Why Did We Change Our Name?

February 13, 2011

m. “Everything changes and nothing remains still …. and … you cannot step twice into the same stream.” as Hereclitus says. The publishing and blogging world is getting a bit crowded in the “urban homesteading” category. It’s time to expand the conversation and explore some new home ec related topics. We don’t want to become stale. Having a new book coming out later this spring, Making It: Radical Ho...

Content Mills: Pimples on the Information Superhighway

Mr. Homegrown

March 1, 2011

Thoughtstylings

8 Comments

Yes, there really is a “How to Get Rid of Pimples on the Buttocks” video on eHow. If only they had a how to get rid of eHow article. Google’s powerful search engine has become an essential component of the urban homesteading toolbox. From diagnosing tomato diseases to cooking Ethiopian injera Google has the answers. In recent years, unfortunately, low quality “content mills,” such as ezinearticles and suite...

Grab and Go

Mr. Homegrown

August 15, 2006

Preparedness

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ck in the days before SUVs people used to walk long distances without the benefit of convenience stores and fast food joints. Stay tuned for a detailed explanation of each of the Ten Essential Systems and some adaptations for urban situations....

The Boy Scouts Suck

Mr. Homegrown

October 23, 2006

Thoughtstylings

24 Comments

t the girls have got to whore themselves selling cookies. 2. Let’s teach our kids to make the world a better place without the Norman Rockwell fascist veneer. 3. Hipper uniforms. We suggest something like this. 4. An urban cycling merit badge. 5. All activities are outdoors. Lots of nature experiences. No computer merit badges and certainly no copyright merit badges. 6. Lastly, the SurviveLA Scout mission statement, borrowed from Edward...

Upcoming Classes: Edible Gardening and Vermicomposting

Mr. Homegrown

September 29, 2011

Events

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vermicomposting with a dry toilet or pet waste composting system* How to best use your castings in the garden* Tips for the apartment dweller* What to do with all those extra worms… And more! Nancy Klehm is a long-time urban forager and grower, ecological system designer, artist and intrepid soil builder. She spent over five years designing and running a closed-loop vermicomposting project in Chicago that used 100’s of thousands of worm...

Greywater Workshops in Los Angeles

Mr. Homegrown

September 30, 2011

Events

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around the world. Learn the “how and why” of composting toilets and urine reuse, see projects from Mexico, China, Sweden, Zimbabwe, and the United States. Learn about options for homescale composting toilets from urban to rural applications, operation and maintenance needs, and common problems and solutions....

A Review of Williams-Sonoma’s Agrarian Line

Mr. Homegrown

April 12, 2012

Thoughtstylings

21 Comments

Last week upscale retalier Williams-Sonoma announced an urban homesteady line of goods they call “Agrarian”. A number of Root Simple readers responded to the news after I linked to a Wall Street Journal article about the Agrarian line. One reader likened the “Agrarian” items to Marie Antoinette’s 18th century cosplay mini-farm. Another hoped that mainstream acceptance of things like chicken coops and beehives might...

The Great Sunflower Project

Mr. Homegrown

April 1, 2008

Animals, Bees

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Help determine the health of urban bees with a citizen science experiment called the Great Sunflower Project. It’s simple and free. Just register at the Great Sunflower Project website and you’ll be sent a package of wild annual sunflower seeds ( Helianthus annuus). Twice a month you’ll get an email to remind you to time how long it takes for five bees to visit your sunflowers. Sounds like it has drinking game potential, though...

Car Free in the City of Cars

Mr. Homegrown

June 27, 2008

Bikes

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ore info: Joe Linton 213/220-1608 This talk is sponsored by L.A. Eco-Village in association with: CICLE, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, and CRSP in support of the Los Angeles Bike Summit planned for the fallby the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. And a special thanks to Joe Linton and everyone at the L.A. Eco-Village for inviting us to speak last night!...