Saturday Linkages: An Egg Shaped Houseboat, Bamboo Joints and the Origins of Umami

...-pad-studio-spud-group-stephen-turner/#.UehXNCf_u3g.twitter … The Pheonix Earthship….. http://frommoontomoon.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-pheonix-earthship.html … Scale Models of Bicycles http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/krisdedecker/lowtechmagazineenglish/~3/Zre1F8bEuz4/bicycle-scale-models.html … Food The Origins of Heritage Foods Revivals 1980-1985 http://garynabhan.com/i/archives/2137 Fermenting Mentor: Uri Laio of Brassica and Brine http://...

Read…

Bee Fever in Los Angeles

...the radical “backwards” approach to beekeeping advocated by LA’s maverick urban beekeeper Kirk Anderson, Anderson learned from apiarist Charles Martin Simon, who invented the concept of “beekeeping backwards.” Simon’s approach was stupidly simple: Give the bees a clean box, put them in it and leave them alone. If they get sick? Don’t medicate them. Let them die. Then get some more bees. Amen. Selecting for strong bees is an approach that, in my o...

Read…

Friday Afternoon Linkages–Some Fun, Some Scary

...e of the equation: David Khan of Edendale Farms has a video from peak oil partisan Matthew Simmons on a run on the gas station scenario that we’ll let you all ponder. And in the really scary department, Dr. Oerjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University, aboard the Russian research ship Jakob Smirnitskyi in the Arctic Ocean, reports: “We had a hectic finishing of the sampling program yesterday and this past night. An extensive area of intense methane r...

Read…

California Agriculture Journal Online

...iculture online for convenient downloading at californiaagriculture.ucanr.org. There’s plenty of detailed (peer reviewed!) nuggets for the home gardener between the pages of this scientific journal. Make sure to check out the article and video of UC Berkeley entomologist Gordon Frankie explaining what kinds of plants are best for attracting bees in your urban garden. Thanks to Los Angeles County Master Gardener Coordinator Yvonne Savio for the tip...

Read…

Waking up on New Year’s Day with the world of long crowing roosters

Now I’m not suggesting these guys for urban situations, but New Year’s Day seems an appropriate moment to survey the world of long crowing roosters. According to poultry expert Gail Damerow, writing in the current issue of Backyard Poultry Magazine, long crowers probably have their origins in Japan and have spread throughout the world through deliberate selection. Here’s a play list for your listening pleasure, consisting of a Turkish long crowin...

Read…