Search Results for: label/simplicity/page/4/2011/04/making-it

356 results

Rain Barrels

Mr. Homegrown
rainwater harvesting
1 Comment
Constructing a cistern large enough to supply potable indoor water is an ambitious project involving pumps, filters, UV purifiers, and very large and expensive tanks. We don’t want to discourage anyone from making an attempt at it, but for most urban homesteaders it won’t be economical or practical given the space requirements and weight of thousands of gallons of stored water. Thankfully, there are simpler strategies for harvesting...

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Ridin’ On

Mr. Homegrown
Bikes
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SurviveLA was stunned into silence late Tuesday night upon hearing about cyclist Jen Diamond’s horrific accident which occurred early Sunday morning. Apparently a driver deliberately ran her down and fled the scene. To add insult to injury, the LAPD dragged its feet on the investigation until calls to Eric Garcetti’s office got the councilman to intervene and get the LAPD to take this crime seriously. Thankfully, Jen is recovering at...

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What to do with all those hot peppers: Harissa!

Mr. Homegrown
Food, Gardening, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
13 Comments
Lyn, a reader in Canada with way too many hot peppers on hand, asked us what we thought we should do with them. We have the same problem here this year, an overabundance of very large, hot Italian Long Peppers. Thumbing through some recipe books we realized that we had all the ingredients to make Harissa, a spicy Moroccan condiment. The recipe is simple and quick. We cut open five of our hot peppers, discarded the seeds, and combined them in a f...

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Cheap and Natural Handsoap–and a rant

Mrs. Homegrown
Body Care, Domesticus, How-to, Thoughtstylings
31 Comments
....  Ah, but yes–liquid castile soap is runny. Indeed. I can hear the complaints already.  The way around that problem is to use one of them fancy-schmancy foaming soap pumps. You can buy them at specialty retailers, but it’s probably cheaper to buy one at the supermarket, use up the soap and then start refilling with liquid castile soap. The one in our bathroom is an old Method pump and is still working fine after three years. The se...

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CooKit Solar Cooker Made Out of Wood

Mr. Homegrown
Solar, Water and Power
6 Comments
The nice folks at Solar Cookers International gave us permission to reprint plans for their CooKit solar cooker in our book Making It. You can access those plans, as well as many other solar cooker projects, for free, on their website here. I’ve made CooKits out of cardboard and aluminum foil a couple of times. One problem is that I eventually bang up the cardboard and I’ve got to make a new one. This summer I had a lot of  1/4 inc...

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Vote Yes on 2 (if you’re in Cali)

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
4 Comments
t removing animals from confinement will lead to disease outbreaks. Since these researchers get their funding from industrial agriculture, one can’t expect anything but biased, junk science. Given the funding situation, it’s also wise to view all extension service advice, even tips directed at home gardeners, with skepticism. We’ll be voting yes on 2 and, sorry UC, you’ll never see any alumni contributions from us!...

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Quick Breads

Mr. Homegrown
Bread, Food
6 Comments
...re easy, involve no yeast or rising times, and are nearly foolproof, which is why the knuckle draggers in flyover country like them so much. Now the problem we had in our boho days with maintaining a sourdough starter is that it required daily feeding–in fact it was a bit like having a pet–a very boring slightly messy pet that leaves moist and moldy flour all over your countertop. Sourdough is best for slacker cooking geeks who plan o...

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Your Essential Oil Toolkit

Mrs. Homegrown
Domesticus
31 Comments
...also order them online, where you can often get a better price by buying larger quantities. ] The Picks: Lavender Essential Oil: Soothing, universally appealing, and endlessly useful Put a dab directly on the skin* to soothe itchy bug bites Use it on small burns to speed healing and soothe the pain. Mix a few drops with a cheaper, nuetral oil (olive oil will do) and massage it into the skin to ease tired, aching muscles. Try the same thing for s...

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Got Real Milk?

Mr. Homegrown
Events
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Join Permaculture expert David Khan for a special two part lecture including a presentation by Mark McAfee the president of Organic Pastures (our source for Homegrown Revolution‘s cheese making experiments): Where:Audubon Center at Deb’s Park4700 North Griffin Ave.Los Angeles, CA 90031(323) 221-2255 www.sustainablehabitats.org When:March 3rd 2007 @ 10:00 AM for Introduction to Pemaculture Class and at 2:00 PM for “Got Real Mi...

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