GBBD June 2010
I didn't have much time to run around the garden and take pictures this morning (plus it was just about to rain), but I managed to snap a shot of this lovely bloom on the way to my car. And yes, it smells great. Lovely rose. Do you know what it is? Looks a bit like...
Asparagus Biscuit Loaf
Asparagus Biscuit Loaf Following is my vegetarian version of a Tuna Biscuit Ring recipe that I cut out of a Gold Medal Flour bag almost 40 years ago. I've served it a lot over the years sometimes using salmon. I stopped making it into a ring shape because it was...
Gardening in Wongonyi
We firmly believe that small-scale agriculture plays a major role in efforts to create a world that supports all of us. Through our gardening business, we have been fortunate to get to know and support hundreds of community gardening and grow-your-own projects. A...
Weeds Feed Me – Indirectly
As a believer in a purer meaning of organic and sustainable, and opposed to the mistaken path of the corporate food system, I know the insane war on weeds cannot be won with chemical warfare. In fact, if weeds have to be killed, hand-to-hand combat is the only...
Noel’s Raised Bed System
Noel recently gave a presentation on his raised bed gardening system at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. The UW videotaped the presentation and have made it available to the public here. The video is in a cool dual format that shows Noel talking side by...
First Asparagus
I picked the first harvest of asparagus, yesterday. Only nine small spears, but there will be lots and lots to follow in the coming weeks. Judy served it up with egg noodles sautéed with some shiitake mushrooms picked from our logs a couple days ago and fresh spring...
GBBD April 2010
Remember back in September, when I requested help identifying all the plants in my new yard? Well, now that the snow is all melted (I hope), and temperatures are warming up, I'm going to need your help again. I'm not entirely clueless when it comes to ornamental bloom...
Sweet Potato Latkes
It's recipe time for the CobraHead Newsletter. For the last two months I had instructions not to use sweet potatoes or any potato in my recipe. But this time I snuck my proposal in before anyone could say anything. I don't think they really minded though – these...
Spring Parsnips
After enjoying a wonderful dinner of roasted parsnips, mixed with other root vegetables, we've decided that it is now our mission, at least for this month's newsletter, to promote this wonderful vegetable. Roasted Parsnips with Other Root Crops Michael Schael, potter,...
Peach Trees and Permaculture Ideas
Two years ago I picked up a copy of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway. The author packs the book with intriguing ideas. I am trying to adapt many of them to my yard in Austin, Texas. One idea is that of fruit tree centered "guilds"....
Haiti Relief
Recently, CobraHead teamed up with Singing Rooster Coffee and Just Coffee to support rural development in Haiti. Singing Rooster has already been working with small farmers in rural Haiti. They bring Haitian grown coffee to the U.S. and work to get Haitian coffee...
Homemade Potting Mix
Yesterday I decided that it was time to empty the bottom tray of my worm bin and mix up some potting soil. When I managed the greenhouse at the Tsyuhehkwa Center on the Oneida reservation I would make a potting mix that consisted primarily of one part worm castings to...
Souper Tortilla Soup
Souper Sunday has passed but it's still soup weather here. Actually soup weather lasts a long, long time in Wisconsin! Following is a recipe that I think came from 'Sundays at Moosewood' cookbook. I don't have a copy of the book so I can't be sure and as a well-worn...
What’s the Plan?
It helps to have a plan. For business, for life in general, and certainly for growing plants to eat, planning gives you some control of the future. January is planning month for lots of northern gardeners. My planning includes going though several favorite seed...
GBBD January 2010
Not a heck of a lot blooming in Wisconsin in January, but this lipstick vine in our sun room has been putting out a fair bit of color lately. This isn't the only blooming plant in the house right now, but it was the only one worth photographing. Now head on over to...
A new house, a new compost pile
This morning the lid on the compost bucket in the kitchen would no longer close, so it was time to make the first compost pile at my new home. Unlike my dad, Noel, I prefer to build my compost in layers first with materials high in carbon, then a nitrogen layer,...
Phil’s New Digs
About a year ago I set up a worm composting system using the Worm Factory. I was pretty excited about it at the time, and I decided to name it Phil (each individual worm is also named Phil). Because I've read that vermicomposting can take a while to really get going,...
New Year’s Capucijner Purple Podded Peas
No black eyed peas for us New Year's Day. This larder has capucijners. Capucijner (pronounced cap-you-sigh-ner according to the Fedco catalogue) peas are one of the richest and most complex soup peas we have cooked with. We've been saving seeds that we think we...
Dump Heaps and the Origins of Agriculture
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...
What? The Fork!
Border Digging Spading Manure Fork Fork Fork Fork I'm surprised at how few people in the general population of gardeners truly know how useful a good fork can be. Doing all your digging using a spade or...