How to Garden With California Natives: Lessons from the 2016 Theodore Payne Garden Tour

...nsible and thoughtful irrigation. We can transition away from water hungry lawns and plantings and towards California natives and other climate-appropriate plants. But we will still need to irrigate to establish those new plantings. And we should continue to irrigate mature trees. OK, enough with the rant. One of the great benefits of garden tours like the one Kelly and I went on this past weekend, sponsored by the Theodore Payne Foundation, is th...

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An Open Letter to Our Mammalian Friends

...then the possums. To the mountain lions of Los Angeles: maybe it would be best to stay out of our crawl spaces. You’re scaring our plumbers. To the humans of Los Angeles: you’re mammals too! What’s up with the lawns, corrupt politicians, freeways, ugly mini-malls . . . oh, wait this could go on forever. You drive like a bunch of jerks. Anyways, I hope you all get this memo. Don’t make me put up signs....

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Saturday Tweets: Dubious Tips, Growing Furniture and So Much More

.../t.co/6z1QVzSuQz — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 16, 2015 The Roomba for Lawns Is Really Pissing Off Astronomers http://t.co/3rqtzMThqe via @WIRED — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 16, 2015 Make your own compost Sensor http://t.co/OT6G3XpWSB — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 16, 2015 Don’t make bicyclists more visible. Make drivers stop hitting them. http://t.co/etbZAaifpP — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 15, 2015 Mexican farmers are trucking p...

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Steal this Book!

...or you can get an autographed copy from us over on the right side of this page. Tell your friends and family! Blog, twitter, friend, digg and yell! From the press release: The Urban Homestead is the essential handbook for a burgeoning new movement: urbanites are becoming farmers. By growing their own food and harnessing natural energy, city dwellers are reconnecting with their land while planting seeds for the future for our cities. Whether you’d...

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Shelter

...topics anticipated the non-hierarchical structure of the Internet. On one page you’re looking at Turkish rock houses, and on another geodesic domes built out of scrap materials. The lessons I’ve learned from Khan’s work are the importance of context (site, cultural, weather etc.) and the joy of putting hammer to nail to build something yourself even if you don’t know what the hell you are doing. Sometimes the most ramshackled comedies of architec...

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