What is a Swarm of Bees and What Should I Do About It?

February 13, 2017

...neybees in a Mediterranean climate such as Los Angeles. Speaking of which, peak swarm season begins earlier here than in colder places and swarms can happen anytime of the year including our “winter.” Image: Wikipedia. Basic Swarm Biology Swarms are the way honeybee colonies reproduce. As with all matters related to the biology of the honeybee, it’s easier to think of a colony as a single super-organism rather than thousands of individuals. Swarmi...

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How to Roast Coffee in a Whirley Pop Popcorn Maker

Mr. Homegrown

July 8, 2016

Food

5 Comments

...ll be dark brown. For a French roast: pull as the second crack reaches its peak. Beans will be very dark and shiny. Cooling the beans and removing chaff As soon as you finish roasting you need to cool the beans down as quickly as possible. Pour them into a metal colander or bowl. I take them outside at this point and pour them repeatedly between a colander and a metal bowl. The chafe will drift away in the process You don’t have to remove all of t...

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How to Avoid “Avocado Hand”

Mr. Homegrown

December 18, 2017

Food

6 Comments

..., I’m in the waiting room On a dirty hospital couch My hand is wrapped in toilet paper And my body’s wrapped in debris You’re sitting next to me reading a paper I put your arm around me For the record, though taste arbiters have long since proclaimed “peak avocado toast,” I’m still a fan. But I suggest keeping your hand out of the path of the blade when rolling your own avocado toast. Note the annoying animated gif at the top of this post for the...

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027 Michael Wittman on Biochar

Mr. Homegrown

December 3, 2014

Podcasts

3 Comments

...t made? Can you make it at home? Biochar and heavy metals How it improves soil texture History of biochar Biochar and pH How to use biochar Using biochar in compost to reduce pH How commercial biochar is made The Biochar Journal Biochar in animal husbandry The Biochar Revolution Blue Sky Biochar Facebook Page I mention an article from the Washington State University, Biochar: A Home Gardener’s Primer And thanks to Root Simple Podcast listener Max...

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Bees will love your Coyote Brush Hedge

Mrs. Homegrown

March 27, 2014

Bees, Garden Design, Urban Farming

1 Comment

...st at the Curbstone Valley Farm blog with lots of pictures. And here’s its page at Theodore Payne Foundation.) What I didn’t realize until our recent garden tour at the Natural History Museum, though, is that coyote brush makes a perfectly lovely hedge if it’s pruned up right. I’d never even thought about it. Most of the talk one hears about coyote brush is that it is sort of ho-hum in appearance but can be used to provide a background to the more...

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