Search Results for: label/time banking

474 results

How to Make a Mosaic Stepping Stone

Mr. Homegrown
Design, How-to
8 Comments
...the little tile pieces against the sticky side of the contact paper–face down, or “good side” down.  The sticky paper holds them in place. When you’re finished sticking all the tiles down, it’s time to mix up some concrete. I used one part Portland cement to three parts builder’s sand. I poured my concrete into the mold and used some chicken wire as reinforcement. I just cut the wire into a rough square that...

Continue reading…

Cat Poop Compost Installment #2

Mrs. Homegrown
Animals, Cats, Composting
16 Comments
...er composting solution in The Cat Poop Portal post. It’s been a while since we reported in, and I’ve received some gentle pokes from readers, so this is an update. Long story short, it’s going slowly. At the time of the last post we’d installed a 50 gallon drum in our side yard. That drum filled up fast. We have two indoor cats now (I think we only had one when this started) and they are slinky little poo machines. Also, w...

Continue reading…

Film Industry Blocks Bike Lanes, City of LA Doesn’t Care

Mr. Homegrown
Bikes, Thoughtstylings
11 Comments
Film industry trucks block bike lanes all the time here in Los Angeles, particularly along busy and fast moving Sunset Boulevard. Shutting down a bike lane on Sunset forces cyclists to merge into traffic that is sometimes going as fast as 50 miles an hour. It’s a tragedy waiting to happen. Not much room between a fast moving bus and a film industry truck. As to the legality of blocking a bike lane I don’t have a good answe...

Continue reading…

Water Conservation

Mr. Homegrown
Water Conservation
RLeave a comment
“the price we paid was the price men have always paid for achieving a paradise in this life — we went soft, we lost our edge.”-Frank Herbert Dune SurviveLA was planning on discussing rainwater collection today, but we realized that we would be getting ahead of ourselves without first discussing what we call BOC, or boring old conservation. So before delving into greywater and rainwater harvesting it’s time to assess where yo...

Continue reading…

Support AB 1616 To Make Bake Sales Legal in California

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
4 Comments
...d.org. Many states have cottage food bills already (see a pdf of those states and the laws they have on the books). Those that don’t need one! In California, AB 1616 will help many people with home-based businesses in a time of economic uncertainty. Please consider making a donation to the Sustainable Economies Law Center to help pass AB 1616. See cottagefood.org for details of the bill and for a complete list of the foods that are covered...

Continue reading…

Why we moderate comments

Mrs. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
11 Comments
...y are irredeemably false: false discourse, false community. Community is something we treasure, and try to build, so we cannot let false comments stand. Real human presence cannot be outsourced to sweatshops. It takes lots of time and a deft touch to be a positive internet presence. Not everyone can do it as well. I think the most important thing is to have good product, and professional interactions with your customers. They’ll talk about...

Continue reading…

Garden Amendments as Placebos

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Soil, Thoughtstylings
9 Comments
...s, though by entirely different (Eastern) means. As he put it, “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” I think we would do well to spend more time investigating the intersection of human consciousness and ecology in the years ahead. Our survival may depend on it. Now, as Marshall McLuhan was fond of saying, “If you don’t like that idea, I’ve got...

Continue reading…

Easy To Make Furniture: Sunset DIY Manual From the 1970s

Mr. Homegrown
Design
10 Comments
...e era’s declining wood shop skills. Then, WHAM, the global economy and Ikea came along and wiped out the last remaining economic reasons to try to make your own furniture. That being said, I think some clever folks with time on their hands and an eye for discarded materials could make use of some of the concepts in this book. So start dumpster diving! Let’s take those scavenged materials and revisit the bean bag. Easy-to-Make furnitu...

Continue reading…

Waking up on New Year’s Day with the world of long crowing roosters

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
9 Comments
...y in eggs and greater susceptibility to disease in chicks. As Humans have bred long crowing roosters for thousands of years, it’s a reminder that people have been placing fun and entertainment before utility for a long time. An anthropology professor I once had speculated that the musical bow came before the hunting bow. Other anthropologists theorize that chickens were domesticated for fighting before people figured out the whole egg and...

Continue reading…