Bee Idle

April 3, 2015

...rmingham, where we spent the day filming the first two instalments of our new online gardening course for eco-idlers. The principle is low effort, high productivity. Alys is a brilliant instructor and I wish I’d consulted her before I started growing vegetables and herbs. It would have saved me a lot of pain . . . We’re also organising an event with Alys for the Chelsea Fringe Festival. Her idea is that we create a Plant Cemetery at the Idler Acad...

Read…

Failed Experiment: Bermuda Buttercup or Sour Grass (Oxalis pes-caprae) as Dye

Mrs. Homegrown

January 31, 2013

Domesticus, Herbs, Mistakes

26 Comments

...t dodgy. Water quantity, as you will recall, is just enough to “cover” the herbs. For the record, I believe I used 3 tsp of both alum and cream of tartar in the first round, for t-shirt #1, then added 3 tsp of iron for round 2. But how much water I used, I have no idea. T-shirt #2 went in and I let it stew forever. The water took on a nice green color, but the shirt couldn’t even pick up the pale tint that shirt #1 had acquired. It was like the dy...

Read…

Whiteflies

Mr. Homegrown

July 18, 2008

Pests

2 Comments

...ison and Holmgren’s zones are easily miniaturized for small urban yards. Trees that don’t need much attention can go towards the back, the chickens a little closer and the vegetables and herbs can benefit from being close at hand. For additional information on whiteflys see the Colorado State Extension service’s whitefly quick facts....

Read…

Wild Food Lab: Foraging Taken to the Next Level

Mr. Homegrown

August 28, 2014

Food, Foraging

4 Comments

...is also the simplest: how to prepare the ubiquitous broadleaf plantain (Plantago major). Pascal gave me a couple of ideas for ways to enhance my bread experiments with seeds and wild herbs which I’m looking forward to trying. Do you have a favorite wild food? Tell us where you live and what you like to gather and work with....

Read…

Country Wisdom

Mr. Homegrown

November 18, 2006

Resources

...ld be trimmed off or it will give the meat a strong gamey taste” we did appreciate things such as the three pages of quick bread recipes (we’ll test some and let you know how they work) and the tips on using herbs. And lots of folks in our neighborhood could benefit from the dog training advice. Who knows, someday we may find ourselves sitting down to a meal of backyard squirrel and possum . . ....

Read…