A Prickly Harvest

sters immediately see the foolishness of not wearing gloves even when wielding those tongs. We know better, yet weR17;re feeling the the pain of a few dozen almost microscopic barbed glochids sticking out of our palms. But itR17;s worth it. Prickly pear fruit, despite those painful glochids, are one of our favorite crops here on our humble urban homestead (though, truth be told, a certain co-homesteader here resents the invisible glochids t...

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The Whip: A Homemade Moisturizer How-To from Making It

A quick little project: lavender infused moisturizer, two Calendula/plantain salves and a chamomile infused lip balm. Enough unguents to see me through Christmas. Note 3/16/13: When I posted this I never expected this to become one of our most popular posts.  Since so many people are looking at this recipe, I feel like I should let you know a couple of things about it before you try it. 1) The first is that it is not perfect. I love it...

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Looking for the Union Label

WeR17;ve got a bad case of Ohrwurm, a German expression translated as “earworm” and used to describe a song stuck in your head. Our earworm came after a search for union made socks and underwear on the internets recalled a highly catchy ad jingle from the roller disco era, “Look for the Union Label” (youngsters can watch it on youtube here). We looked for the union label and we were surprised to find it via a company c...

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2011 in Review: Urban Homestead Trademark Dispute

...and organizations including our publisher Feral House/Process Media, public radio station KCRW, Denver Urban Homesteading, and the Santa Monica Public Library. In addition DI successfully manged to get Facebook to take down a page about our book The Urban Homestead, that our publisher had put up, in addition to Denver Urban HomesteadingR17;s Facebook page. As of this date both of those Facebook pages are still down. The Electronic Frontier Fou...

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How to make a Calendula oil infusion

Love that golden orange color. ItR17;s prettier in real life. So finally I get around to finishing off this mini series on Calendula (pot marigold). This post will be on infusing oil, and next week weR17;ll have the one on salves. WeR17;ve already covered the growing and drying Calendula: Why not plant some Calendula Harvesting and drying Calendula Oil infusion is as simple as can be.  Oil infusion is soaking. Think of...

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A Prickly Situation

TodayR17;s post is for clueless white folks as our hermanos y hermanas already know this shit. As weR17;ve suggested before the rule with landscaping at the Homegrown Evolution compound is, if you gotta water it you gotta be able to eat it. But there are a few miracle plants, well adapted to Southern CaliforniaR17;s climate, that are both edible and donR17;t need watering. One of the most versatile is the prickly pear cactus, of whi...

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Real Estate Bubble Bananas

...prinkler head creates a nightly fountain as the housesR17; infrastructure lapses into a timer operated zombification. We knew the nice young family that used to live here and I hope that they were able to sell somehow, but it doesnR17;t look good. I started picking up the junk mail to make the place looked lived in. I also remembered that the backyard had both figs and bananas, and ventured beyond the gate to see how the fruit was developin...

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Legalize Flowers and Fruit!

Believe it or not, under current zoning laws, itR17;s illegal in Los Angeles to grow flowers or fruit in a residential neighborhood and sell them. Tomorrow the Los Angeles Planning Commission will review this outdated rule at a meeting in Van Nuys. If youR17;re in Los Angeles you can help by attending this meeting. For some talking points see the website of the Urban Farming Advocates. Positive change is coming to Los Angeles. The smog c...

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Citron

The Citron (Etrog) and its anatomy. I just attended a fascinating lecture by fruit expert David Karp on the history of the citron (Citrus medica) or etrog in Aramaic. IR17;ve only encountered citron in a candied form buried deep within a fruit cake. IR17;ve also seen the bizarre BuddhaR17;s Hand, another kind of citron popular in Asia as both food and medicine. What I did not know is the significance of citron in Jewish history...

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