Search Results for: label/water conservation

367 results

Feral Tomatoes on the Bayou

Mr. Homegrown
Food, Foraging
5 Comments
While walking along Houston’s Buffalo Bayou, just next to a concrete plant and under a bridge we stumbled on some feral tomatoes. We theorized that some fast food meal pitched in the gutter found it’s way into this meandering, heavily industrialized waterway. The tomatoes separated from the cheeseburger, floated to the surface of the water and were deposited on the muddy banks of the bayou. Houston’s hot and humid climate sprou...

Continue reading…

LA Times Calls Vertical Gardens in a Dry Climate a Bad Idea

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Thoughtstylings, Vegetable Gardening
7 Comments
...d drip system. The sacks are calcified with irrigation scale. Even in an open-air setting, get close and there is a whiff of mold. It’s hard to imagine a less savory or more whimsically destructive system for a region in a water crisis.” Amen. We need more critical thinking like this, especially when it comes to schemes with “eco” or “sustainable” pretensions....

Continue reading…

We Are the Festival!

Mr. Homegrown
Bikes
RLeave a comment
Here in Los Angeles we’ve got a number of lame Christmas traditions including the low-rent Hollywood Christmas parade and the L. Ron Hubbard Winter Wonderland (no joke). But the lamest of all has got to be the Department of Water and Power’s annual Christmas light show, which turns one of our few parks into a exhaust clogged traffic jam during the holiday season. Worst of all the city bans bikes from the light festival in spite of t...

Continue reading…

Shiitake Happens

Mr. Homegrown
Mushrooms
11 Comments
Well, actually, shiitake doesn’t happen. It’s back to the drawing board for our first experiment in mushroom growing. We ordered a kit and dutifully followed the directions, but a combination of high temperatures and too much or too little water resulted in the result you see above, what looks like a cake with a skin disease. And even if we got a crop the cost of the kit was too high to make the process economical. The kit came pre-...

Continue reading…

Bean Fest Begins!

Mrs. Homegrown
Bean Fest, Food, Recipes
24 Comments
...end less. Every Friday from now through the end of September we’re going to be posting about beans. What I’d like to hear from readers today is bean cooking tips–do you pre-soak or long cook? Do you cook in water or broth? When do you add salt? Which herbs pair best with which beans? What are your favorite beans to cook? What would you tell a newbie bean cooker? Who taught you how to cook dried beans? Also, throughout this mont...

Continue reading…

Chicken Nipple Waterering Systems

Mr. Homegrown
Chickens
12 Comments
A question came in this week from a reader who has tried our deep bedding suggestion but is having trouble keeping the chicken waterer clean as a result. Chickens are certainly expert at fouling (fowling?) their water source. Which is why many people use nipple waterers like the one above. Chickens learn to use them quickly (they like to peck at things, after all). I’ve seen two DIY options: the simplest is a suspended five gallon bucket...

Continue reading…

Worm Composting

Mr. Homegrown
Composting, Gardening, Vermiculture
2 Comments
...t. Unlike our present lazy composting methods, worm composting requires a certain amount of time and effort. When you start a worm composting system you are acquiring pets – worm pets, that need just the right amount of water (too much and they’ll drown, too little and they will be unhappy), and food (if all your meals are at In and Out Burger they won’t get enough grub or if you are some kind of hippie vegan they won’t be...

Continue reading…

Everlasting Flower for Colds

Mrs. Homegrown
Domesticus, Foraging, Herbal Medicine
5 Comments
...and try it out and let me know what you think. How to make the tea: Add as many dried flower heads as will fill the hollow of your palm (7 or so? A very modest amount–Cecelia was adamant about that) to 1 cup of boiling water. Cover the cup and let it sit for 10 minutes or so–a good long steep.  It doesn’t taste bad. It does have the curious effect of sort of drying out the back of my throat–but not so much that it’s...

Continue reading…

How To Capture a Bee Swarm With Kirk Anderson

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Bees
1 Comment
...s to start your own hive. Why? Swarms, unlike packaged bees, are free. They are also local, meaning the bees know how to deal with your micro-climate. To capture a swarm you: Spray the swarm with a mixture of white sugar and water–this keeps them busy cleaning themselves while you . . . Knock them in a nuc box (a cardboard box that holds five frames–get one at your local beekeeping supply shop). Take the nuc box home and let them set...

Continue reading…