Getting Ready for Gardening
March is nearly over and we are getting serious about this year’s garden. I’ve got a few things started in the house and things are popping outside. This flat is bottom heated and top lit. It has peppers, eggplant and cauliflower. The peppers and eggplant haven’t...
Blue Scalloped Potatoes and Green Bean Surprise
We are still eating our Adirondack Blue potatoes (and other types) from last year's harvest. They have done very well in Noel's make-shift above ground root cellar in the barn. I have adapted our usual cheesy garlic potato bake and added some frozen green beans, also...
February Garden Musings
The weather in southern Wisconsin, as everywhere, is alarming. Record one day temperature swings. It was 73 yesterday and 12 this morning. It will be back to the 60’s in a couple days. This new normal will cause mostly grief for gardeners and growers, but I’ll try to...
Butternut Squash Cranberry Bake
We are working our way through our garden harvest. We still have potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes and winter squash, along with lots of various frozen veggies. Below is how I made use of one of our butternut squashes. Ingredients 5-6 cups chopped butternut squash (1...
Garlic Under Straw
Judy and I just got back from three weeks in Texas. I was behind in the garden before we left and three weeks away have put me quite a bit further back. I missed a lot of garden clean up and prep for next season. One fall chore that I never try to miss is getting a...
CobraHead Is a Proud Sponsor of the 2024 Youth Garden Grant!
Friends of CobraHead will know that we are avid supporters of community gardens and educational gardening projects. And now, we are proud to be a sponsor of the 2024 KidsGardening.org Youth Garden Grant! This year, fifty youth garden programs will be awarded $500 in...
Mexican Rice Stuffed Peppers
This has been a good year for peppers of all kinds. We did have long periods of no rain but due to Noel's diligent watering and the warm weather, the peppers exploded. Following is a recipe for stuffed peppers using my Mexican rice recipe and topped with cheese:...
CobraHeads for Fossil Hunting!
Here's something a little bit different for the blog! Last month, one of our eagle-eyed CobraHead fans forwarded us a news article about a significant fossil find in Maryland. Entomologist and paleontology department volunteer at Calvert Marine Museum Emily Bzdyk was...
August Garden
This garden is growing too much food! We’re giving it away and eating and freezing all we can. We’ll make some changes next year – a little smaller and a lot more planning. It’s been a great garden year, however, in spite of some really uncooperative weather. To say...
Bruschetta Pasta Salad
One of my favorite ways to serve and EAT fresh tomatoes is in a pasta salad with lots of fresh basil and garlic. The tomatoes can be a mix of big juicy ones or a variety of cherry ones, all colors welcome. To make it more substantial you could add cooked dry beans,...
Zucchini Fritters, Turkish Style (Mucver)
We are inundated with zucchini. Somehow last year we didn't get any planted so Noel went overboard and planted five different kinds this year (including a climbing variety). We eat zukes and summer squash almost every day, and we've already sent some to the local food...
July Garden
July is when food output kicks into high gear. Harvesting is a daily job, with both Judy and me bringing in the bounty. I talked last month about trying out a 2 leader system for the tomatoes. It’s working great. Here are some Brandywines just waiting to turn red. ...
Ten Tomato Spaghetti Sauce, mas o menos
I was looking through the Book Pages flyer at our local library and this book caught my eye: Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World, a History by William Alexander. We grow a lot of different tomatoes and I cook with them so this book sounded intriguing. I usually can't...
June Garden
June is almost over and it’s going out very uncomfortably as we are experiencing the Canadian smoke that has made a lot of the upper U.S. extremely dangerous and unpleasant Air quality is awful. It’s suggested we do not even go outside. We’re still in a drought,...
Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Cauliflower
We are still using up the last of our 2022 potato harvest. While we love roasted potatoes sometimes you want a little lighter dish, i.e., less carbs! Bring on the cauliflower! By mixing the potatoes with cauliflower you still get that potato taste with a few light...
May Garden
May was very warm and very dry here in south central Wisconsin. I’m doing a lot of hand watering, trying to water just the plants so as not to encourage weed growth in open areas which overhead sprinkling would certainly do. A good thing about the open bed system I...
April Garden
April brings on the hard work period of the gardening season. I keep looking for ways to make it easier. This old guy doesn’t quickly recover from hard work like I used to. Here are a few pictures of some of the things going on in the garden. The hoop tunnel helps a...
Asparagus Mustard Rollups
It's almost asparagus time here in Wisconsin. For a diversion from steamed or roasted asparagus try these rollups. Great for a snack or an appetizer. Ingredients: 12 slices sandwich bread, crusts removed (I used cracked wheat ) 1/4 cup (more or less) stoneground or...
Indoor Seed Starts
I started peppers and onions in late February and now it's time to move them out from under the grow lights and into the sunroom. I need the grow lights for tomatoes, eggplant, cabbages, and other stuff. I'll re-pot the peppers into individual cups. They'll go into...
Instant Pot Vegetarian White Bean Chili
I've been experimenting with various bean recipes, almost always with the Instant Pot. We've had some very good white bean chicken chili but prefer to cook vegetarian dishes at home. The Instant Pot makes it fast and easy. Since I do a quick soak by pouring boiling...