DIY Sage Deodorant

...this in the original bottle, which is, happily, glass with a pump top. The label from the bottle even peeled off easily! Thank you, Weleda. Then I added about 20 drops of essential oils to the bottle, which holds 100 ml/1/2 cup. I used a blend of sage, lavender and tea tree. I can’t tell you how much of each, because I was fiddling with it as I went, but the sage and lavender dominate. I held back on the tea tree because it has such an assertive o...

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Your Open Floor Plan is a Death Trap

...re Service Fatalities in Structure Fires 1977-2009 Rita F. Fahy, Ph.D. June 2010). Let’s take a closer look at some of the unintended consequences of open floor plans and modern materials. Open Floor Plans U.L.’s research proves conclusively that open floor plan interiors create fires that spread faster and are harder for firefighters to control. Another trend in homes is to remove walls to open up the floor plan of the home. As these walls are re...

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Saturday Linkages: Fueling Up

Only in India DIY Six ways to reuse plastic mesh bags: http://collectedquotidian.com/2012/10/21/six-ways-to-reuse-plastic-mesh-produce-bags/ … How I Work: I’m Mark Frauenfelder, Editor-In-Chief of MAKE Magazine, and This Is How I Work – http://lifehacker.com/5954275/im-mark-frauenfelder-editor+in+chief-of-make-magazine-and-this-is-how-i-work … Free Heat for Your Home: Homemade Briquettes and Logs http://naturalbuildingblog.com/free-heat-for-your-...

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Saturday Linkages: Cat Houses, Office Gyms, Cooking in Compost and More . . .

A cat house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Makin’ Gourmet meal cooked in compost: http://www.7dvt.com/2012earthiest-roast … The Fixer’s Manifesto http://manifesto.sugru.com Short film about Safecast, the hackerspace-created, crowdsource radioactivity monitoring project http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/short-film-about-safecast-the.html … Vintage Cat House Designed by the Office of Frank Lloyd Wright – http://www.moderncat.net/2012/11/09/vintage-c...

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Tracking the Mood of the Gardener

Swiss chard from the winter of 2010 A Root Simple reader I ran into this weekend took issue with my assertion that fall is the best time to start a vegetable garden in Southern California. Thinking about it some more I think she may have a point. Some of you may have noticed that we have a new feature on the blog–if you click on an individual blog post you’ll see a list of related posts at the bottom. Looking at some of those older posts showed t...

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