Tracking the Mood of the Gardener

February 18, 2013

Swiss chard from the winter of 2010 A Root Simple reader I ran into this weekend took issue with my assertion that fall is the best time to start a vegetable garden in Southern California. Thinking about it some more I think she may have a point. Some of you may have noticed that we have a new feature on the blog–if you click on an individual blog post you’ll see a list of related posts at the bottom. Looking at some of those older posts showed t...

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Update on Los Angeles’ Backwards Parkway Regulations

Mr. Homegrown

August 6, 2013

Thoughtstylings

2 Comments

...ect common sense. And at the risk of tooting my own horn, I pointed out the foolishness of LA’s parkway regs back in 2010....

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A Report from the 2014 Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa

Mr. Homegrown

September 15, 2014

Gardening

5 Comments

...had a great time, as usual. I’ve attended every year since its inception in 2010. The Expo features mind boggling displays of what can only be called vegetable porn. Hint: if you hang around after the conclusion on Thursday evening you can score the display items. For two years in a row we’ve gone home with a rental car stuffed with heirloom watermelon and squash. But the real draw for me are the seminars and panel discussions. Above, some of the...

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Bread Ovens of Quebec Free e-book

Mr. Homegrown

January 7, 2014

Appropriate Technology, Bread, Food, How-to, Resources, Water and Power

...incantations, and omens” associated with ovens. I’m really happy with the adobe oven we have in our backyard–it has produced many a tasty pizza and I look forward to having people over to give me an excuse to fire it up. Ovens, in Quebec households were associated with life itself and I understand why. If you’re interested in more information on DIY ovens, I’d recommend The Bread Ovens of Quebec along with Kiko Denzer’s Earth Ovens and Alan Scott...

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Our Grape Arbor

Mr. Homegrown

July 1, 2014

Design, Gardening

4 Comments

...ant varieties: Vitus Californica “Rogers Red” and Vitis vinifera x V. lambrusca “Pearl River” from LA’s most quirky nursery, Papaya Tree. The Pearl River grapes are tasty and show no signs of Pierce’s. The adobe oven was the last addition. Pizza parties are a frequent occurrence underneath the arbor. Do you have an arbor? What have you planted on it and how do you use the space underneath?...

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