Planting a Mini-Orchard

Ignore the bucket in this illustration! See update below. Update 3/13/2011: I met Brad Lancaster last night and he told me that he and Art Ludwig no longer use the upside down bucket described in this post. The reason is that detergents can build up in the hole. In my experience the bucket was also an unnecessary step. While I have a clay soil, the hillside drains fairly well. A properly sized mulch basin should suffice to allow greywater to infi...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: Styrofoam Catamarans, Bulb Mistakes and Luxury Bunkers

...://t.co/Du53Wi0rDf via @thr — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 29, 2016 Bikes shipped in boxes with TV set printed on box suffer less delivery damage https://t.co/yuMp7iVVKh — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 26, 2016 Garden hermit needed. Apply within. https://t.co/DQyD5TaVyH via @BostonGlobe — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 24, 2016 The soft sexism of functioning pockets https://t.co/TC0vt2HU25 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 23...

Read…

California’s Drought and What To Do About It

...fe fights with a bikini clad Sting will break out and we’ll be trading our bikes for rides on the over-sized worms emerging from our compost bins. But I digress. Let’s cover what we’re doing at the Root Simple compound. We’ve expanded our drought tolerant plantings over the past few years. These plants use less water and encourage beneficial wildlife. I consider them part of the vegetable garden, in a way. I just made a major change to our laundry...

Read…

Protected Bike Lanes

...ry about fully protected bike lanes like they have in Europe. Far too many bikes languish in the garage because our cities feel like a game of Frogger. Right hooks–what happens when a distracted motorist turns right and hits a cyclist going straight–are one of the main objections to protected bike lanes. This proposal from the George Mason University 2014 Cameron Rian Hays Outside the Box Competition addresses the right hook problem. This type of...

Read…

The Elf and Ethics

...ansition period from hulking Hummers to lightweight human and battery powered vehicles. Is the greater risk I’m taking (by choosing a lightweight vehicle over an SUV) worth the ethical/ecological benefit? If everyone else is driving a big heavy vehicle don’t I need one too? Separating bikes and cars partially solves this conundrum to some extent, but not for transitional vehicles like the Elf. I would not want to see an Elf on a bike path and I’d...

Read…