Free Webinar on Making and Using Compost Teas

October 9, 2015

...st teas and how they can be beneficially used. About the Presenters Dr. Lynne Carpenter-Boggs is an Associate Professor of Sustainable and Organic Agriculture at Washington State University. Her work aims to improve global health and sustainability through biological and appropriate technologies for agriculture. Catherine (CeCe) Crosby is a Ph.D. candidate in Soil Science at Washington State University. CeCe has led hundreds of pre-nursing student...

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The Manzanita Miracle, or, why you should love native plants if you live in a dry climate

Mrs. Homegrown

December 17, 2015

Gardening, Native Plants

6 Comments

...the other is “Los Angeles is a desert, so I’m planting cactus.” Neither is appropriate. In Los Angeles, a lawn needs about 50 inches of water a year to stay green–and it usually gets twice that much–up to 100 inches. Compare that to manzanita’s 4 inches. Cactus doesn’t need much water, true, but we are not a desert–yet. We are in the process of desertification, yes, which is not a good thing. At the end of this road, we don’t end up in a dreamy Ge...

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Our New Linoleum Floor

Mr. Homegrown

January 15, 2018

Design

2 Comments

...by Forbo. We returned to this material for two reasons: it’s historically appropriate for our 98 year old house and we like the more muted and natural colors of Frobo’s linoleum line. And we also found out that the kitchen floor of the Gamble House was recently redone with Forbo linoleum. “Linoleum” has become a generic term associated with all kinds of sheet flooring materials, but real linoleum refers to a product made with solidified linseed o...

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Permaculture Design Course at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano

Mr. Homegrown

March 14, 2014

Events

...L 12 / WATER – Water in context, water systems, homescale vs. large scale, appropriate scale technologies. Presentation on rainwater and greywater basics, fundamental earthworks basics, observation and mapping water excersize, greywater workshop, rain barrel building demo APRIL 13 / WATER OFF-SITE – including larger scale home systems design, hands-on rain barrel/greywater systems, watershed basics, home install of 1,500 gl tank, tour of home and...

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In Praise of the Hedgerow

Mr. Homegrown

November 10, 2014

Gardening

8 Comments

...if we took out all those lawns and planted native and/or flowering climate-appropriate plants instead? In a somewhat rambling lecture I just gave to a group of Master Gardeners, I sang the praises of that UC study and also linked it to another nice resource, the UC Davis Arboretum Allstar list of plants that look good, provide habitat and don’t need a lot of maintenance. Combine these two resources with a third, Piet Oudolf’s magnificent ideas abo...

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