111 Cardoons, Medlars and Hipster Toilets

October 4, 2017

Fruit Trees, Gardening, Podcasts, Vegetable Gardening, Water and Power

...Angeles Bread Bakers (sign up for an invite to the monthly pizza party) Our 2010 post on cardoons. Our original post on medlars and a follow up post. All you need to know about Toto’s Eco Promenade toilet (with elongated bowl–round bowl version is here). If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitc...

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A Report from the 2014 Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa

Mr. Homegrown

September 15, 2014

Gardening

5 Comments

...eal draw for me are the seminars and panel discussions. Above, some of the leading figures in the Northern California permaculture scene: Toby Hemenway, Penny Livingston, Erik Ohlsen, Grover Stock and John Valenzuela. There’s also a huge vendor hall. I have to keep a tight grip on my wallet. Santa Rosa was the home of horticulturalist Luther Burbank and the local chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers is particularly fervent and knowledgeabl...

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Our new front yard, part 5: Constructing a meadow community

Mrs. Homegrown

December 2, 2015

Back to the Garden, front yard series, Garden Design, Gardening

15 Comments

...ke changes or fill gaps. Editing comes with the territory. If I’d had more lead time, I wold have grown more stuff from seeds and cuttings–so I’d have had more options and saved a lot of money. Isn’t that always the case? You pay for speed and convenience. I know this. But I really wanted the plants to have a chance to root down a little before our torrential El Niño rains hit in January. At least our money is going to a worthy non-profit. So, tha...

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Deep Work

Mr. Homegrown

April 11, 2016

Reviews, Thoughtstylings

3 Comments

...hat a computer science professor, Cal Newport, could be just the person to lead us out of our distraction with his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. The book can be boiled down to this: thou shalt schedule uninterrupted blocks of time to focus on single, important tasks. And, yes, that includes thinking about how we spend our leisure time too. If you allow incoming texts and notifications to define your day you’ll tu...

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Rucola Selvatica A Foglia D’ulivo: the arugula you’ve never heard of

Mr. Homegrown

March 7, 2016

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

4 Comments

...o used to refer to arugula (and many other greens) as the “Greek Viagra.” There is, apparently, a history of the use of arugula as an aphrodisiac in Mediterranean cultures. According to some sources, you have to cut the arugula with lettuce (a calming plant) so that the salad bowl doesn’t lead too directly to the bedroom. Find more arugula varieties at growitalian.com. Do you have a favorite arugula? As usual, I love hearing from our Italian reade...

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