The Last Watermelon
We had a great watermelon harvest. This is the last of over a dozen fruits we picked. Among the varieties we grew were Crimson Sweet, Alibaba, Moon and Stars, and Orangeglo. Most were quite a bit larger than this one. Of course, they all ripened at nearly the same...
Fried Potatoes, Onions and Zucchini
Who doesn't love a good side of fried potatoes and onions? And who doesn't feel like they have a leaden belly after eating too much of a good thing? 🙂 This recipe does double duty of using up a garden zucchini while also lightening up that traditional potato dish a...
Shiitake Mushroom Duxelles
We have been growing our own shiitake mushrooms at the edge of our woods for about the last ten years. While it's fun to walk outside and harvest them, you do have to pay attention to the weather or you can miss some good eating. The shiitakes fruit best when...
Japanese Beetles
Japanese beetles, along with a lot of other other natural disasters, are making the garden a little less fun this year. The beetles have only been in Wisconsin for about a dozen years, and they are loving it here. Their populations seemed to diminish for a few...
Chicken of the Woods Mushroom Fajitas
Further to Noel's post on chicken of the woods mushrooms we had chicken (of the woods) fajitas last night for dinner. It was a home cooked fast food meal. I sautéed a sliced onion, sliced red pepper, chopped garlic and chicken of the woods mushroom pieces - for...
Chicken of the Woods
Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) is a beautiful and delicious wild mushroom, usually found on dead oak logs. This one was on an old log in our front yard. Interestingly, the same log gave us one of these mushrooms about five years ago. Over 2 ½ pounds of...
Bumblebees and Russian Comfrey
Bumblebees love Russian comfrey. The plant is frequently recommended as a bumblebee magnet. I often find four or more different varieties of bumblebees in the comfrey along with many other pollinators who also like the plant. My son Geoff introduced me to Russian...
Asparagus Mushroom Tofu Stir Fry
We have been eating asparagus every day for over a month from our 30 year old garden patch. Some days I ask myself what new and novel dish can I possibly fix with asparagus today - scrambled egg asparagus burritos? lemon sprinkled side dish? garlic roasted...
A Slow Start to the May Garden
The garden is off to a really slow start this year. It’s mostly April’s fault. That month gave us very cold weather right up until the end, so nothing got planted. For the first couple weeks in May we were practically under water and it’s only been the last two...
Pickled Red Onions
We harvested a plethora of onions last year. We still have yellow copra onions which store quite well. Then there are the red onions which don't store quite as well. Those are definitely sprouting, so I cut out the sprouts and use what I can. I've been using them...
Practical Organic Gardening by Mark Highland
I first met Mark Highland quite a few years ago, maybe at the Philadelphia Flower Show or at a Garden Writers conference. He already knew Geoff and Anneliese. Mark had just launched his company, Organic Mechanics, to produce high-quality potting soil. Since then, Mark...
Sweet Potato House
I’ve been starting my sweet potatoes from sprouted old roots rather than starting from new potatoes for quite a few years, now. It’s a close to fool-proof method. Here are 25 sprouts in a soil box. I removed the sprouts from the mother plants and cut them into...
Pizza Time
Sometimes you just want pizza. Okay, most of the time I just want pizza. So when Judy (a.k.a. "Mom") told me on Monday that she was thinking of making pizza for lunch on Tuesday, I was excited to hear it. She planned on using ingredients left over from last year's...
Stop Starting Sweet Potatoes!
I used to start my sweet potatoes like this, in a cup or jar of water. Now I don’t start them at all. I just let some old potatoes sprout on their own and plant the sprouts. I haven’t started sweet potatoes either in water or soil for quite a few years. After I...
Leek and Mashed Potato Soup
Several years ago I posted a recipe for Leek and Potato soup using our purple potatoes here. Hey, a potato is a potato no matter what color they are.... There are lots of various recipes for this type of soup, not the least of which is in the cook book "Mastering...
A Nasty February Draws To a Close
Last week it rained heavily on top of solidly frozen ground. The result was a lot of localized flooding and ice ponds everywhere. The water had nowhere to escape. Our closest large drainage is Koshkonong Creek which runs more like a ditch under Highway 18 about three...
The Wellness Garden by Shawna Coronado
Gardening is excellent physical and spiritual activity. Most who garden, love it and need it, but what would you do if pain or restricted movement from a debilitating disease were forcing you to give up gardening and your garden? Shawna Coronado found herself in that...
Horseradish Balsamic Glazed Beets
The idea for this recipe was inspired from an hors d'oeuvres sandwich we enjoyed at the GWA (Garden Writers Association) Conference in Buffalo this past summer. It was called a Beet Slider which consisted of a small dinner-size buttered roll spread with horseradish...
Prepping Open Raised Beds for Winter
We’re taking advantage of good weather to get a lot of garden beds prepared for winter. We’re loosening them up with a broadfork, pulling out most of the weeds, shaping them up neatly, and covering them with a thick layer of leaves. I don’t use cover crops to protect...
Black Friday Garlic
I try to plant garlic by the end of October. This year it didn’t happen. Having great faith in climate change, I knew I would get another opportunity or several before the ground froze too hard to work easily. Today the high temperature peaked at around 66 F and it...