Search Results for: label/solar cooking/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

502 results

Novella Carpenter Update

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
6 Comments
We posted yesterday about author and urban farmer Novella Carpenter running afoul of the law in Oakland for “agricultural activities”. She has a clarification on her blog and some new, alarming information. She makes clear that she was busted for selling vegetables not growing them. The disturbing news is information she received that the people who reported her may have been animal rights activists upset that she eats her rabbits....

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A Bicyclist’s Bill of Rights Part II

Mr. Homegrown
Bikes
6 Comments
expect that those who endanger, injure or kill cyclists be dealt with to the full extent of the law. 5) Cyclists have the right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements. 6) Cyclists have the right to urban and roadway planning, development and design that enable and support safe cycling. 7) Cyclists have the right to traffic signals, signage and maintenance standards that enable and support safe cycling. 8) Cyclists have...

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Al Pacino Closed My Bike Lane

Mr. Homegrown
Bikes, Thoughtstylings
10 Comments
It’s the classic urban cycling problem: when faced with the indignities of riding in a car-centric city like Los Angeles, do you make it all one big fun challenge or become what Bikesnob calls “the righteous cyclist?”  Righteous cyclists, according to Bikesnob, are “convinced that the very act of turning the pedals will actually restore acres and acres of rainforest, suck smog from the sky and refreeze the ice caps....

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A Declaration of Independence

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
1 Comment
“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.” - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract What follows will be a practical guide to urban homesteading. In our troubled times, it would seem prudent to have a “plan B” in the event our modern conveniences should temporarily cease. Besides, by learning to “DIY”, you’ll cease to be part of the fat, pathetic, SUV driving, “American Idol”...

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The Sacred Chickens of Ancient Rome

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
6 Comments
overboard saying, “Let them drink, since they won’t eat.” Elektra Tig also found a drawing of a sacred chicken coop just in case some of you are looking for coopatecture inspiration: Maybe some of us urban homesteader types can put together a flock of sacred chickens for the US senate. By Jove, it would probably work better than whatever means of projection they are currently using. Update: Michael Pigneguy left a link on Face...

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A New and Improved Self Irrigating Pot System

Mr. Homegrown
Self Watering Containers
10 Comments
A very cool improvement on the self irrigating pot (SIP) idea from Larry Hall of Minnesota. Rather than the two bucket system we’ve blogged about in the past (see a roundup of our SIP resources here), Hall uses one long rain gutter to supply water. He’s even got a clever double rain gutter system for growing strawberries that I’m tempted to try on our back patio. I spotted this video on Inside Urban Green always a good sourc...

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Preparedness Now!

Mr. Homegrown
Preparedness, Reviews
2 Comments
SurviveLA staff attended a fabulous survival salon hosted by the Process Media/Feral House revolutionaries to promote Aton Edwards hip new book Preparedness Now! Aton’s informative and well designed book is a fresh look at a subject that is usually the domain of nutcase libertarians and Mormons. Aton is neither and the book has many useful tips for us urban dwellers with chapters on shelter, transportation, self-defense, and a collection o...

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Row Cover as an Insect Barrier

Mr. Homegrown
Vegetable Gardening
13 Comments
e in a cooler climate and want to use row cover for frost protection you would use a thicker product such as Agribon-30. Johnny’s Select Seeds carries Agribon row cover in lengths as short as 50 feet–plenty for an urban or suburban garden. I’ve used both PVC pipe and chain link fence tension wire as support. I secure the row cover down with pieces of rebar and bricks to keep out skunks. What cabbage worms become. ItR...

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Los Angeles Announces Parkway Cemetery Program

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
12 Comments
Merging interest in “green” burials and urban land remediation, the City of Los Angeles just announced a groundbreaking new program: parkway cemeteries. Like many cities across America, Los Angeles has a huge debt, $350 million to put a number on it. So it comes as no surprise that city officials are seeking innovative ways of enhancing revenue sources.  Most often a tangle of weeds and compacted earth, parkways have seen attenti...

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In Praise of Disorder

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
7 Comments
Loose chickens in Houston A neighborhood whose demographics fall somewhere between the extremes of the crack den and the country club presents just the right level of civic inattention to allow the urban homesteader to get away with many of the illegal projects profiled in this blog: greywater, backyard poultry, and front yard vegetable gardening, to mention just a few. Ideally you have a balance between order and disorder–neither gunfir...

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