Vermicomposting Class

vermicomposting with a dry toilet or pet waste composting system* How to best use your castings in the garden* Tips for the apartment dweller* What to do with all those extra worms… And more! Nancy Klehm is a long-time urban forager and grower, ecological system designer, artist and intrepid soil builder. She spent over five years designing and running a closed-loop vermicomposting project in Chicago that used 100’s of thousands of worm...

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Far Side of the Stairs

ncy-room”. But the brave folks at SoapboxLA were clearly up to the challenge and took first place in the categories of non-crocodile wrestling Australian and fiery high-horse Hungarian. But seriously, part of this urban homesteading thing is about whipping our communities into shape and LA needs a serious thrashing, and I don̵7;t mean the sort delivered by the ladies in the back of the LA Weekly. We need to make LA a walkable, bike-able...

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Santa Monica Legalizes Beekeeping

Last night the Santa Monica city council voted to amend their municipal code to allow beekeeping on single family properties. Now, legalizing beekeeping is a bit like legalizing sunshine. Bees, after all, do their thing whether or not the government permits it or not. For every beekeeper in an urban area there must be hundreds of feral bee colonies living in walls, roofs and compost bins. Nevertheless, Santa Monica took a big step forward, join...

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Make Your Own Damn Cheese

ce the curds in a piece of cloth, and suspend it over a bowl in the refrigerator. The next day the cheese is ready to form in a mold and serve. The verdict on Homegrown Revolution‘s cheesemaking experiments–though urban cheesemaking is somewhat costly due to the high price of raw milk, it̵7;s very satisfying to know that we can make our own cheese and patronize dairies that have more ethical standards. Or maybe it̵7;s time to...

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Clicker Training Chickens

ere̵7;s a video of a chick learning the basics. You can find others of this sort on Youtube: You might be able to find a chicken training seminar in your area, probably under the banner of dog training. With the rise of urban chicken-pets I think there is opportunity to be had in offering classes for would be chicken trainers. Googling around, I found this one in Lake Oswego, Oregon which is booked months in advance. Have you trained your c...

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Raccoon Proof Chicken Coop

Homegrown Neighbor here again: Things aren̵7;t always idyllic in the world of urban farming. Actually, they rarely are. There is literally a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into what we do. I̵7;m still recovering from a scare we had a few days ago. After two years of trying, the other night at 2:30 a.m. a raccoon managed to break into my chicken coop. My housemate and I were up there in our pajamas shrieking while the hens flapped and...

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Sandwiched!

Homegrown Revolution began guest blogging this week on the engaging new consciousness shiftin̵7; nexus known as Reality Sandwich. We̵7;ll be posting there at least once every two weeks. Check out our first post, an urban homesteading manifesto, just above Jamye Waxman̵7;s missive, “Celebrating Sacred Sex Communities” (No doubt Waxman will probably win in the hit count). As harangues are currently running low in our on-...

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Saturday Linkages: Sedum Stumps, Chicken Steadycams and the End of the World

ist http://econ.st/KAOPVc Cornstalks Everywhere But Nothing Else, Not Even A Bee http://n.pr/Rlasks Why Phoenix is becoming more like Minneapolis: http://nyti.ms/V3Nwlo Central Valley residents tired of receiving L.A.̵7;s urban waste – Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/la-me-central-valley-20121126,0,3069632.story … For these links and more, follow Root Simple on Twitter: Follow @rootsimple...

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Mushrooms and Yard Sharing

et me know, or better yet if you̵7;ve done it yourself send me an email. And yes, there is Paul Stamets, but some psilocybin freak stole all his books out of the LA library. Secondly, I̵7;m writing another article for Urban Farm Magazine and I̵7;d like to speak to anyone who has set up or been a part of a yard sharing program. You get extra points if you are in New Jersey or Philadelphia. I̵7;m not looking for my fellow California...

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Congrats Denver!

From the Denver Post:   Denver City Council eases way to own chickens, goats at home Apparently it was previously legal, but more difficult because you had to pay steep fees and inform all your neighbors. Now, thanks to citizen action by urban homesteaders, the fee has been reduced to 20 bucks and you don̵7;t have to inform your neighbors in order to keep 8 chickens or ducks and up to 2 pygmy goats. No roosters, natch. Congrats Denver! IR...

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