Saturday Linkages: Fueling Up

Only in India DIY Six ways to reuse plastic mesh bags: http://collectedquotidian.com/2012/10/21/six-ways-to-reuse-plastic-mesh-produce-bags/ … How I Work: I’m Mark Frauenfelder, Editor-In-Chief of MAKE Magazine, and This Is How I Work – http://lifehacker.com/5954275/im-mark-frauenfelder-editor+in+chief-of-make-magazine-and-this-is-how-i-work … Free Heat for Your Home: Homemade Briquettes and Logs http://naturalbuildingblog.com/free-heat-for-your-...

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Putting Your Civic House in Order: How the Young Members of the Family Help

...rried on each year to teach the special culture of such plants as peppers, tomatoes, corn, etc. ; that the organizing of garden clubs, rabbit clubs, poultry clubs, and so, on, should be encouraged and that exhibits should be arranged from time to time at the stores of local merchants, in the parks, or suitable places; that all possible aid should be secured from parent and teacher associations, civic and improvement associations; that children sho...

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Without Merit: poison in your compost

...wn on land sprayed with aminopyralid I could lose my veggies, particularly tomatoes, lettuce and legumes which are highly susceptible to this chemical. So what can we do? First the practical: test your compost. Washington State University has instructions for performing a simple test here (pdf). Basically, you plant three pea seeds in a 50/50 blend of compost and potting mix and compare their growth against a control group of three pea seeds grown...

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The Perfect Crisis Vegetable: Prickly Pear Cactus

...came with the house and another that I picked up a few years ago: Luther Burbank’s spineless variety that, well, isn’t actually spineless. My favorite method for preparing and eating the pads is to scrape them with a knife to remove the spines (you don’t need to peel the skin off). I then chop and boil the pads for five minutes to reduce the sliminess. Then I fry the pads in a pan with onions. You can also just chop the pads and eat them raw in a...

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The Strange World of Artificial Plants

...owers, but everything from corn to . . . hemp. Having a bad year with your tomatoes? Green Set Inc. will set you up with some fake ones: They even have a very large (and suspiciously shiny) fake zucchini: But I think my favorite fake plants come from a company called New Image Plants, providers of “The World’s Best Artificial Marijuana.” Customers? Marijuana dispensaries, the set decorator for Weeds and law enforcement! From their website: Across...

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