July Linkages

July 7, 2009

Mrs. Homegrown seen creating a “hyperlink” in between gardening and food preservation duties. Over at Small Measure, author Ashley English is hosting a contest and giving away a jar of “lip-smacking Peach & Lavender Butter” to promote her upcoming series of homesteading books. Look for a new contest each month. English’s “Canning & Preserving”, published by Lark Books, will be available April...

Giveaway: What’s your favorite tip?

Mrs. Homegrown

April 23, 2011

Miscellaneous

203 Comments

We want to give away a copy of our new book, Making It . To make this contest interesting for everyone, we’re asking you to give us a homesteading-type tip to enter. Leave us a comment on almost any subject you’ve had some experience with: gardening, fermenting, brewing, sewing, livestock, foraging, cleaning, cooking, building, general common sense–really, it can be just about anything. And the tip doesn’t have to be big...

Behold the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter (Homalodisca coagulata)

Mr. Homegrown

July 13, 2009

Pests

4 Comments

I finally spotted my first glassy winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca coagulata or GWS for short) sinking its vampire like feeding tube into one of my hops vines. The GWS transmits Pierce’s disease, fatal to many grape varieties including my flame seedless, a gardening frustration I blogged about last week. For your enjoyment I captured a 1/2-inch GWS specimen and scanned it. Note that the GWS was harmed in the process, for which I’m u...

Erik’s 2012 New Year’s Resolutions in Review

Mr. Homegrown

December 31, 2012

Thoughtstylings

6 Comments

...head of time instead of playing catch-up at the last minute: I did indeed plan out the garden but nature had her own plans including a destructive series of skunk attacks. I’ve switched to a hands-off approach to veggie gardening inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka. Start a podcast (decided to make it a video podcast). You can subscribe in the iTunes store here (it’s freeeeee!). Clean up the graphic design on the blog and organize informatio...

Don’t Cut Down Those Sunflower Stalks!

Mr. Homegrown

November 9, 2011

Garden Design, Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

14 Comments

I learned a neat gardening trick at the Huntington Ranch this weekend: 1. Grow tall sunflowers.2. Harvest the heads but don’t cut down the stalk.3. Use the decapitated stalk as a trellis for beans, peas etc. Depending on your climate, they could last a couple of seasons. As simple as lather, rinse repeat. ...

Handmade, Homegrown Apron Contest

Homegrown Neighbor

October 30, 2009

Miscellaneous

4 Comments

Homegrown Evolution reader Pam Neuendorf has offered fellow readers a chance to win one of her handmade aprons. She sells her wares through Etsy, a website where crafters and artisans can sell their goods. You can see more of her aprons here. She has an ordinary day job but is a maven of craft by night. Pam says, “I love making aprons. They make me happy.” I am a big fan of aprons. They are useful for cooking, gardening or just lo...

Saturday Linkages: Chicken Hot Dogs and Toilet Museums

Mr. Homegrown

December 8, 2012

Miscellaneous

2 Comments

DIY Printing press made from IKEA drawers: http://boingboing.net/2012/12/05/printing-press-made-from-ikea.html … How to Build a Gypsy Caravan from Recycled Materials… http://bit.ly/S8pABN Gardening Home Depot’s Leaf Bags and their Eco-Terrible “Tips” | Garden Rant http://gardenrant.com/2012/12/home-depots-leaf-bags-and-their-eco-terrible-tips.html … Design High-Hanging Tea House Offers Suspended Getaway | Designs & Ideas on Dornob htt...

Digital Farming- What’s The Deal?

Homegrown Neighbor

October 31, 2009

Gardening, Thoughtstylings, Vegetable Gardening

29 Comments

Homegrown Neighbor here: So here in the world of urban homesteading things can get pretty busy. We can become so preoccupied with work, chickens, vegetable gardening, cooking, cleaning, blogging duties and email that we can miss some of the things going on in the world. I do like to occasionally check in with the world at large by reading the newspaper. I just read an article that I have to comment on. A recent New York Times article titled, &#...

In Praise of Disorder

Mr. Homegrown

March 29, 2008

Thoughtstylings

7 Comments

Loose chickens in Houston A neighborhood whose demographics fall somewhere between the extremes of the crack den and the country club presents just the right level of civic inattention to allow the urban homesteader to get away with many of the illegal projects profiled in this blog: greywater, backyard poultry, and front yard vegetable gardening, to mention just a few. Ideally you have a balance between order and disorder–neither gunfir...