When You Can’t Stop Bringing Up Fungi in Casual Conversations

February 23, 2022

...iNaturalist. When Siegel was asked about the medicinal benefits of certain mushrooms he responded by saying that, “there’s a lot of snake oil out there.” Amen to that. I have to say I’ve become increasingly frustrated with some in the mycology sphere who are more interested in self promotion than in exploring the fungal world in all its majesty and complexity. Comrades, we need better science popularizers! I also had the privilege of taking a cult...

Read…

Chicken of the Woods 2021

Mr. Homegrown

September 24, 2021

Food, Foraging

8 Comments

...blogger. That said, we enjoyed two delicious meals of chicken of the woods mushrooms this week thanks to friend of the blog Lee. And, yes, it really does have both the taste and texture of chicken. Back in 2019 Lee alerted us to a secret stash growing on one of LA’s many carob trees. Our 2021 harvest was on another carob tree, this time on Lee’s compound. In the two years since that first harvest I’ve learned a few things about the edibility of th...

Read…

093 Micheal Judd on Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist

Mr. Homegrown

September 21, 2016

Gardening, Permaculture, Podcasts

2 Comments

...dd and our topic is permaculture, edible landscaping, straw bale building, mushrooms and even a permacultural approach to death. From his bio: “Michael Judd is the founder of Ecologia, edible and ecological landscape design and Project Bona Fide, an international non-profit supporting agro-ecological research.” He’s also the author of a new book, Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist. During the podcast we discuss: What Michael learned from...

Read…

DIY Sage Deodorant

Mrs. Homegrown

September 11, 2014

Body Care, Domesticus, How-to

14 Comments

...this in the original bottle, which is, happily, glass with a pump top. The label from the bottle even peeled off easily! Thank you, Weleda. Then I added about 20 drops of essential oils to the bottle, which holds 100 ml/1/2 cup. I used a blend of sage, lavender and tea tree. I can’t tell you how much of each, because I was fiddling with it as I went, but the sage and lavender dominate. I held back on the tea tree because it has such an assertive o...

Read…

Pasture Standards for Laying Hens

Mr. Homegrown

March 13, 2017

Animals, Chickens

4 Comments

...n pasture. That said, the non-profit that adjudicates the Certified Humane label has pasture standards. Here’s an excerpt from those standards relating to exterior access for laying hens on pasture: R 1: Pasture area a. Must consist mainly of living vegetation. Coarse grit must be available to aid digestion of vegetation. b. The pasture must be designed and actively managed to: 1. Encourage birds outside, away from the popholes, and to use the are...

Read…