Is Urban Homesteading Over With?

...hat people are actually doing. Here’s what I found: Backyard Chickens Many urban homesteading activities are seasonal–in spring people start searching for information on chickens and vegetable gardens, so you’ll see upward spikes towards the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Judging from the results on “backyard chickens,” it looks like that it’s a trend that is growing in popularity. Some of this activity may be related to legalization ef...

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016 The Urban Bestiary with Lyanda Lynn Haupt

...ot Simple Podcast we interview naturalist Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of The Urban Bestiary, Crow Planet, Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent and Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds. During the podcast Lyanda covers: The effect of the drought on urban wildlife Invasive species How to get along with wildlife such as skunks, possums, raccoons and coytes The problem with relocating animals (except rats!) Moles and gophers Seeing raccoons during the day...

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Chicken of the Woods 2022

...es. That and our dry climate make this place not exactly a Mecca for edible mushrooms. This year a freak rain caused mold growth on the chicken of the woods that I harvested from my friend Lee’s backyard tree. There were also tiny mushrooms growing on the mushrooms (!). You have to hand it to nature to evolve a decomposing mushroom to decompose the decomposer. Better luck next year, I suppose. See last year’s post for more information on Laetiporu...

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Chicken of the Woods

...calyptus. The very same mushroom pundits suggest thoroughly cooking all Laetiporus. I can report having consumed a lot of the mushroom we foraged with no ill effects. It was, in fact, one of the most delicious mushrooms I’ve ever consumed. But one should not trust the musings of an aging urban homesteading blogger when foraging for mushrooms. Find yourself a local mushroom nerd or run it past your cats. That said, don’t be too fearful either or yo...

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121 Beekeeping, Fireworks, Solar Power and Extending Wi-Fi with Will of the Weekend Homestead

Will of the Weekend Homestead returns to the Root Simple podcast to talk about how to get into beekeeping without busting the bank, fireworks, rigging up a simple solar power system and extending your wi-fi. During the podcast we discuss: Inexpensive beekeeping. Fireworks. Will’s small solar system. Will on the Garden Fork Podcast discussing his solar power system along with part recommendations. Kill-a-Watt. Cooking with a Sous Vide machine. Bro...

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