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The Cultivator
Hot Weather Harvests - The CobraHead Newsletter
August 2010

Hello, Friends of CobraHead,


Gardening has its own unique way of promoting communication.  I have gotten to know several of my neighbors by bringing them surplus harvest.  Sharing garden complaints, whether weather, insects, weeds, or crop failure, can bring about instant bonding with complete strangers.  And I admit that I like to brag about my nine foot tall okra plants.

One reason that we put out a monthly newsletter is so that we can share our own gardening experiences and successes.  However, the nature of newsletter communication tends to be one way.  We love it when you send us emails commenting about a particular article, but we would like to have more two way communication and hear about your gardening.

We are ramping up our Facebook presence in order to encourage dialogues about what works, what doesn't and what is just plain cool in your gardens and ours.  To that end we have also announced a contest below.  Feel free to enjoy some quinoa potato soup while you are posing your questions and top it off with a few wild hot peppers.

Happy Gardening,

Geoff



 
FacebookHey, are you on Facebook? So are we!  But we know we have a lot more fans than our page currently indicates, and we're counting on you to help us find them.  So here's the deal: help us get to 1000 fans by September 21, and we'll give all fans a coupon worth 20% off everything on our site.  This coupon will be good for ONE DAY ONLY on September 28.  There seems to be some debate amongst the CobraHead team as to whether 1000 fans is either too lofty or too modest a goal, so again, you can help us answer that one. 

We use our page on Facebook as a forum for gardening discussions.  We will be posting questions and solutions to gardening problems, and we invite you to post any garden related questions, solutions, ideas, or discussions you may have.  Click here to become a fan!
Potatoes, Quinoa and More
Potatos and Quinoa
Quinoa Potato Soup

Judy and Geoff put together a spicy soup using quinoa, the South American grain-like food that is a super source for protein.  Vegans and vegetarians take note:  if you're not using quinoa, you are missing an easy opportunity to get some protein into your body.
Chile Pequin
Chile Pequin
Chile Pequin
One way that Geoff has adapted his gardening to the Texas heat is by just letting things happen.  You can grow these semi-wild hot peppers even if the birds don't plant them for you. 
Fruit Fly Trap
Fruit Fly Trap
Fruit Fly Trap

Fruit flies might give credibility to the old theory of spontaneous generation.  They seem to come out of nowhere.  Obviously they are residing on the fruit and veggies brought in with the harvest, but their populations can explode if unchecked, and they are a nuisance.  Anneliese puts together these simple yet very effective home made traps. These things work, and if you are besieged by fruit flies, setting out multiple traps can make your kitchen or any area livable again in short order.
 

If you like our newsletter and our products or if you have some suggestions, we'd love to hear from you.

If you have gardening friends or if you know potential gardeners who might be interested in CobraHead and what we have to say about gardening and eating, please forward this newsletter to them. 
 
It is the mission of CobraHead to help people grow their own food and to provide exceptional products and services to all gardeners.  We try hard to "walk the walk" when it comes to issues of sustainability and in deciding what is best for ourselves and the environment as we grow our little company.  We've chosen to make our tools locally, here in Wisconsin, and we think that bigger is not necessarily better.  Gardening might just be earth's great hope, and in any case it's a great hobby.
Thank you,
Noel, Judy, Geoff and Anneliese
The CobraHead Team
In This Issue
CobraHead is on Facebook
Quinoa Potato Soup
Chile Pequin
Fruit Fly Trap

Corn Harvest
Bodacious Corn

August begins the real surge of the bountiful harvest for gardeners in Wisconsin.  We are eating corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, beans, melons, summer squash, zukes, cukes, pears, raspberries and more out of our garden.  While in the peak of the summer heat down in Austin, Geoff is eating okra, hot peppers and a few herbs from his garden but not much else.  However, he'll be harvesting through the winter, while we'll be looking at snow covered fields.

 

Other than a trip to Chicago for the Mailorder Gardening Association Conference, we CobraHeaders stayed pretty close to home in August, but we have lots of shows and events lined up for September.  Geoff and Noel will be at the Garden Writers Association 62nd Annual Symposium in Dallas from September 10 - 13.  That same weekend, Judy and Anneliese will be at the Wisconsin State Fair Park for Will Allen's Growing Power Urban and Small Farm Conference September 10 - 12.

The next weekend, September 17 - 18, Noel and Judy are in Rockford, Illinois for the Upper Midwest Master Gardeners Conference. Finally, Noel and Anneliese close out the month at Sevens Springs, Pennsylvania for the Mother Earth News Fair held September 25 - 26.

If you have the opportunity to attend any of these events, please come find us and say hello.


Happy Gardening from the CobraHead Team!

Noel, Judy, Geoff, and Anneliese Valdes

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