Since it’s hard to find good rye loaf even in a big city, learning to bake your own rye really pays off. The unique chemistry of rye, especially when leavened with a sourdough starter, also means that a rye loaf stays fresh longer. Due to all that’s happened in the past year I’ve had to put baking on hold. When I get back into it I’m going to focus exclusively on rye.
Blog posting will be lighter than usual around the Root Simple compound this week as I’ll be at the National Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa, California. I’ll be collecting stories for the blog and podcast. If you’re planning on coming to the expo drop me a line at [email protected] or @rootsimple on Twitter–I’d love to meet you!
Peter Kalmus, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and our guest on episode 39 of the podcast, has a new book out, Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution. In the book Peter shows you how to slash your fossil fuel use to 1/10 the average and still live like royalty. If you’d like to hear Peter speak you have two chances:
Wednesday Aug 9, 7:00pm: Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena
Friday Aug 11, 7:30pm: The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles
Hope to meet some Root Simple readers at Peter’s talks!
I’ll be delivering a talk/rant at the on Saturday June 3rd in the South Pasadena Library Community room at 4:00 pm (refreshments at 3:30). In addition to the usual subjects of chickens, bees, vegetables and the home arts I’ll touch on some hot button issues I find equally important:
It’s freeeeeeee! The South Pasadena Library is located at: 1115 El Centro St. Hope to see some Root Simpleistas on the 3rd. More information here.
Western fence lizard (photo by Calibas)
Attention Citizen Scientists!
There’s a inter-city challenge taking place over April 14-18 which asks you to go out and document as much nature as you can over those days using smart phones and the iNaturalist app.
Participating cities include: Los Angeles (County) and San Francisco (and surrounding counties) include Austin, Boston, Chicago (Cook County), Dallas/Fort Worth, Duluth/Twin Ports, Houston, Miami (Miami-Dade County), Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New York, Raleigh, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and the Washington, D.C., Metro Area.
Which city has the best nature sleuths? Which will record the most species?
If your city isn’t on the list, tell them to get on it next year! Last year’s challenge was only between LA County and the Bay Area (LA won), so the competition is growing fast. And heck, even if your city isn’t participating this year, there’s nothing to stop you from getting together with your friends and doing an iNaturalist survey a bit of your hometown and see what you find.
Some linkages for more explanation:
What’s in the Dirt? by the Daily Breeze
City Nature Challenge via the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum website
Last year’s competition results via The California Academy of Sciences website
