Be a question. Be an answer.

...I find them so. Here’s a nice link to Ask Pauline with a pattern and instructions for making your own. As Pauline says, “Sometimes a lady finds herself a little short on cash. Better to spend what you have on good bread and good books.” By the by, I’ve also discovered two charities which give cloth pads to African schoolgirls. It seems that some girls in Africa miss school for a few days every month because their families...

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La Alternativa

...uxuries we in the US take for granted. As the Wall Street Journal article notes, Gálvez’s advice has included everything from salad dressing that doubles as hair conditioner, beauty treatments that consist of soaking in bread crumbs and warm milk, a flan made with fruit or vegetables rather than scarce corn starch and eggs, and laundry soap made from the jaboncillo tree. What we like most about Gálvez is that she is a strong proponent of ur...

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Zhengyalov Hats

A Zhengyalov hat (sometimes transliterated as “Jengyalov hat” is an Armenian flat bread stuffed with a surprising set of mostly foraged fillings which, according to this website, include, “spring onions, green garlic, coriander (lat. coriandrum), nettle (lat. urtica), chickweed (lat. cerastium), sorrel, capsella, mint and a special herb called either [sic] carmantyuc (kndzmdzuk).” It’s apparently a popular dish du...

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Country Wisdom

...skin and eat bear anytime soon, “Bear meat is dark and well flavored. The layer of fat should be trimmed off or it will give the meat a strong gamey taste” we did appreciate things such as the three pages of quick bread recipes (we’ll test some and let you know how they work) and the tips on using herbs. And lots of folks in our neighborhood could benefit from the dog training advice. Who knows, someday we may find ourselves sit...

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Free Preparedness E-Books

...g. And if you have any other favorite free e-book sources please leave a link in the comments. At some point I’ll direct the Root Simple staff to add these and more to our resource page. Food and Gardening Bulk Sprouter Bread Without an Oven B uilding Soils for Better Crops Colorado State University–Drying Vegetables Collecting, Cutting and Handling Potato Seed Everything Under The Sun: Food Storage for the Solar Oven Medicine Makin...

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California Homemade Food Act in Trouble

UPDATE:Good news! Governor Brown signed the bill into law yesterday, September 21, 2012. The California Homemade Food Act, AB 1616 would make it legal to produce non-hazardous foods such as bread and jams in a home kitchen and sell them. The bill is sitting on Governor Brown’s desk awaiting his signature. Unfortunately, the bill is under attack by lobbyists who want to stop entrepreneurial opportunities for small businesses. The League of...

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Saturday Linkages: Audio Jars, Cutting Glass Bottles and Assorted Rants

E.B. White’s letter to the ASPCA responding to his failure to pay a dog tax: http://bit.ly/wKIq9L Audio Jar – Open Source Speaker Housings: http://bit.ly/xV7II6 Bread geeks bring native wheat species back to Los Angeles | 89.3 KPCC http://www.scpr.org/programs/madeleine-brand/2012/03/08/25511/la-wheat via @ KPCC Working Undercover in a Slaughterhouse: an interview with Timothy Pachirat http://boingboing.net/2012/03/08/working-unde...

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Revised and Expanded

A revised and expanded version of our book, The Urban Homestead is now available everywhere books are sold and via this website. And we have a new cover thanks to our fantastic publisher Process Media. No longer does the woman stand behind the man! As for the “expanded” part, new projects include:• How to sterilize jars and bottles• How to make infused oil• Six ways to preserve a tomato• How to make soda bread• How to store grain w...

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The Best Raw Flax Cracker Recipe

I have to admit to not being a huge fan of the raw food movement. Now I think we should all eat some raw food, but many nutrients are accessible only through cooking. That being said, I like a few recipes that came out of the raw craze, especially flax crackers. My favorite flax cracker recipe is the onion cracker bread you can find here. This easy to make recipe requires no pre-soaking or sprouting.  All you do is mix the ingredients (onions,...

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Chairs, are they killing us?

Even American cats sit in chairs. The knee injuries I’ve accumulated running, hiking and fencing have a lot to do with basic flexibility problems. Mrs. Root Simple likens my inflexibility to that of a ginger bread man. So should I plant my stiff derriere on the nearest yoga mat? Or should I throw out all our furniture? I’m thinking the latter. Let me explain. Photo from Max in Kabul I’m willing to bet that tra...

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