From Norfolk Healthy Produce we have:
Snapdragon
Potomac™ Appleblossom
16 January 2026
01 January 2025
03 April 2024
Pot Roast
Serve it with a big pile of mashed potatoes!
I did this recipe for Easter Sunday (I know not traditional) but it was very very good! Next time I might go a little lighter on the rosemary and maybe try it out with the red wine. Oh and I forgot the black pepper which in my option would make it better even if my wife disagrees!
- Yield:
- 10 Servings
- Prep Time:
- 20 mins.
- Cook time:
- 4 hours
- Total time:
- 4 hours 20 mins.
26 January 2024
31 December 2021
Garden 2022
So… yeah, a garden. This last year I didn't do anything but let the weeds grow. Probably a mistake but things just weren't happening, not evening conditioning the soil. Speaking of which I need to bring the soil ph down a few points (like from 8.5 to 6) and add a bit of fertilizer. Anyway, the following is what I'm thinking about for this year, could change, may get scraped all together. Guess we'll see.
What I'm Planting 2022
- Artichoke
- Green Globe
- Imperial Star
- Violetto
- Beans
- French Filet (Bush)
- Beet
- Bull's Blood
- Chioggia
- Cabbage
- Golden Acre
- Tropic Giant Hybrid
- Carrots
- Danvers Half Long
- Mignon
- Rodelika
- Corn
- Glass Gem, Popcorn
- Golden Bantam
- Cucumber
- Wautoma, Pickiling
- Spacemaster
- Melon
- Crenshaw
- Melon, Cantaloupe
- Hales Best Jumbo
- Onion
- Patterson
- Red Mountian
- Utah Yellow Sweet Spanish
- Red Candy
- Tokyo Long White (Scallion/Green)
- Pea
- Lincoln
- Pepper, Hot
- Carolina Reaper
- Early Jalapeño
- Ghost Pepper (Chocolate)
- Greek Pepperoncini
- Habanero (Chocolate)
- Pepper, Sweet
- Cal Wonder
- Grand Bell Mix
- Yolo
- Radish
- Cherry Belle
- Shallot
- Conservor
- Zebrune
- Squash, Summer
- Black Beauty (Zucchini)
- Early Prolific Straightneck (Yellow)
- Squash, Winter
- Blue Jarrahdale (Pumpkin)
- Kabocha (C. maxima)
- Tomato
- Brandywine Black
- Gary Ibsen's Gold
- Golden Gem (Cherry)
- Rose Quartz (Cherry)
- Turnip
- Purple Top White Globe
- Watermelon
- Charleston Grey
03 November 2021
Propagation by Stooling
Stooling or a Stool Bed is used for propagating rootstocks.
This is a good way of using up failed grafted rootstocks from the previous year. If you do a lot of grafting it may be worth setting up a stool bed. The method is shown below.
- In Feb or Mar, plant the rootstock in the ground. If the failed graft is still attached, remove it, also any unhealthy-looking shoots. Make sure the ground is kept kept clean and free of weeds, and keep aphids off. They spread virus and stunt the plant. You are aiming for lots of growth before winter arrives.
- The plant should be relatively large and vigorous by Oct-Nov.
- A year after planting, cut the plant to near ground level.
- A cluster of small shoots should form in the spring. Again, watch out for aphids. When the shoots reach a height of about 6 inches, probably during July, earth them up with fine soil or compost, pressing it down firmly to a depth of about three inches.
- Continue to earth up the plants for the rest of the season, but do not swamp the shoots, and don't earth up to more than about 6 inches in total.
At the end of this time, Oct-Nov, the stools can be dug out. The rooted shoots can be broken or cut off, and planted elsewhere. The larger ones may be graftable after the winter; the smaller ones have to be left until they're big enough. The stool is replanted carefully. It should send up a cluster of new shoots in the following year,when the process can be repeated.
If you set up a bed, the stools need to be about a foot apart in each row, and the rows about a yard apart.
Note that some rootstocks may have protection under law: individuals intending to propagate rootstocks for commercial purposes should check the regulations for their own country.
ND / Diversity website
A saved draft from 2017, not sure where I coppied the info from but here it is.
12 February 2020
Happy Chinese New Year! Some Time Later!
Well, it's the first week of January second week in February and going along with the traditions a new year brings it's time to begin planning the garden. Now isn't typically when I start planning, the anticipation usually kicks in around november shortly after pulling up everything dead and frozen from the ground. I don't know why or that I can help it, the anxiety just builds until I'm waiting eagerly by the door for the post to deliver the first of the spring seed and plant catalogues. I guess my biggest worry is what am I going to plant, because the sooner I know the more prepared I can be for when I need to start planting. And honestly I'm already running behind.
Update! er… finishing the post!
Okay so I got an idea/list of things I want in my garden this year (I finally did that last month,) but I'm really struggling with getting anything done. Not necessarily the garden idea part but just the getting up, get going and get things planted/started part; You know, the important doing it part. Anyhow, here we are and it's mid February and I'm running even more behind. Onions and garlic should have been started last fall, or onion seeds indoors in January because they can take at least a month to sprout and be ready for planting out early spring. As for the tomatoes I've had the most luck starting them about now, which isn't bad except getting the "planting shelf" ready feels like an uphill battle and I'm already exhausted just by looking at it.
I'm slowly coming to the realization that maybe just sitting down in the fall and planning it all out would be better. The energy is there and it's not like I don't have a good variety of seeds to choose from (i.e. I don't need to wait for the "New!" seed catalogues.) Then I can have a post actually ready for the new year and update it if needed.
Anyway, here's my list/plan, hopefully something kicks in and I can get it done. Wish me luck.
What I'm Planting This Year
- Beans
- French Filet (Bush)
- Beet
- Bull's Blood
- Chioggia
- Cabbage
- Golden Acre (Only 1 of the 6 has germinated)
- Tropic Giant Hybrid (planted 12 in 6cells 9 have germinated)
- Carrots
- Danvers Half Long
- Mignon
- Corn
- Golden Bantam
- Cucumber
- National Pickling
- Spacemaster
- Melon
- Crenshaw
- Melon, Cantaloupe
- Hales Best Jumbo
- Onion
- Utah Yellow Sweet Spanish
- Red Candy
- Tokyo Long White (Scallion)
- Pea
- Lincoln
- Pepper, Hot
- Carolina Reaper
- Early Jalapeño
- Ghost Pepper (Chocolate)
- Greek Pepperoncini
- Habanero (Chocolate)
- Pepper, Sweet
- Cal Wonder
- Yolo
- Spinach
- Bloomsdale Longstanding
- Squash, Summer
- Black Beauty (Zucchini)
- Early Prolific Straightneck (Yellow)
- Squash, Winter
- Blue Jarrahdale (Pumpkin)
- Small Wonder (Spaghetti)
- Tomato
- Brandywine Black
- Gary Ibsen's Gold
- Golden Gem (Cherry)
- Rose Quartz (Cherry)
- Turnip
- Purple Top White Globe
- Watermelon
- Charleston Grey
24 May 2018
Irish Lamb Stew
This is a thick hearty stew with a lovely flavor and texture. But I felt some improvements could be made with the technique. And it was missing something, I did leave the wine out so that may have been it. I however did not get a chance to remake it so I will be revisiting it next winter to update things.
Irish Lamb Stew
- Yield:
- 10
- Prep Time:
- 20m
- Cook time:
- 2h 25m
- Total time:
- 2h 45m
03 January 2018
Christmas Soup
I pinned this recipe from Alton Brown a few years ago and just this year got around to making. The two changes I made are, first using cannellini beans which are also known as white kidney beans, and as always I used a homemade chicken broth. I have to say it is a great soup but I probably should have stayed with the red kidney beans (in the original recipe) as the two varieties do have a different flavor.
Christmas Soup
- Yield:
- 6 Servings
- Prep Time:
- 30 mins.
- Cook time:
- 1 hour 30 mins.
- Total time:
- 2 hours
13 March 2017
Mushroom Soup
I found this recipe on epicurious and I have to say it is so simple and amazing. This is one recipe I didn't mess with much at all. The only changes I made are using baby portobello/crimini mushrooms, my own home made chicken stock/broth, I skip the parsley if I don't have it, and replace the sherry with a lovely chianti or none at all.
- Yield:
- 4 servings
- Prep Time:
- 15 mins.
- Cook time:
- 1 hour
- Total time:
- 1 hour 15 mins.
22 January 2017
Kali's Kick@$$ Crêpes
While visiting family over Thanksgiving my niece made us crepes for breakfast one morning; I loved them and she was kind enough to share the recipe. Kali has been cooking crepes for a number of years now and while tinkering with the recipe she has been able to find a balance that I think really makes them perfect.
Here are a few pointers she shares:
I get too impatient to wait an hour 😄. So, you don't have to let the batter sit in the fridge you can let it sit in the blender for like 10 to 20 minutes and it will be ready to go.
The first crepe will always be more oily from the butter but the second should be perfect. Also if the heat is too high the sides of the crepe will get crispy before the middle has cooked.
- Yield:
- 17 to 22 Crêpes
- Prep Time:
- 5 min
- Cook time:
- 20 min
- Total time:
- 1 hr 25 min
21 January 2017
So... How's that new blog going?
Funny you should ask. I was just thinking about that and realized I haven't really cooked anything from Pinterest this month. That's not to say I haven't cooked at all, I have, I'm sure of it… but what was it??? I know I've made something from scratch since my last post, hmmm…
10 January 2017
So Much Food…
With the creation of Pinterest the ability to collect ideas has been awesome. But over the years I've noticed that some of my Boards are getting way out of hand, predominantly the Recipes. And I mean hundreds of recipes! Much as I enjoy cooking and trying new things, I think at this point it would take me well over a year to try all the recipes that I've found. So, in an attempt to reduce the number of recipes, I have narrowed it down to a nice 314 (at the time of this post) from over 500!