Go Plant a Million Trees

...crop of Mission figs, avocados, olives and pomegranates. And that pathetic vegetable garden I blogged about? My heretical thinking is to give up annual vegetables entirely and use the space to plant two small citrus trees. If I want vegetables I’ll put in artichokes which grow well here and return every year without any effort. We’ll outsource the misery of growing annual vegetables to the vendors of the farmer’s market. Watch for our interview wi...

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Saturday Tweets: Eating Ants, Bikes and LA as Heat Island

...oot Simple (@rootsimple) September 23, 2015 LA Gets More Added Warmth from Urban Heat Islands Than Anywhere in the State http://t.co/PU9msfbCRb via @CurbedLA — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 23, 2015 Dan Price’s underground home, art & philosophy on $5,000year – videos – *faircompanies http://t.co/B9DJHXQj7e via @faircompanies — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 23, 2015 The Vegetable Detective, Take Two http://t.co/TIStMrDQml — Root Simple...

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Saturday Tweets: Trade Your House For an Entire Medieval Italian Village

...Simple (@rootsimple) April 6, 2015 Six ways local officials can encourage urban farming: http://t.co/ysRVP84REp — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 11, 2015 Cover Crops Have Got It Covered Part IV: Planting and Managing Cover Crops in Vegetable Gardens http://t.co/a1nF2Xg3SD #aaatopblogs #feedly — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 11, 2015 Bicycle Powered Chili Roaster http://t.co/c2wgqEeOTs via @Natural Building Blog — Root Simple (@rootsimple) Apri...

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My Apologies to the Skunk Community

...ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQBA58VoGQ For years I’ve blamed the nightly vegetable carnage that takes place in our raised beds on skunks. The other night, our CritterCam (a Wingscapes BirdCam Pro ), revealed the culprit: raccoons. And they work in trios! No wonder it’s been so difficult to secure the beds! Given the strength and agility of Racoons, I’m surprised that bird netting has worked at all (though, I’ll note, only when that netting is fi...

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Of Skunks, Sauerkraut and Stoicism

...We were honored when the nice folks behind Stoic Week 2013 asked us to write a blog post. It begins, Practicality is why stoicism works so well as the philosophical operating system of urban homesteading. While Foucault and Hegel might help me navigate the epistemological frontier, when I’m staring at a carefully tended vegetable bed that just got destroyed by a skunk, you can bet I’ll reach for the Seneca. Read the rest here....

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