Saturday Linkages: How to Wrap a Sari, Scotts Behaves Badly and America’s Finest Bathrooms

September 8, 2012

DIY

Tea House in Santa Cruz Built of Recycled Wood http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/2012/09/tea-house-in-santa-cruz-built-of.html#.UEktM61phus.twitter …

Bad Behavior

Scotts Miracle-Gro Fined $12.5M For Bird-Killing Pesticides | Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innov.. http://bit.ly/TykEUI

And this article from MNN explains why Scotts poisoned the seed: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/judge-accepts-scotts-miracle-gro-guilty-plea-in-bird-seed-case

Dear Scotts: Just Try, One Time, Not to be So S***y. | Garden Rant http://gardenrant.com/2012/09/dear-scotts-just-try-one-time-not-to-be-so-shitty.html …

Your cellphone is a tracking device that lets you make calls: http://boingboing.net/2012/09/04/your-cellphone-is-a-tracking-d.html …

The Unusual

Argentine Man Builds Giant Guitar-shaped Forest to Commemorate his Lost Wife | Inhabitat – Sustain.. http://bit.ly/NYOjks

America’s best public bathrooms: http://boingboing.net/2012/09/07/americas-best-public-bathroo.html …

The history and science of meringue, from a new book by Linda K. Jackson and Jennifer Evans Gardner: http://boingboing.net/2012/09/04/the

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Comopost, Compost, Compost

Mr. Homegrown

September 7, 2012

Composting, Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

6 Comments

As if I didn’t need a reminder of how important compost is to a vegetable garden, note the tomato above. It’s on its way out, but it grew with no supplemental water in hard-packed clay soil contaminated with lead and zinc in a hot side yard. Why did it do well while the rest of my vegetable garden did not do as so good this summer?

Homemade compost.

I didn’t have enough compost for the rest of the veggie garden so I bought some at a nursery. The homebrew compost obviously had much more life in it.

And life is the point. Soil is a living thing. Plants, particularly vegetables, need microbial life to thrive.

For more on the importance of microbial life read the USDA’s soil biology primer written by Dr. Elaine Ingham.

Don’t be so quick to clean up

Mrs. Homegrown

September 6, 2012

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

5 Comments

A lot of magic happens in the “dead” parts of a garden. Flowers gone to seed feed birds. Dead stalks support important insect life–from spiders to pollinators. Fallen leaves and sticks give habitat to lizards and toads and mushrooms and myriads of invisible creatures.

Yet dead growth is not attractive to the human eye, and around about this time of year we’re all itching to make a clean sweep of all that brown stuff. I know I am, but this morning I was grateful that I’ve procrastinated thus far, because I saw a flock of tiny little gnat catchers (adorable!) feasting on whatever tiny bugs live on the scraggy stand of fennel standing in our front yard, and a couple of hours later I found a flock of house finches enjoying the withered heads of our long, long dead sunflowers. I almost cut those stalks down yesterday, and am so glad I didn’t.

It’s a balancing act. If your garden is in your front yard you pretty much have to be tidy to appease the neighbors. If you have a small back yard, like we do, it’s hard to avoid the temptation to clear the decks, because everything is right in your face. Blessed are those with big yards, because they might have the option to keep the areas closer to the house tidy while allowing the “back 40” to go to seed.

I guess all you can do is keep the little creatures in mind and put off the clean up as long as you can. Leave dead leaves and sticks on the ground year round. Designate small corners as wilderness. The more you support all levels of life in your garden, the more your garden will thrive.

Fall 2012 Adobe Classes With Kurt Gardella

Mr. Homegrown

September 5, 2012

Events

I’ve taken three adobe classes with Kurt Gardella–and he built the amazing earth oven in our backyard. Kurt has a couple of classes coming up and I thought I’d help get the word out. He’s a great teacher. From an email he just sent:

Dear adobe friends,

Intro

Fall is a great time for natural plastering and interior finishing work. Interior mud plastering and installing an earthen floor finish the normal adobe house construction sequence. The first two classes listed below (choose from both online or live-instruction versions) will take you through this entire process step-by-step.

Fall 2012 Adobe in Action Classes

Class: Interior and Exterior Plastering (8-Week Online Class)
Dates: October 1 to November 25, 2012
Credits: 4
Instructor: Kurt Gardella
Fee: $500

Class: Floors for Adobe Structures (8-Week Online Class)
Dates: October 1 to November 25, 2012
Credits: 4
Instructor: Kurt Gardella
Fee: $500

For those of you who can be in New Mexico this fall, you might also consider the live-instruction versions of the above classes which will be held at an adobe building site near Abiquiu, New Mexico:

Class: Interior and Exterior Plastering (10-Day Live Class)
Dates: October 15 to October 26, 2012
Credits: 4
Format: Live Instruction near Abiquiu, NM (M – F, 8am to 4pm)
Instructor: Kurt Gardella
Fee: $500

Class: Floors for Adobe Structures (8-Day Live Class)
Dates: November 10 to November 17, 2012
Credits: 4
Format: Live Instruction near Abiquiu, NM (Sat to Sat, 8am to 6pm)
Instructor: Kurt Gardella
Fee: $500

More info on the classes after the jump . . .

Here is an overview of topics covered in both the online and live-instruction versions of these classes:

Interior and Exterior Plastering:
historical overview of interior and exterior finishes for adobe structures in New Mexico
importance of respiratory and eye safety when preparing and mixing plasters
overview of mud plaster characteristics and why earthen plasters make sense
summary of tools and materials needed for natural plastering
window and door opening reinforcement using reed mat
adobe wall preparation for maximum mud plaster adhesion
locating and testing soils for mud plasters
locating and testing aggregates for mud plasters and lime plasters
importance of work site and material organization for plaster work
fiber (straw) preparation and chopping techniques
sifting, preparing and mixing soil and aggregates for mud plasters
wheat paste production for strengthening mud plasters
casein production for lime paints
natural exterior mud plaster stabilization techniques (lime, cactus juice)
hand application techniques of mud plasters (base coats, patching)
hawk & trowel application of mud and lime plasters (leveling and finish coats)
basic mud plaster ingredients and recipes
basic lime plaster ingredients and recipes
calculating surface area to be finished and materials needed
troubleshooting mud and lime plasters (cracking, adhesion problems, etc.)
Floors for Adobe Structures:
historical overview of floor types found in New Mexican adobe structures – pros & cons
overview of helpful tools and leveling devices for floor installation
poured mud, mud brick and rammed earth floors – installation techniques and finishes
brick on sand floors – installation techniques and finishes
flagstone on sand/flagstone on mud floors – installation techniques and finishes
concrete floors – installation techniques and finishes, pros & cons
suspended wood floors – installation techniques and finishes, pros & cons
radiant heat in floors – advantages and disadvantages
importance of mass floors in passive solar design

Registration is open right now and can be completed directly online here:

http://adobeinaction.bigcartel.com/

Please e-mail me directly at [email protected] if you have any questions or need further information about any of the above classes.

Best regards,
Kurt Gardella
www.kurtgardella.com

A Prickly Pear Cocktail

Mr. Homegrown

September 5, 2012

Food, Recipes

9 Comments

In yesterday’s blog post I discussed how to juice prickly pear cactus fruit. Now, what to do with that juice. Thanks to Stephen Rudicel for improvising this recipe:

Prickly Pear Fruit Cocktail
1 part tequilla
2 parts prickly pear fruit juice
1/6 part lime juice
1/6 part Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
Dash of bitters

Shake with ice and serve.

If you can think of a catchier name for this drink, feel free to comment.