Beans 101 (Return of Bean Friday!)

...h the beans. In the picture below you see the gleanings from my fridge and garden, ready to go into the pot. An oldish carrot, a couple of stalks of celery, half of an onion leftover from something, a garlic clove (I like more, but ran out), some red chile flakes, and a bundle of herbs. The herbs are just what is in my garden now: fennel, parsley, thyme and sage, all tied together. I’d use dry herbs if these weren’t available. I usually end up put...

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Saturday Linkages: Sink Urinals!

Sink urinal from Latvian designer Kaspars Jursons. Gardening Toronto Gardens: Idea File: Matt Gil’s garden works with the constr… http://torontogardens.blogspot.com/2013/07/idea-file-matt-gils-garden-works-with.html?spref=tw … Brace yourself: remove staking from trees! https://sharepoint.cahnrs.wsu.edu/blogs/urbanhort/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=938 … Metro rips out Phantom Planter’s flowers at Dupont Circle station: http://wapo.st/14UF668 Pee t...

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Arduino Homesteading Projects

...en source garden monitoring system). Includes links to other Arduino based gardening projects. Gardening moisture sensor/watering controllers An Arduino waterer that tweets! DIY Hydroponics Weather station Homebrewing Homebrewing Automation With Arduinos (Homebrewing.com article) Arduino Controlled Homebrew Stir Plate DIY UberFridge Controls Homebrewing Temperatures Cooking Sous-vide cooking Kitchen Timer Security Garage door monitor Arduino Secur...

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2013 in Review Part I

Straw bale garden: before and after. One of the side benefits of blogging is having a record of ideas and projects going back for years. I thought I’d spend the next two days looking at what happened, month by month, in 2013. January The main topic was how to deal with patellafemoral syndrome, aka bad knees. In May I did what I should have done 20 years ago: hire a personal trainer to set up a gym program tailored to my needs and weaknesses. Afte...

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Saturday Linkages: Holiday Edition

...erpriced, useless, or just plain bizarre: an anti-garden gift guide http://gardenrant.com/2013/12/overpriced-useless-or-just-plain-bizarre-an-anti-garden-gift-guide.html … Half Of Supermarket Chicken Harbors Superbugs, Consumer Reports Finds http://huff.to/JKYa1W Why LA’s local water strategy is like ‘Superman 3’ http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/12/13/40922/with-water-from-the-delta-uncertain-la-looks-to-ex/ … Bike helmets and safety: a case study in...

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