Land Girls

December 2, 2009

Mrs. Homegrown here: During WWI, Great Britain instituted The Women’s Land Army, a civilian corps created to replace male agricultural workers called into military service. These women were generally known as “Land Girls.” Yep, the rural version of Rosie the Riveter. By WWII, both Australia and the U.S. had their own Women’s Land Armies, too. It seems in some cases the women took on full-time waged agricultural work, and in other cases they forme...

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That ain’t a bowl full of larvae, it’s crosne!

Mr. Homegrown

January 21, 2010

Gardening, Self Watering Containers, Vegetable Gardening

22 Comments

Mrs. Homegrown, justifiably, gives me a hard time for growing strange things around the homestead. This week I just completed the world’s smallest harvest of a root vegetable popularly known as crosne (Stachys affinis). Crosne, also known as Chinese artichoke, chorogi, knotroot and artichoke betony is a member of the mint family that produces a tiny edible tuber. While looking like any other mint plant, the leaves have no smell. The tubers look a...

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Rapini is the New Broccoli

Mr. Homegrown

January 6, 2010

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

8 Comments

...dy bitterness I really love. I planted about 18 square feet worth and Mrs. Homegrown and I have been eating it for weeks tossed in pasta, omelets and on its own. Both the flowerettes and the leaves are edible. The plant continues to send up flowers even after the center one is picked, so you can get a continuous harvest for a few weeks. I’ve had some aphids, but nothing like when I’ve tried to grow broccoli or cauliflower. It’s a cool season crop,...

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Smurfs Team Up With US Forest Service

Mr. Homegrown

July 17, 2013

Thoughtstylings

14 Comments

...that the folks at the Forest Service would think this is a good idea? On a completely off topic side note–can someone tell me why the Smurfs wear phrygian caps? Are they revolutionaries? *Mrs. Homegrown would like to register her disagreement re: the hobbit/smurf comparison. Mr. Homegrown has an underdeveloped understanding of magical creature taxonomy....

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2013 in Review Part II

Mr. Homegrown

December 31, 2013

Thoughtstylings

7 Comments

...lications, believe it or not, incandescent bulbs are a better choice. Mrs. Homegrown pondered equine touring by reviewing an obscure book, The Last of the Saddle Tramps. Perhaps she was inspired by our 2012 siting of the 3 mule guy (one of our most Googled posts, by the way). August I consider summer to be our winter in Los Angeles. It’s hot and dry and, other than harvesting tomatoes, summer here is not the best time for gardening. Time to contem...

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