Google Sketchup as an Urban Homesteading Tool

I just completed a new chicken run, greatly assisted by an amazing and free 3d design program: Trimble SketchUp (formerly Google SketchUp). While it takes some time to learn (IR17;m still learning!), this program helped me visualize the chicken run as well as estimate the amount of materials IR17;d need to buy. HereR17;s how I used it to create the run: Previous runs either did not work (chickens squeezed out and flew over) or were hid...

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Is Urban Homesteading Over With?

ot changed, specifically the uncertain future of fossil fuels. IR17;m not trading my trips to the feed store for a shopping spree at Hot Topic anytime soon. So I thought IR17;d plug a few search terms relating to urban homesteading into Google Trends to see what is going on. This is, of course, highly unscientific–Google Trends may just reflect media generated interest, not what people are actually doing. HereR17;s what I found:...

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Urban Permaculture Survey/Interview

Attention urban/suburban permaculturists. IR17;m writing an article for Urban Farm Magazine on “urban permaculture” and I need your help. IR17;ve created a survey/interview for the article: click here to take the Urban Farm permaculture article survey. Please forward this link/survey to all your permaculture friends–send it out far and wide–work that Facebook! If youR17;re critical of permaculture you are also w...

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Poultry Houses of the Ultra-Wealthy

Root Simple reader Christopher Calderhead tipped us off to a story in the Guardian on the plans by British hedge fund manager Crispin Odey to build a neo-classical chicken coop. Odey will, apparently, be spending at least £100,000 just for the stone. The Telegraph also covered the story and has more details on the construction, The temple’s roof – adorned with an Anthemia statuette – will be fashioned in grey zinc; the pediments, cornice, archi...

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How to Homestead

Homegrown EvolutionR17;s Self Watering Container video is up on the brand new site How to Homestead, described by its creators as: “the only site on the web providing you with a collection of how to homestead videos to stream or download. No longer relegated to the rural sphere, homesteading can be done anywhere and we are here to show you how.” With many homesteading activities, from chicken slaughtering to tortellini making, int...

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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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Another Chicken Fatality

We lost another chicken last night meaning that weR17;ve got something infectious. I didnR17;t have the stomach to do a post-mortem exam, nor would I know what to look for anyways (chicken CSI would make a nice class if only there were someone to teach it). I thumbed through Gail DamerowR17;s Chicken Health Handbook, but I donR17;t have much evidence to go on. I didnR17;t see any obvious symptoms other than a very small amount o...

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Chicken Coop Complete

Homegrown Neighbor here: As you may recall, I volunteer at a local high school where we have been working on building a chicken coop. Last fall we started taking apart the remnants of the old coop. It has been a long, slow process, but I am proud to announce that we are finally finished. The students did a lot of the work themselves and many had no building experience when we started. It was pretty great to watch them figure out how to use a dri...

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Los Angeles Chicken Produces World’s Largest Egg

Well, I exaggerate a bit. Neighbor Lora Hall rushed over this afternoon to show us an egg as big as the Dodger Stadium parking lot produced by her hefty Cornish Cross hen who goes by the name “Chickenzilla”. It was the same day that we found a tiny shell-less egg in our chicken coop. For your amusement weR17;ve lined up a set of freakish and normal eggs above. From left to right, a banty egg, one of our Plymouth RockR17;s eggs...

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Talkin’ Chicken

One of the Homegrown Evolution Hens taking care of our termite problem last week WeR17;re in the Los Angeles Times today “clucking” about chickens. We share mention with fellow Los Angeles urban homesteading bloggists Dakota Witzenburg and Audrey Diehl, who write Green Frieda. Witzenburg designed an amazing coop, complete with a green roof planted with succulents that you can see on Green Frieda here. In other chicken related new...

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