Planting a Mini-Orchard

...in such a way to also catch rainwater as it flows down the hill. Both rainwater and greywater work their way into the soil and slowly move down the hill over the course of many months. Since installing the greywater system we’ve seen previously sad plantings we did years ago of rosemary, wormwood and Mexican sage thrive. And we’ve got lots of nopalitos coming our way from the prickly pear plants. For more information on these simple, water saving...

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How to polish your silver effortlessly–with Science!

...aybe up to 10 minutes or so. 4. Remove the clean pieces of silver from the water and rinse with clean water and dry with a cloth. You could opt to further bring out the shine with some polish or a polishing cloth. The solution is non-toxic, so you don’t have to worry about wearing gloves, and you can pour it down the sink without guilt. Just FYI, I was able to do three consecutive batches of flatwear in the same water bath, although I could see so...

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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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How to Water Trees During a Drought

...Los Angeles County, sent me a note with links to these videos produced by the Forest Service. I like these videos because they’re concise, and the info is solid. Thank you, Richard! Thank you, Forest Service! The video at the top of the post is on watering mature trees, the one at the bottom about watering young trees–the two techniques are a bit different. Also, you can find more learning resources at Tree People. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...

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