Primitive Grain Storage Technique

...-age style (c. 400 BCE.). Turns out all you need to do is dig a pit in the soil. The pits they dug are circular, and look to be 2 or 3 feet in diameter, and maybe 3 or 4 feet deep. So you may ask, how can you pour grain into a hole in the ground and expect it to keep? The secret is a clay cap on the top. In the screen grab below you can see the cap and some feet for scale: If you go to YouTube, you can watch this sequence starting around 52:36, bu...

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Favorite Plants- New Zealand Spinach

...rowing wild among the rocks right along the ocean, so it can handle saline soils. This is a very robust plant. It tolerates drought, bugs, salt and poor soil. And it does much better in heat than true spinach which just bolts in Southern California’s heat. New Zealand spinach can be grown in the summer when other greens may not grow so well. My front garden be is pretty much all New Zealand spinach now. The drip watering system broke and most of t...

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Daikon Radish!

...me combination of bad timing (not getting stuff in early enough), depleted soil and cold temperatures have contributed to a less than stellar garden. But in the midst of this failure we’ve had a few successes. Last year we made daikon radish pickles from radishes we picked up at our local farmer’s market. (see here for our post and a recipe). This year we grew our own daikon radishes. Like all radishes, daikons grow fast and are as hardy as weeds....

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Hops in Southern California

...k of scraping and painting the front of the house. Planting it in terrible soil doomed it to failure anyways. We’re experimenting with growing both Cascade and Nugget hops in a big self irrigating planter with the hope that we can transfer them to the ground next year or the year after. In the meantime we’ll improve our soil with another application of “craptonite“. Some hops growing links: Hop Gardening A list of Hop varieties for all climates Ho...

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Free Biodynamic Composting Seminar in LA on November 16th

...ecycles animal manures and organic wastes, stabilizes nitrogen, and builds soil humus to enhance soil health. “This is recognized as the finest recipe for growing crops in the world,” claims Jack. “You don’t need any other fertilizer or pesticides. This form of agriculture is ahead of its time. It grows the best quality food known today.” Come and be amazed at what you can grow! The seminar will be 2 to 3 hours long, but feel free to come and stay...

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