Growing mushrooms in my yard, instead of having to go foraging for mushrooms, is a goal of mine. Mushroom growing is not rocket science, but for mushrooms to grow, the environment must be perfect for that particular kind of mushroom. On our hike yesterday, I came across a dead oak tree full of oyster mushrooms,...
Sugar Cake Recipe for Honeybees - Beekeeping 101
This winter feeding sugar cake recipe is an alternative to making fondant to feed your bees. From what I read in beekeeping magazines and online forums, it seems many people are moving to simple cakes of sugar, an alternative to sugar candy, which is a pain to make. We use these cakes in our winter...
DIY Insulated Inner Cover - Beekeeping 101
Here is the DIY insulated inner cover I built to prevent condensation in our beehives using easily purchased materials. All the hives we have lost have been in the late winter - early spring due to, I believe, condensation and varroa mite load. This year I am determined to eliminate condensation from our hives. Here...
Intern At An Organic Farm How To : GF Radio
Wondering how to intern at a farm? What is it like to intern at a farm? How do i get an internship at a farm? On GardenFork Radio we talk with a former organic farm intern, Sarah, our new GardenFork Producer. We talk about how to find a farm to work at, what to expect...
Eggnog Recipe How To Video GF.TV
This eggnog recipe is for classic eggnog, which is a bit different than the eggnog one buys at the store. Eggnog, is traditionally a milk drink that has egg, spices, and a bit of alcohol in it. Commercial eggnog has thickeners in it. The recipe for Eggnog is pretty simple, the variations come in what...
Re-Gifting is the new normal
I read the blog Brain Pickings - to me its a curated view of the design world on the web. Today they posted their Re Gifting API in the form of icons that tell the recipient its ok to regift the gift. The season of giving is upon us — a time to receive a...
How to make Sauerkraut Kinda Sorta - GF TV
We made a sauerkraut how-to video today. Fermenting green or red cabbage into sauerkraut is an easy recipe to make, and the possibilities are endless. Fermentation and fermented foods are on the rise, with their probiotic organisms and all around healthy food reputation. Making sauerkraut should be on the to do list of all urban...
Ice Fishing How To GF Radio
Mike and Eric talk about how to ice fish and other stuff this week. photo by digitaldunee
Don't Dump Me, Bro'
You can hear the discussion I had with Eric on "Tom Sawyer Composting" here on Gardenfork Radio. Here's the leaf composting bin I created just yesterday. 106 bags of leaves (mostly 30 gal. bags) gathered from around my neighborhood, shredded with a mower. Add a bit of high nitrogen fertilizer before the rains this...
Homemade Wood Stove Floor Protector
You just bought a wood stove, now you need a wood stove floor protector. Here's how to build your own wood stove floor pad and save money. A DIY friend of mine has fixed up a cabin up in the Catskills, and built this wood stove floor mat for his wood stove. (Also see the...
Start an Aquaculture Farm : GF Radio
How to start an aquaculture farm starts GF Radio today, as Rick has decided to grow vegetables using aquaponics and hydroponics. Aquaculture is a system which uses fish in tanks and plants in trays. Listen as Rick tell us how to start a low cost aquaculture system, aquaponics systems, and aquaponic gardening. The plan is...
How to cook a roast turkey or chicken GF TV
Baking a roast turkey or cooking a roast chicken is not hard. Our recipe for baking a turkey is a classic with an Eric spin on it. Mayonnaise. GardenFork.TV Roast Turkey Recipe How-To Buy the best turkey you can afford. The uber-organic ones are pretty pricey, I found a mid-range fresh turkey at the local...
Hotbeds
A couple of weeks ago Eric and I were talking on Gardenfork Radio about his new DIY Cold Frames video, and I mentioned winter gardening in hotbeds. I'd seen some hotbeds in the garden in Colonial Williamsburg, where they still garden the way colonial people did. Hotbed are like Eric's cold frames with glass on top...
Preparing Beehives for Winter
Here's how to overwinter your beehives & have the bees survive winter. We will do into the following steps that I take to get my beehives to survive winter: Note: I have an updated post on winter prep here, but below is a good read as well. Feed bees 2:1 sugar syrup with essential oil...
OMG - What Have I Done?
You've signed a two-year lease on what? Have you taken full-moon-French-leave of your senses...again? I can tell...She, Who Must Be Obeyed, is intrigued with the idea of my going into business for myself. "Well...technically I'm extending my Melissa Bee Farms business into new areas, opening new markets, joining the green revolution," I counter. "Besides, last year we...
Campfire Cookery Cookbook Giveaway
The publishers of Campfire Cookery were nice enough to send us a copy of Campfire Cookery: Adventuresome Recipes and Other Curiosities for the Great Outdoors , by Sarah Huck and Jaimee Young, to give away to the GardenFork audience. The book is full of recipes that you can cook outdoors, either in your...
How to defrost a lock : GF Radio
Joel the locksmith joins us to talk about how to fix a frozen lock, buying or renting the correct tool for the job, how to fix an iphone, and spy photos of prototype cars in Detroit. Joel asks Eric how to fix an iphone, and Eric talks about how he fixed his iphone using Ifixit.com,...
Can You Eat That?
She, Who Must Be Obeyed, wanted "a-big-mess-o-greens" last night...and cornbread. "Fine. You pick'em, I'll cook'em." So a while later she comes back with a big-mess-o-mess. "What have you done?," I ask as I sort through the bale of leaves She dumps on the counter. Collards, fine. Chard, fine. But what's this? "Honey, that's one of...