Self Watering Containers

...ure that what you put them on can support the weight. Also, fill them with soil and water only after you have placed them where they need to go, since they can be difficult to move once full. Don’t like the down and dirty aesthetic of your self watering container? You can put it within a larger and more attractive pot if you’ve got the dough to spend. Check out our instructions on how beautify your self watering container. Now, apartment homestead...

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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...

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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:/...

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Waxed Cloth Food Wrap (Made in a solar oven for bonus self-righteousness points)

...tions. The oven floor is wide but narrow, so I can’t make wraps bigger than 11 inches square. The floor is actually only 9 1/2 inches deep. By wedging the cat food box higher in the oven, off the floor, I was able to fudge things enough to make an 11 inch waxed cloth, but that’s the limit. I may be able to fold a cloth in half for coating, perhaps layering the wax between the two halves. This is something I’ll play with if I decide to make more. W...

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Making It

...ctions for a wide range of projects, from building a 99-cent solar oven to making your own laundry soap to instructions for brewing beer. Making It is the go-to source for post-consumer living activities that are fun, inexpensive and eminently doable. Our goal in this book was to provide really stripped down, simple projects that use only inexpensive, easy to source materials. We also tried to use the same materials and ingredients over and over a...

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