Eat This City

From the Sky Full of Bacon podcast, a video on Chicago urban foragers Art Jackson and Nance Klehm: Sky Full of Bacon 07: Eat This City from Michael Gebert on Vimeo. Be sure to check Nancy’s website Spontaneous Vegetation for information on her projects and upcoming foraging classes in the spring....

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Waking up on New Year’s Day with the world of long crowing roosters

Now I’m not suggesting these guys for urban situations, but New Year’s Day seems an appropriate moment to survey the world of long crowing roosters. According to poultry expert Gail Damerow, writing in the current issue of Backyard Poultry Magazine, long crowers probably have their origins in Japan and have spread throughout the world through deliberate selection. Here’s a play list for your listening pleasure, consisting of a...

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Your Opinions Please

So what does seafood, terrible graphic design and urban homesteading have in common? Absolutely nothing, but we got your attention which we will now direct to the poll we are conducting on the right. Please take a moment to render your opinion, so that we can better serve you with a delicately balanced nori roll of information and helpful tips. Please note that you can vote for more than one topic....

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Hay Hooks–The New Hipster Accessory?

With so many city chickens I predict that hay hooks will become just as indispensable to the urban hipster as is the fixed gear bicycle. After years of hauling staw bales up the 30 steps to our house (to use as bedding for the chickens) I just broke down and bought a pair. A vaquero at the feed store intervened with a neat tip when he saw me struggling to use my new hay hooks to load some bales into a friend’s truck. Here’s what he...

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City Farm Chicago

for economically under-developed neighborhoods. City Farm is a mobile endeavor. The basic idea is to take advantage of some vacant land and, when the inevitable development comes, pull up everything and move on. Assuming that urban land is contaminated, the City Farm folks simply piled up about three feet of compost, soil and mulch right on top of the broken concrete and asphalt of its current location. All that soil will move when the yuppie con...

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Sandwiched!

Homegrown Revolution began guest blogging this week on the engaging new consciousness shiftin’ nexus known as Reality Sandwich. We’ll be posting there at least once every two weeks. Check out our first post, an urban homesteading manifesto, just above Jamye Waxman’s missive, “Celebrating Sacred Sex Communities” (No doubt Waxman will probably win in the hit count). As harangues are currently running low in our on-...

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Clicker Training Chickens

ere’s a video of a chick learning the basics. You can find others of this sort on Youtube: You might be able to find a chicken training seminar in your area, probably under the banner of dog training. With the rise of urban chicken-pets I think there is opportunity to be had in offering classes for would be chicken trainers. Googling around, I found this one in Lake Oswego, Oregon which is booked months in advance. Have you trained your c...

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Bike to Work Week

borhoods. A tip to the powers that be–first spend your money on making LA more walkable/bikeable and if there are any dead presidents left over for advertising at least try for some sexier imagery. Start with a look at Urban Cyclist–even the old codgers at SurviveLA know these hip kids at are on to something with their free issue #1. And while we’re not thrilled with the MTA ad campaign, we like some of the festivities planned...

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Mushrooms and Yard Sharing

et me know, or better yet if you’ve done it yourself send me an email. And yes, there is Paul Stamets, but some psilocybin freak stole all his books out of the LA library. Secondly, I’m writing another article for Urban Farm Magazine and I’d like to speak to anyone who has set up or been a part of a yard sharing program. You get extra points if you are in New Jersey or Philadelphia. I’m not looking for my fellow California...

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Saturday Linkages: Sedum Stumps, Chicken Steadycams and the End of the World

ist http://econ.st/KAOPVc Cornstalks Everywhere But Nothing Else, Not Even A Bee http://n.pr/Rlasks Why Phoenix is becoming more like Minneapolis: http://nyti.ms/V3Nwlo Central Valley residents tired of receiving L.A.’s urban waste – Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/la-me-central-valley-20121126,0,3069632.story … For these links and more, follow Root Simple on Twitter: Follow @rootsimple...

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