Free Introduction to Permaculture

...on for creating sustainable lifestyles in the city. Learn how to cope with peak oil and the energy descent society of the future. Become the solution! Learn how LA can be a model for sustainable cities. This Free Introduction to Permaculture Class is an outline of the science and art of Permaculture. It will define the term, its history, its founders and the curriculum of the design course certificate, its ethics and foundations. It will describe...

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Our new front yard, part 5: Constructing a meadow community

...his sounds pretty straightforward, but once you get into the weeds (so to speak) it gets a little confusing. I wasn’t always able to decide what category a plant should be in. For instance, yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a seasonal theme layer plant, but it is low and spreading and works rather well as a ground cover when not blooming. It’s usually considered a sun-loving plant, but our sun here is not like normal sun, it’s SoCal SunPlus! ™ and...

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How to Roast Coffee in a Whirley Pop Popcorn Maker

...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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Weekend Linkages: Omicron, Belgian Houses and Farts in Jars

Spotted in San Francisco: some strange brickwork. Omicron could peak in U.S. fairly soon. Maybe. 30 Belgian Houses That Are So Bad, They’re Good The Getty’s Gift to Locked Down Los Angeles: 71,139 Ed Ruscha Vintage Streetscape Photos Digitized Column: He’s L.A. food royalty. He began with a taco cart. Let street vendors thrive TikTok Star Who Sells Her Farts in Jars Starts Selling Fart NFTs A Night at the Church of Salt Bae, America’s Newest Cele...

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Stellarium: A Handy Desktop Planetarium

...ous time to view a meteor shower (like the Persead shower that reached its peak last week). You’ll want to pick a time when the moon is not up. Or let’s say you want to have some friends over for some planetary viewing and a glass of bourbon (as happened last night at the Root Simple compound). In that case you might want to pick a time when you can also take a look at the moon. In the pre-personal computer era I used to use a planisphere. I still...

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