Search Results for: label/mistakes/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

491 results

Homesteading Disasters: The Skunk Menace

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Mistakes
17 Comments
Franky, I think our mistakes are more interesting and educational than the high-horse blog posts we typically churn out. I’m hoping, in fact, to collect our misadventures into a little booklet of homesteading disasters. To that end, I’ll periodically write about the latest problem around the Root Simple Compound starting today with how fun it is to garden with skunks. Angry red arrows mark skunk dig sites in our new keyhole bed. I know that I’ve...

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A William Morris Pilgrimage

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Design
12 Comments
...rne-Jones. It’s kind of refreshing to know that even talented artists make mistakes. In this case they painted on fresh plaster and the murals began degrading instantly. The murals are very dark and hard to make out. What does work is Morris’ pattern work on the ceiling. While in Oxford we stopped by the Ashmolean museum which currently has a really great show of Pre-Raphaelite drawings. From Oxford we headed towards Morris’ Kelmscott manor. On th...

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Timing Sourdough Feeding

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Bread, Food
12 Comments
...ndication that it’s active and full of CO2 bubbles. One of the most common mistakes with beginning sourdough bakers is not feeding the starter enough (you should feed at least once a day or put it in the refrigerator if you’re not going to use it) and trying to make a loaf with sourdough that’s been sitting too long after its last feeding. To review my process: The night before I make bread I mix one tablespoon of starter with 50 grams of whole wh...

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Rain- The Best Gift of All

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rainwater harvesting
14 Comments
...But these are home made rain barrels and I have lived and learned from my mistakes. But I do get to harvest a decent amount of water and it feels very satisfying to see that barrel full after only a light rain. So due to the mosquito issue, I use my harvested rain water as soon as possible. Once the soil has dried out, usually just a couple of days later, I attach a hose to the barrel and let it drain. I will set it in the garden and move it arou...

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Boozing Bees

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Animals, Bees
1 Comment
...at proved that even fungicides, thought to be safe, can impact bee colonies. In over a hundred years of tinkering with chemicals and bees we’re still making stupid mistakes. In addition to that whiskey there’s a lot of other things we shouldn’t be dosing bees with....

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