...we̵7;re more the stern gin drinking types around here, but the citrus vodka seemed to provide the right note of tartness to balance out the sweet pomegranate juice. The name, Survivor, is in part a dedication to the plant itself. Pomegranates can survive with little or no water in terrible soil and never seem to need to be fertilized. As a symbol the pomegranate can be found in all of the cultures of the Mediterranean. From the Wikipedia ent...

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I̵7;ve always been uneasy with the moniker “urban homestead.” It̵7;s the title of our book (what else could we have called it?), but it̵7; not really accurate. The activities we describe are also practiced by suburbanites and people in rural places. And “homestead” is not technically accurate–all the readers of our book, I̵7;m fairly certain, either own or rent their property. The term is also load...

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Mrs. Homegrown here: Sometimes I hate this city. And county. Tonight I learned two things: the first, that the city thinks it would be a great idea to create a parking area for idling buses in the center of one of our most vibrant pedestrian zones; the second, that the county plans to allow the Dept. of Water and Power County Department of Public Works to level a gorgeous oak grove this Wednesday, Jan. 12th to make a dumping area for flood deb...

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Fennel is an invasive plant, and there are plenty of fennel haters out there, many of them our friends, but every year we let a stand or two of wild fennel take root in our yard anyway. We just had to pause now, while the fennel is high, to say that we love it, because it is hardy and beautiful and grows with no water and no encouragement. Feral fennel bulbs aren̵7;t as good as cultivated bulbs for eating, but we eat the flowers, the fronds...

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