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 Judy | Nov 30, 2009 | Gardening, Recipes
Brighten your holiday table with the ‘other’ green vegetable – greens of all colors. The greens I’ve enjoyed the most recently are the seared collard greens at the Eldorado Grill in Madison, Wisconsin. Admittedly I haven’t eaten collards too many times, they just weren’t on the menu when growing up in Minnesota. If you want to try the exact recipe check it out in the ‘Eldorado Grill Southwestern Cuisine Cookbook’ by Kevin...
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...
by Geoff | Nov 10, 2009 | Gardening
In late October I harvested my first crop of Satsumas. I planted a “Dwarf Owari” Satsuma in the early spring of 2008 in the front yard of my east Austin home. That year it produced a few jasmine scented flowers, but no fruit. This year it flowered in late March and produced eight fruit. I eyed those fruit longingly all summer long waiting for them to ripen. The weight of the fruit nearly bent the tiny tree over to the ground. By the time I picked the...
by Noel | Nov 1, 2009 | Gardening
I’ve explained my composting process previously, but I wanted to show a picture of an army of red worms working the sludge mass in a 55 gallon drum that we use to collect kitchen scraps. Boss Cat supervised as I tipped over and emptied the drum. The worms were thick throughout the mostly digested material. I’m building a new compost pile. I do this once a year, as I clean out the garden and get the beds ready for winter. I’ll alternate layers of...
by Noel | Oct 25, 2009 | Gardening
It was a perfect night for burning the brush pile. Thursday’s heavy rains had diminished to a very light drizzle. The pile is a collection of trimmings and fallen branches. This year we had two huge sections of trunk from an old apple tree that I took down in the spring. We had to use some dry cardboard and dry wood from the shed to get the fire started, but there was no danger of starting the woods on fire, which is always on my mind when burning anything...
