I Ate 100 Power Bars

...n. Patagonia is selling food. Crossfit bros love butter and coconut filled coffee and flavored beef jerky. Bicycles are being used as a symbol of hipness in convention booth displays. “Regenerative agriculture” has been appropriated as the latest buzz-phrase by large food companies. Every natural food product is labeled either “pro-biotic” or “pre-biotic.” If one could distill all those booths down to one item you’d end up with a pro-biotic turmer...

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How to do fewer dishes and save water

...ntly, but I really like it. Erik and I now have assigned water glasses and coffee mugs to use throughout the day. By reusing these glasses and mugs, we’ve really cut down on the amount of washing we do, and also save water, which is becoming increasingly critical in our never-ending drought. We have very little cabinet space, so over the years I’d honed our glasses and cups to identical sets which stack neatly. This is great in terms of saving spa...

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Nature Fest this Weekend!

...one in collaboration with the Ecology Center, on container gardening, rainwater harvesting, bicycle basics, backyard chickens and food preservation. They’ll be priced to fly out of those boxes in my garage! I’ll also be doing a coffee demo at 1pm on both Saturday and Sunday and dispensing free advice in the booth for the entirety of the festival. Please drop by and hang out. And dig the book racks I built out of scrap plywood! See you this weekend...

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Tomato Can Stove

...ove based on the Penny Wood Stove by Mark Jurey for heating up that pot of coffee when the gas and electricity go out. It’s a bit simpler than the Pepsi can stove and doesn’t require fuel other than some sticks or small scraps of wood. The stove works on the same principle as a charcoal chimney starter and it is simple to build. 1. Use a 28 ounce can – I used a Trader Joes tomato can. First, drill a bunch of 1/8 inch holes in the bottom. 2. Next,...

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A Tour of the Homegrown Evolution Compound

...everybody else–there’s no room for a wheat field after all, nor do we grow coffee or a host of other necessary staples. But, we seldom buy greens at the store, and almost never buy herbs or eggs–we’ve got that taken care of in the garden. In the summer we have lots of tomatoes, and right now we have a few avocados. When the fruit trees mature in a few years we’ll have fruit. We’re hippies. Don’t get us wrong, we love hippies. We have no problems w...

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