The Great Beekeeping Debate

...g natural beekeepers, “hippies” and “bee-havers.” I haven’t heard “hippie” used this way since Spiro Agnew left this mortal coil. And Agnew would have been right at home with an organization that still has a ladies auxiliary in 2016 (in contrast to natural beekeeping organizations I’ve seen that are integrated and, in fact, made up of a solid majority of women). The question of how we pollinate millions of acres of monocultured crops in different...

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Saturday Tweets: Danes and Their Garbage, Big Food and #BlackCatAppreciationDay

...Wow! Cali to create the first farm-to-table community (7.4 acres w/ 540 houses): http://t.co/dHLqQ1MzhR @greenprophet pic.twitter.com/p1wRkDK355 — Danielle Nierenberg (@DaniNierenberg) August 20, 2015 Cool 3d printed chess set/succulent planter: http://t.co/FZzuclENbs — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 20, 2015 Why we don't trust Wikipedia, and only use them for straightforward info: http://t.co/ODbYhLjoet — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 1...

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Anne Hars’ Top Ramen Keyhole Vegetable Garden

...I did when I was using wood,” says Hars referring to the straw wattle she used to edge the keyhole. Straw wattle is a (mostly) biodegradable material made out of rice straw and plastic netting. You can find it at irrigation supply stores and on order at Home Depot. It comes in 25 foot lengths. Soil for the bed came from the ground, from bagged soil that used to be in the wooden raised beds and from compost that Anne makes herself. “I’m going to p...

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Recipe for the World’s Best Whole Wheat Pancake

...ur. Ferment for a long time with a sourdough starter. The heirloom grain I used is Sonora wheat, probably the oldest wheat in the Americas. It’s a soft, winter wheat traditionally used for tortillas. Recipe (based on Nancy Silverton’s pancakes) 210 grams starter 2 tablespoons maple syrup 3 tablespoons safflower or corn oil 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder The night before making these pancakes I take a...

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Reforming City Codes

...n and the Roman emperor Justinian inherited law books so bloated that they used their dictatorial powers to sweep them away and start fresh. We can’t do that in a democracy. I owe and apology to the many civil servants who, DRBREW points out, have to enforce contradictory and nonsensical codes. A few years ago I was part of a group that helped change the code in LA that made it illegal to grow and resell fruit, flowers or nuts in a residential zon...

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