Search Results for: label/fertilizer

61 results

Moonshine

Mr. Homegrown
Fermentation, Food
RLeave a comment
...de 020001″, ship it “Bulk, Truck, Bulk Rail, or Tank” and as Journal reporter Eric Felten concluded, “Cut it with water — preferably from a source that will lend itself to a pretty picture on the label — bottle it, and you’re in the vodka business.” As it turns out there is an art to good homemade moonshine — a far cry from the soulless mouthwash Archer-Daniels-Midlands turns out. Here’s...

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Stickers for the Organic Gardener

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
6 Comments
Via BoingBoing a clever re-purposing: “Evil Mad Scientist Labs wants you to proudly label your organic garden with these handsome “Now Slower and with More Bugs!” stickers, originally produced to adorn software products. The influence of the Slow Food movement is increasing, and gardening is getting ever more popular. Even the tech bloggers are posting about local pollinators and getting beehives. In this environment, it is fi...

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Plum Lemon Tomato Power’s Heirloom Tomato

Mr. Homegrown
Vegetable Gardening
1 Comment
...d those loads of melamine laced pet food from China, they did somehow manage to track 1,840 confirmed cases of food-borne illnesses in domestic tomatoes. Again, urban homesteading revolutionaries, GROW YOUR OWN! We found that label and it’s a tomato called “Power’s Heirloom”. Here’s how the Seed Saver’s exchange catalog copy describes it, “First offered in the 1990 SSE Yearbook by Bruce McAllister from Fr...

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Backyard Orchard Culture

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening
7 Comments
...ke crazy! Mulching brings bioactivity to the soil, reduces weeds and saves water.Use 2 to 4 inches–according to research less than 2-inches is bad, more than 4 a waste of effort.  Fertilize fruit trees with with organic fertilizer low in nitrogen and high in potassium and phosphorus. Nitrogen promotes vegetative growth at the expense of fruit and, again, you get a tree that’s too tall to manage. Fertilizers should also contain humic a...

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Humanure Dry Toilet Made From a Milk Crate

Mr. Homegrown
Composting, Design, How-to, Humanure
29 Comments
Modern toilets take two valuable resources, water and nitrogen rich human waste, and combine the two to create a problem: sewage. In a dry or “humanure” toilet, you cover your deposits with a layer of non-toxic sawdust. Once the toilet is full you dump the contents into your outdoor humanure pile and compost the waste at high temperatures for at least a year. You can then use that compost as fertilizer for plants. The ubiquitous fiv...

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Homegrown Evolution in Chicago

Mr. Homegrown
Events
2 Comments
...sun per day in your yard, balcony, or roof and enough water to keep the reservoir full. No weeding, no mulching, no worries. You’ll go home with:–Plant-ready two-bucket sub-irrigated planter (SIP).–Enough potting mix, organic fertilizer, and powdered lime to plant your tomato.–An organic heirloom tomato plant, from the Green Roof Growers seed-starting group–Comprehensive understanding of how SIPs work and how to plant yours once you get home. MAY...

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Humanure Happens

Mr. Homegrown
Humanure
7 Comments
...manure.” The editors of the Old Farmer’s Almanac 2010, where I found that quote, deemed it necessary to tack on a disclaimer, “Human waste, as well as that of dogs and cats, is not recommended as manure for fertilizer today.” But after fielding a couple of calls from journalists interested in the subject of composting human waste, I’m thinking that humanure is about to get serious consideration again. After all, why...

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Fish Don’t Fart

Mr. Homegrown
Aquaculture, Preparedness
20 Comments
...s Guide which comes out of their work at Austin’s Rhizome Collective. What all of these efforts have in common is a permacultural design principle of turning a waste product into a resource and closing a loop. Fish make fertilizer and plants clean water, so why not combine the two? I’d like to hear stories from ordinary folks who have tried aquaponics on a small scale. If that’s you, leave a comment!...

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Root Knot Nematodes, Meliodogyne spp.

Homegrown Neighbor
Pests
12 Comments
...’s roots and robbing it of nutrients. This weakens the overall root system, starves the plant and allows entry points for fungus and disease. Bad stuff. I have had plants that mysteriously won’t grow. No amount of fertilizer, water or sunlight seems to make them happy. Then, I pull out the plant and find the tell-tale sign of root knot nematodes- galls on the roots. The roots are stunted and distorted. They look like they are covered...

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