Looking for the Union Label

...d a highly catchy ad jingle from the roller disco era, “Look for the Union Label” (youngsters can watch it on youtube here). We looked for the union label and we were surprised to find it via a company called Union House which carries a functional, if unexciting line of apparel. Unless hipsters take to golf shirts in an ironic fashion judo move, these offerings will never be cool like the domestically made clothes made by the union busting folks o...

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Why Urban Farm?

...r total up to four. Such are the cycles of life and death on the new urban homestead. Bryan Welch, who raises livestock and is also the publisher and editor of the always informative Mother Earth News, wrote an editorial in the February issue called “Why I Farm” in which he says, “There’s a Buddhist wisdom in the stockman’s cool compassion. The best of them seem to understand that our own lives on this Earth are as irrefutably temporary as the liv...

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Growing Potatoes in Tires

...potatoes which we just planted. As we did last year, we’re growing them in used tires filled with compost (see our surprise potato harvest in a post from last September). As the plant grows you add another tire to the stack, causing the growth of more potatoes. An alternate method, suggested by Homegrown Revolution reader Chris, is to dig trenches and mound up earth around the base of the potato plant as it grows. We’ve planted earlier this year,...

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What laundry detergent should I use for greywater applications?

...her people stew the nuts in water and make soap nut tea, which can then be used like liquid soap, for both hand washing and laundry. There’s lots of info online about soap nuts if you poke around a bit. I just remembered that I posted here back in 2010, asking for feedback on the nuts, and got lots of it. So you might want to check that out. If you’ve never heard of soap nuts, the whole idea might seem strange. But remember, all soap really does i...

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114 Will of The Weekend Homestead on Fire Safety

...e watered! Smoke detectors Fire extinguishers and how to use them Common causes of residential fires What it’s like to be a firefighter Will’s career in fireworks Upcoming and ongoing projects: outhouse, solar power, Instapot, apple orchard, and Will’s SKYBOX You can find The Weekend Homestead on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gma...

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