The Food and Flowers Freedom Act

...Hall will change the law quickly and let L.A. become a leading center for urban farmers. Urban farming provides access to more local, organic, affordable, fresh and nutritious food. In this time of economic crisis and rising food prices, urban farming can help create green jobs and stimulate the growth of artisanal home-based businesses. Urban farmers help build community bonds and bring a truly local flavor to farmers’ markets. Angelinos care de...

Read…

Urban Homestead Wins Book Award

Our book, The Urban Homestead just won a gold medal in the Independent Publisher Awards. To celebrate we’ll throw in a back issue of Ripples magazine for the first twenty folks who buy a copy of our book off of this website. Ripples is, “A Revolutionary Journal of Seasonal Delight” published by the nice folks at www.dailyacts.org. Now that’s enough tooting our own horn. We’ll get back to posting when the dust settles after Earth Day and talk abou...

Read…

Start Your Urban Homestead for One Dollar

...The Lyth Cottage in Buffalo, purchased for $1. Photo: Buffalo Rising. Want to move to Buffalo, New York? If so the city has an Urban Homestead Program where you can get a house for a $1 plus closing costs. The rules–you’ve got to: Fix code violations. Live in the house for at least three years. Have $5,000 in the bank for repairs. Too cold a climate for me, but you can read more about the program and see some success stories at Buffalo Rising....

Read…

Weekend Tweets: The Orchid Mantis, Self-sufficiency and Self Driving Cars

...— Science Friday (@scifri) April 14, 2016 BBC News – What happened to the self-sufficient people of the 1970s? https://t.co/xLGArdjCKr — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 15, 2016 “We need to design our cities so you feel…like you’re missing out on all the fun when driving a car.”—Dom Nozzi pic.twitter.com/Cgm5KPbJXi — Taras Grescoe (@grescoe) April 13, 2016 DIY Thrift Shop Bug House Excellent project to do with kids.https://t.co/bHcwsBuxo1 https:/...

Read…

Growing Strawberries in a Self Irrigating Gutter (SIG).

...s article on this). Coconut coir, in my experience works great, but not in self watering containers. If you know of a peat moss alternative for self-watering containers, please comment. There might also be mosquito problems with the standing water in the lower gutter. This could be countered with a mosquito dunk. Advantages I can now grow food in an otherwise useless space–the top retaining wall in our front yard (we live on a hill). I can also, f...

Read…