Shoemaking workshop in Los Angeles, Oct. 16-19

August 12, 2014

...s were custom made because they made them for themselves. We will start by making a 3D pattern of our foot and transferring it to the leather you select. Once the upper and sole are attached we move onto turning and hammering, closure and finishing and finally gooping the soles. You will get experience with patterning, cutting, skiving and various stitching methods you can transfer to future leather projects and of course, you will be leaving with...

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Nettle Mania

Mr. Homegrown

April 25, 2008

Food, Foraging, Herbal Medicine, Herbs

7 Comments

...inging nettles (Urtica dioica) are a common weed with a bad reputation–the plant has tiny spines that inject, as Wikipedia puts it, a “cocktail of poisons.” Miraculously when you boil the plant the spines lose their punch and you’re left with a tasty green consumed plain or incorporated in a number of dishes, from soups to ravioli, to the German cheese pictured above (thanks to Berlin corespondent Steve Rowell for the photo). When dried, the leave...

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A White House Vegetable Garden

Mr. Homegrown

August 4, 2008

Gardening, Thoughtstylings, Vegetable Gardening

3 Comments

...n garden: I’ll note that the last person to try to convince a president to plant veggies was the always forward thinking Alice Waters, the proprietor of Berkeley California’s Chez Panisse. Waters asked then president Bill Clinton to grow some vegetables at the White House. Clinton responded, “send me the seeds Alice” only to renege on the idea, claiming that it would interfere with the historic and formal White House garden plans. But what about t...

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Without Merit: poison in your compost

Mr. Homegrown

December 7, 2009

Composting, Gardening, Thoughtstylings, Vegetable Gardening

7 Comments

...y has instructions for performing a simple test here (pdf). Basically, you plant three pea seeds in a 50/50 blend of compost and potting mix and compare their growth against a control group of three pea seeds grown in just potting mix. If you use manure in your compost pile and you don’t own the animal it came from, this test should be routine. Secondly, a political solution: the Rachel Carson Council suggests writing two EPA officials to suggest...

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Apartment Parking Lot Gardening in East Hollywood

Mr. Homegrown

July 31, 2014

Gardening

8 Comments

...d cherry tomatoes in all ten squares as well as an additional grape tomato plant in an inexpensive Home Depot planter. The result is I have a TON of delicious cherry tomatoes for myself, family members and some of my lucky neighbors in my apartment building, not to mention bragging rights and a sense of eco-green accomplishment. These boxes can be easily made and you can even have all the pieces cut at your local Home Depot or lumber yard and you...

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