by Noel | Jul 24, 2012 | CobraHead, Gardening
Here Come the TomatoesWith this year’s warm weather, we’ll be picking things from the garden a lot earlier than most years. I’m often late getting things started, but I did a good job of getting the tomatoes, peppers, and cole crops into the ground before the end of May. The early start coupled with the hot weather is giving us veggies in July that we normally don’t start harvesting until August. All in all, it appears we will have a...
by Noel | Jul 4, 2012 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
We have not had significant rainfall for six weeks. I was told that June was the driest recorded here since they started keeping records. Today and tomorrow will be among the two hottest days in south central Wisconsin since the weather service started logging meteorological data. 103 was reported as a high today, highest ever for July. The all-time high temperature record here was 104 in August of 1988. Tomorrow may be hotter yet. In most of the 26 years...
by Geoff | Jun 25, 2012 | Gardening, Recipes
I grew bolita beans a couple of years ago as a dried bean and had yet to cook them. Last week I made this bolita bean soup with amaranth leaves, amaranth grain (hence double amaranth) and purslane. 1 cup dry bolita beans, soaked overnight 3/4 cup amaranth grain 1 medium onion, chopped 2-3 garlic cloves cumin chopped hot peppers to taste veggie broth amaranth leaves purslane leaves and upper stems Sauté the onions, garlic and hot peppers in olive oil. Add veggie...
by Geoff | Jun 20, 2012 | CobraHead, Gardening
We received a lot of great entries for our photo contest. Thanks to everyone who participated. Here are all of the entries. Click on the smaller images to see the full sized picture and caption. [portfolio_slideshow]
by Geoff | Jun 18, 2012 | Gardening
Even in hot Austin, our winters get too cold to leave lime trees outdoors when temperatures dip, so I’m growing both Mexican lime, Citrus aurantifolia, and Kaffir lime, Citrus x hystrix, in containers. Then I can move them indoors when necessary. Mexican limes are also known as key limes. Kaffir limes, or makrut, are grown primarily for their leaves, which are used to flavor Lao and other Southeast Asian dishes. I picked up both of these plants earlier...
by Noel | Jun 4, 2012 | CobraHead, Events, Gardening
This weekend Judy and I were vendors at the Klehm Arboretum Garden Fair. This was our seventh year at the event now in it’s 19th year. Rockford is just under 70 miles from home. If you don’t know Rockford, it’s the second biggest population area in Illinois outside the Chicago metro area. Rockford used to be an industrial dynamo, but like a lot of Midwestern towns, heavy manufacturing went bust, and for a while Rockford suffered some very...
