Search Results for: label/book reviews

330 results

California’s New Greywater Code: Common Sense Legalized!

Mr. Homegrown
Water and Power, Water Conservation
8 Comments
...r greywater. As for the practical side of this new law, I’d suggest that anyone interested in installing a greywater system keep it simple and low cost. I can’t think of any better resource than Art Ludwig’s book The New Create an Oasis with Greywater: Choosing, Building and Using Greywater Systems and his website oasisdesign.net. Take note of Ludwig’s free open-source laundry to landscape plan. And don’t forget, Ho...

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A Rocket Stove Made From a Five Gallon Metal Bucket

Mr. Homegrown
Appropriate Technology, Design, How-to, Rocket Stove, Water and Power
80 Comments
...no smoke, or almost none. These things burn clean. Let us know if you like the pdf and if you would like to see more similar instruction sheets (maybe in an ebook format) of these types of projects. There’s also a good book on using rocket stoves as heaters:  Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Woodstoves YOU Can Build by Ianto Evans and Leslie Jackson....

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Why Did We Change Our Name?

Mr. Homegrown
Miscellaneous
18 Comments
...ogging world is getting a bit crowded in the “urban homesteading” category. It’s time to expand the conversation and explore some new home ec related topics. We don’t want to become stale. Having a new book coming out later this spring, Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World , also makes for a good moment to update our website. Incidentally, for those of you trying to find an unused URL, I discovered that you...

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SIP Improvement

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Self Watering Containers
13 Comments
Watermelon SIPs on the Chicago rooftop of the Green Roof Growers We’ve featured self-irrigating pots (SIPs) in our first book and have done a lot of experiments with them over the years. One of the problems with growing tomatoes in SIPs is that the roots can get into the water chamber and cause problems and diseases. I found a nice workaround to this problem via an anonymous tip on a BoingBoing tomato post: With tomatoes, you need...

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Appropriate Technology

Mr. Homegrown
Appropriate Technology, Preparedness, Rocket Stove, Solar
6 Comments
Our rocket stove, pictured above, was mentioned on BoingBoing last week and we thought we’d use the occasion for a brief roundup of similar “appropriate” technology concepts. The term appropriate technology evolved out of political economist E. F. Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful and is easier to show rather than describe. While not always low-tech, appropriate tech concepts feature elegantly simple (but not simplisti...

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Build a Solar Dehydrator

Mr. Homegrown
Appropriate Technology, Preparedness, Solar
18 Comments
...lding this dehydrator. . Alternatively, the always excellent Build it Solar website has a whole bunch of solar dehydrator designs, including a nice cardboard version. And while you’re in the library there’s also a book by Eben Fodor, The Solar Food Dryer. As an added bonus to the tinkerers out there, take almost any of these designs, remove the top box, stick it in a window and you’ve got a passive solar room heater....

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Cleaning the Sink with Baking Soda and Lemons

Mrs. Homegrown
Cleaning, Domesticus
15 Comments
...will dry out your skin if you use it with bare hands, and you definitely don’t want to snort the stuff or feed it to your pets and babies, but it’s not bad for the water supply. I harshed on it a bit in our first book, but have softened my opinion about it of late. It has its uses. What’s interesting about Borax is that it releases hydrogen peroxide when mixed with warm water, so it not only is a sturdy scrubber, but also will...

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Greywater Guerrillas in LA this Weekend

Mr. Homegrown
Water and Power, Water Conservation
4 Comments
With the prospect of at least ten more years of drought here in California, greywater is a hot topic. This weekend Oak-town’s fabulous Greywater Guerrillas are heading down to Los Angeles for a weekend of talks and workshops. If you’re not in Southern California, make sure to check out their informative website and their new book Dam Nation. We especially enjoy the GG’s project examples. Here’s the 411 on their LA appeara...

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Saturday Linkages: From The Woodsman Workout to Crafting With Your Cat

Mr. Homegrown
Saturday Linkages
3 Comments
...ww. foodinjars.com/2012/09/fresht ech-jam-and-jelly-maker-review/  … Cats ‘n Crafts Catification: Creative Table Leg Cat Scratcher http:// jacksongalaxy.com/2012/09/08/cat ification-creative-table-leg-cat-scratcher/  … Book on Crafting With Your Cat: Kitty Jones Kitty Crafts link Fitness The Woodsman Workout | The Art of Manliness http:// artofmanliness.com/2012/09/19/woo dsman-workout/  …  Things to worry about Warmer Temperatures-New US...

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