The Bookie’s Dilemma
What do we do when the garden is put to bed and the bountiful harvest is preserved? Besides savoring our "local" veggies all winter long we talk about food. I have been reading cookbooks and food-related articles for the past 37+ years -- ever since my brother-in-law...
Winning and Losing CobraHeads
Our blog was launched to help us sell our CobraHead garden tool products. The Internet may prove to be the ideal tool for small businesses to let the world know they are out there without having to spend millions of dollars in advertising like the big corporations do....
Meatless Thanksgiving “With Gravy”
I thought I'd share a couple of recipes the Valdes Family uses to make our Thanksgiving as traditional as possible without the time-honored big bird as the centerpiece. In some ways it's probably one of the easiest meals to make without meat because your favorite...
San Francisco Green Festival
This past weekend Judy, Geoff and I were in California to promote our CobraHead garden tool at the San Francisco Green Festival. Judy and Geoff at the Booth If you're not familiar with Green Fest, it's a very fun and inspiring event that features eco-friendly and...
Putting the Beds to Bed
I grew corn and cucumbers in this bed. It is the worst bed in the south garden in terms soil workability. It is dense yellow clay. It becomes brick hard as it dries. While years of adding compost and rotating crops though the bed have made it softer than it once was,...
One That Got Away
Cucumbers, like summer squash and zucchini, can get past you if you're not diligent. I found this one yesterday in the debris along the edge of the bed where I had planted three cucumber plants on the east side of a bed of corn. The plants were bought at the Madison...
Next Week!
Just a reminder to any Northern Californians out there that the San Francisco Green Festival is next weekend (November 9, 10, 11) at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center. Judy, Geoff and Anneliese will all be attending, so please stop by booth 115 and say...
A T-post Post
T-posts are everywhere in my garden. They are indispensable fixtures in the system I've developed. They hold up my tomato cages. I make a little corral with T-posts and jute to keep the corn from blowing over. In the north beds where I have a permanent planting of...
Garlic Under Straw
I got my garlic in yesterday. I'm happy when I get my garlic planted in October. Some years that doesn't happen. I've planted garlic in April and still had a nice harvest, but the bulbs were smaller. One year I planted in December. I had to break through frosted...
CobraHead Cleans Up at Rotary Gardens!
"Hi Noel, Hope all is well. I saw you up in Eau Claire a couple weeks ago but didn't get a chance to say 'hi'. See enclosed photo (use it if you like) of our volunteer with a CobraHead. We used them to clear out old sand between our bluestone patios so we could...
Small Changes Can Help Make a Big Difference
I travel quite a bit for work. It can get pretty tiring, but most of the time I really enjoy it. Drinking a lot of tea is one of the ways I try to keep from getting too worn down. I learned fairly quickly that there's no guarantee that the airport, hotel and...
Anyone for Squash?
Our gardens are suffering some neglect as we've all been doing a lot of time on the road. After almost a week at the Garden Writers Conference in Oklahoma City, we came back to find several yellow summer squash a little past their best picking date, but still quite...
Upcoming Events
This weekend (October 6 & 7) Geoff and I will be in Washington D.C. for the Washington DC Green Festival. If you're able to make it, please stop by booth 1034 in the Washington D.C. Convention center and say hello! The Green Festival is a fun and inspiring event...
Hierba Santa
Hierba Santa Even though I have been in Texas for seven years, I am still adapting from my northern gardening notions. The seasons seem reversed, with the challenge to beat the summer heat rather than the fall frost. But one of the pleasures of Austin's subtropical...
Transportation Solutions
There are a lot of nice things about living in a small town. The air is fresher, the stars are brighter, and the streets are quieter. Unfortunately, living in this quiet town also means that I have to drive over twenty miles if I want to take in a movie, go to a...
Shiitake and Tofu Recipe
Using our homegrown mushrooms.......... Sautéed Shiitakes 1-2 T. Olive oil 1-2 Cloves garlic, chopped 12 Oz. Sliced shiitakes 1 T. Tamari 1 T. Sesame Oil 2-4 T. Dry white wine Optional - 1/2 lb. cubed tofu Sauté garlic in oil for 1 minute. Add shiitakes & sauté...
Shiitake Mushrooms
Last April, my friend Michael Ball asked me if I'd be interested in helping him split the work of starting a crop of shiitake mushrooms. He supplied the cut red oak logs from the woods on his farm, I bought the mushroom spawn and we shared the work of drilling and...
Harvesting Potatoes – Double Digging
I'm happy with my potato harvest this year. I'll end up with over forty pounds each of Red Norlands, Kennebec, and Russets which will last us well into next year. Growing your own potatoes is difficult to justify economically. Factory farm potatoes are practically...
Welcome to the CobraHead Blog!!
CobraHead LLC is a small family-run company that produces hand tools for gardeners and small-scale growers. We promote home gardening, grow-your-own food projects, and the idea that growing good food properly is important to the well-being of humanity and the planet....