking time. I covered it with a lid for the last five minutes to make sure the mushrooms were fully cooked. Green peppers would have been a nice addition but we...
by Noel | Jun 25, 2018 | CobraHead, Gardening
Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) is a beautiful and delicious wild mushroom, usually found on dead oak logs. This one was on an old log in our front yard. Interestingly, the same log gave us one of these mushrooms about five years ago. Over 2 ½ pounds of delicious “meat”! We could have let it get larger, they can grow to be huge, but I noticed a little bit of insect damage, and the squirrels, who like to get into our shiitake logs, would soon find...
by Noel | Jun 5, 2018 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Farming, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Bumblebees love Russian comfrey. The plant is frequently recommended as a bumblebee magnet. I often find four or more different varieties of bumblebees in the comfrey along with many other pollinators who also like the plant. My son Geoff introduced me to Russian comfrey (Symphytum × uplandicum) over 20 years ago when he brought home a few roots from the farm where he was working. It likes it in my garden and I have to work to keep it from spreading too far. ...
by Judy | May 30, 2018 | CobraHead, Recipes
We have been eating asparagus every day for over a month from our 30 year old garden patch. Some days I ask myself what new and novel dish can I possibly fix with asparagus today – scrambled egg asparagus burritos? lemon sprinkled side dish? garlic roasted spears? potato asparagus salad? asparagus salsa? asparagus mushroom gravy over baked potatoes? What else?? Stir fries land on the menu more often than not. Depending on what veggies are added to...
