Mandrake!

...ivation of the plant. This summer season we’re surrounded by nightshade plants, tomatoes, ground cherries and eggplant. These common nightshade family members, as well as mandrake and the datura that the local Native Americans used for there spirit journeys, have a strange relationship to human culture, at once edible, sometimes poisonous, sometimes psychotropic. We think we can almost hear them talk....

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Roundup

...ndup used to be SurviveLA’s last-resort option. Fortunately there are alternatives. First of all we are mulching much more than we used to. Newspaper topped with leaves and twigs seems to work great, and the newspaper takes much longer than one might expect to break down. While not appropriate for our dry climate and incendiary native plants, it’s possible in wetter climes to burn weeds with a propane tool such as these. Ultimately, SurviveLA has...

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Saturday Linkages: And So On . . .

...e woods mushroom–more on this in a future post. Florence Caulfield and ‘The Illustrated Needlework Book’ This might be the most 2019 thing I’ve seen Sasquatch or Wendigo? Mysterious howls in Canadian wilderness spark confusion (Mini editorial: I think the native spirits are angry with us) Slavoj Žižek on recycling ecology and consumerism Bikelash’s Latest Tactics: Pedophile Smears and Conspiracy Theories Credit Card Skimmers Evolved: Shimming Faki...

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Straw Bale Garden Tour Part II

...growing are Tromboncino squash, Lunga di Napoli squash (growing up into a native bush), Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato, Celebrity tomato, eggplant and Swiss chard. And just to take down my smugness a notch I also included a shot of an unsuccessful cucumber plant. Other than the cucumber, though, this is one of the most productive vegetable gardens I’ve ever planted. I’m now a big fan of the straw bale method. The music is by Karaoke Mouse–“Shanghai Re...

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