That's Irene Bender, the event coordinator for the Minnesota Garlic Festival , held last Saturday at the Wright County Fairgrounds in Howard Lake, Minnesota. Nice Hat!

The garlic festival is a little show featuring about a dozen small farmers offering over 100 varieties of garlic. Garlic was for sale, but so were other homegrown foods and locally produced goods. Garlic flavored food was in abundance including garlic brats, garlic potatoes, pickled garlic, and more, with garlic flavoring many of the food items for sale. There was even garlic ice cream and garlic chocolate chip cookies for desert.

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In our ongoing quest to make the CobraHead Weeder famous, we occasionally try new trade show venues. Since I thought there had to be a connection between farming and gardening, we exhibited at a show in Minnesota this week called Farmfest.

The show organizers had invited us out as a "green" vendor and we were in a tent with others promoting such things as organic farming, sustainable agriculture, energy issues and land conservation.

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This weekend, Judy and I were vendors at the Kickapoo Country Fair in La Farge, Wisconsin: Kickapoo Country Fair. The fair is in its fifth year and is hosted on the grounds of Organic Valley's headquarters. Organic Valley is the farmer's cooperative that has been at the forefront of the organic movement in the United States.

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We've grown purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) for many years. Once established, it's a super-easy perennial, really only requiring weeding and occasional separation. It spreads quickly. By chance three years ago, we had some common milkweed (asclepias syriaca) show up in a clump of coneflowers we have growing by the light post in our driveway. Our normal reaction would have been to pull the milkweed out. It grows in some of the wilder part of the yard, but Judy had heard that some milkweed were endangered and that they were a plant that Monarch butterflies prefer, so we let it take over part of the area around the light post.

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You could probably call me all of the above right now since I just ate a mouthful of garlic scape pesto pasta! It was a little stronger and hotter than I was expecting probably due to the fact that the scapes were more 'mature' than they should have been.

I harvested about 2/3 of our garlic yesterday. Noel planted about 100 cloves last October 27th (see his blog). As you can see from the picture they are a good size – that circular spot at the bottom of the picture is a quarter.

Believe it or not I was up at 5:45 AM on a Saturday pulling garlic. I happened to be awake and was getting nervous about the garlic getting over ripe. (I also hoped that the mosquitoes would still be sleeping but I guessed wrong.) Last year ('06/'07) was the first time we had planted a variety of hard necks. I let them get too mature and the bulbs didn't keep as long. I kept waiting for the tops to fall over. Well guess what? These are hard necks not the soft necks that we'd been planting for years.

The soil was just about the perfect consistency for harvesting. If you need a little extra help getting the garlic out without breaking it you can use a garden fork or the CobraHead. Just make sure you push the blade way down at least an inch behind the bulb and come up under it so you don't damage it. The soft necks tend to break off easier so you're more likely to need some extra help.

As you can see in the picture I like to wash and trim it before I let it age. This only works if you harvest it before it gets too papery with the cloves separating. Once it gets that far just let it cure and hope for the best. I lost more than a few last year to mold (and not because I washed it) and lost a few more before the year was up because they dried up.

The one constant thing you can say about gardening is that there are new lessons to be learned each year!

Wisconsin has seen some record rainfalls in the past month. We are in the drainage basin of the Rock River, which eventually empties into the Mississippi River by Rock Island, Illinois. The huge rains contributed to flooding of the Rock and its tributary rivers and creeks, a lot of the flooding was extremely severe and damaging. Many of the farm fields around us still have acres of new ponds, three weeks after the worst of the rains.

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It's been gardening on the run for me, this year. Too many garden shows on weekends. I'm late on getting almost everything into the ground. I'm not giving up, however. While you can't say it's never too late when it comes to gardening, you certainly can push things well beyond normal guidelines and often get away with it.

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I took this photo of a couple of green strawberries today. I'm already drooling over what they will become in just a few more days.

When it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables, I've been a bit spoiled. I simply cannot enjoy a strawberry from the supermarket. Sure, they're huge compared to the relatively small fruits that grow in our garden, but when it comes to flavor there's no comparison. Our little strawberries get so red and so sweet, that any other strawberries just won't do. Of course, the supermarket strawberries are at a disadvantage. They have to travel many miles from the field to the store, and they can't be picked at their ripest or they won't survive the trip. Our strawberries travel less then a hundred yards from the garden to the kitchen -- or two feet from the vine to my mouth! There are a lot of good reasons to grow at least some of the food we eat, and the wonderfulness of ripe strawberries is usually at the top of my list (later in the season it's ripe tomatoes).

Sometimes we get too many strawberries to eat while they're still ripe, so my mom will turn them into jams and sauces to be enjoyed later. A household favorite is strawberry-rhubarb sauce over yogurt.

I can't wait!

Let's see – stir fried asparagus, asparagus egg drop soup, roasted asparagus, steamed asparagus, asparagus quinoa pilaf, asparagus risotto, asparagus stew, cream of asparagus soup, gifts for friends, snacks for the dog, etc., etc.

If you're lucky enough to have a patch of asparagus (thanks Noel) you are probably inventing new ways to serve those lovely green spears. We eat it every day for 3-4 weeks this time of year. Last night it was blanched & cooled asparagus on a bed of greens with avocadoes, onions & cheese.

Roasted asparagus is a favorite of ours. The spears are tossed with olive oil, minced fresh garlic, salt and pepper (or use your favorite vinaigrette) – and roasted at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or to your desired doneness. The more asparagus you roast the longer it might take to caramelize a little bit due to excess steam in the oven. I like it when the tops get a little crispy but to each his/her own. Roasted asparagus pieces tossed with roasted potatoes and a balsamic dressing make a very tasty salad and a lighter alternative to the mayo variety.

I haven't had much luck preserving this spring delight to our pleasant satisfaction other than a pureed soup frozen in quart containers to pull out as a winter 'fast food.' If anyone has a success story in this department I'd love to hear about it. Happy munching!!

Hello all! Just wanted to write a quick post to remind everyone that the Chicago Green Festival is this weekend at Navy Pier. CobraHead will be exhibiting in booth 1621.

The Green Festivals are organized by Co-op America and Global Exchange. They emphasize not just "green" trends, but also social and economic justice and fairly traded goods. The Green Fest will feature live music, renowned speakers, green films, a kid zone, organic food (and beer and wine!), and, of course, a variety of innovative green products (like the CobraHead!).

Bring the whole family, and join us for a fun-filled weekend!

We have been eating our homegrown shiitake mushrooms for about a week now but April 29th was the first day I picked a few spears of asparagus. They weren't very tall but who can wait to have that first taste?! We'll soon tire of the asparagus after 3-4 straight weeks of eating it every day but right now that green stuff tastes wonderful.

Speaking of green stuff I also harvested the first of the nettles. They seem to be quite prolific next to the compost pile. I've read a lot of good things about nettles and their spring tonic effect and even tasted them before but this is the first time I harvested and cooked them myself.

I snipped the tops (4-5 leaves) into a big bowl, washed them carefully without touching them and threw them into a pot of boiling water for about 7 minutes. The cooking does take the sting out! I then chopped it and sautéed it along with shallots, asparagus and shiitakes to add to the evening risotto. We drank the leftover liquid as a tea – at least some of us did..... it was like drinking spinach juice. Noel added honey to make it more palatable. Maybe next(?) time we'll incorporate into a fruit smoothie!!