Camping on Halloween Night

...on the street with a bucket of candy, holed up in the house with a pumpkin beer or out in the woods. It’s said that the veil between the worlds is thinnest on Halloween night, and I’m willing to buy that, because somehow the air always feels full of potential. This Halloween night, I was camping at 6,300 feet in the Angeles National Forest. The weather in Los Angeles has continued depressingly hot and clear and dry, despite the arrival of autumn....

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Happy Holiday Weekend!

...It’s a holiday weekend in the US, meaning that, with the exception of our international readers, few people are checking the blog. You’re either gardening, brewing beer, burning a large effigy in the desert or constructing a giant wall around San Francisco. Down in LA? We’re sleeping with the cats....

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Is the Urban Homesteading Trend Over?

...Francisco. Sack noted a trend this year: fewer books on baking, bread and beer, which she linked to a rising economy. As she put it, people don’t have to make their own jam anymore, they can just buy it at the store. She is correct that interest in DIY homesteading books wane during good economic times. But I was curious to see whether Google search trends for DIY topics would back up Sack’s hunch. Above is the result for “bread recipe” searches...

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