084 How to Make Your Own Cheese with David Asher

May 4, 2016

...ng. Hacking a fridge to make your own cheese cave. Using leftover whey for fertilizer and cooking. Making chèvre. How to store cheese. The cheese scene in Canada and the legality of raw milk. Raw milk cheeses in Quebec. To find out about David’s classes visit his website The Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking. If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can su...

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What is green water?

Mrs. Homegrown

December 10, 2015

Back to the Garden, Gardening, Water Conservation

1 Comment

...ome commonsense steps to allow life to develop in the soil: We stop adding fertilizers to our yards, even organic ones. They actually collapse the soil structure and make the plants into fertilizer junkies. Mulch, compost and worm castings are all a yard needs. We design our yards so they capture and hold rain water rather than ejecting it straight to the street. We leave the leaves. We keep our clippings and fallen leaves on our land, and let the...

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Designing the World’s Most Pretentious Garden Shed

Mr. Homegrown

September 13, 2016

Design, Gardening

11 Comments

...p of my “honey-do” list is a much needed garden shed to store tools, pots, fertilizer and chicken feed. After years of dragging my heels for years, the project went from napkin sketch to construction in under a week. I set as my goal to build the world’s most pretentious garden shed and, as much as possible, to use salvaged materials. Yes, I’m crazy. I have to admit that when British hedge fund manager Crispen Odey tried to build a $250,000 neo-cl...

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Straw Bale Garden Part V: Growing Vegetables

Mr. Homegrown

June 18, 2013

Gardening, Straw Bale Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

23 Comments

.... I had thought that straw bale gardening was like hydroponics–essentially fertilizer added to a growing medium. But the presence of worms and mushrooms indicates that well rotted straw bales are more like the kind healthy soil that supports a web of soil organisms that, in turn, help vegetables grow. Some of the plants, like this winter squash, I planted as seedlings. Others, like this cucumber, I sowed directly into the bales by making a little...

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Getting started with worms

Mrs. Homegrown

August 29, 2014

Composting, Gardening, Vermiculture

8 Comments

...ps. It should all be dark and it should smell like soil. It is not exactly fertilizer, but acts in some of the same ways. Vermicompost adds nutrients and good bacteria to the soil and help soil retain water. Plants love it. In a worm bin, your garbage becomes black gold! Worm bins vs. compost piles While vegetable scraps can also be put into compost bins, not everyone has the space or the time or the physical strength to maintain a compost pile. W...

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