069 Understanding Roots with Robert Kourik

...lant fruit trees and the intricacies of how to water trees, vegetables and native plants. Then we delve deep into drip irrigation, dynamic accumulators and phytoremediation. If you’d like to pick up a copy of one of Robert’s books visit robertkourik.com. If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitche...

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Monday Linkages: The Blob, Urine Soaked Acorns

...3/09/the-labyrinth-project-beginning.html … Homesteading weirdness 1859: A native delicacy – acorns pickled in human urine http://shar.es/Kkb0q How Japanese honeybees switch to ‘hot defensive bee ball’ mode when threatened http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/japanese-honeybee-hot-defensive-bee-ball-asian-hornet … The “Queen of Green”? You be the Judge by Susan Harris http://gardenrant.com/2013/09/the-queen-of-green...

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Book Review: The Urban Bestiary

...t these animals–these pests which overturn our garbage cans, scare off the native birds, eat our cats or scare the bejeezus out of us on the porch late at night–but we don’t, not really. We see what we want to see and understand very little. This book goes a long way toward filling in that knowledge gap. And with knowledge comes understanding–and maybe even peace. With some understanding, we can appreciate for the bits of wildness our animal neigh...

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Of paper wasps and scrub jays

...honey bee from a yellow jacket from a wasp–and we won’t even start on the native bees. Yet it pays to be able to do so, because each is quite different, and we can interact peaceably with all of them if we know their ways. Paper wasps, also called umbrella wasps, are those guys who build smallish, open celled nests in protected places, often the eaves of your house. Wasp stings are quite painful, but few people know that these wasps rarely attack...

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Pollinators and Power

...Beekeeper and activist Terry Oxford has a great new podcast called Pollinators and Power. The premiere episode features Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University. Goulson is the founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and author of many books on native pollinators including A Sting in the Tale, A Buzz in the Meadow, Bee Quest and The Garden Jungle. You can read a transcript of the conversation and subscribe to the podcast using your favorit...

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