Toilet paper in the woods: a rant and some advice

...I clean it up when I can, just like I pick up the empty water bottles and beer cans and pint bottles of booze and cigarette butts and those damn plastic flossing devices and everything else people see fit to leave behind whenever they visit nature. I suppose we all have our different priorities and beliefs, but to me, the wilderness is sacred, all of it. Not just pristine wilderness, but parks and roadsides and beaches. I’d no more throw toilet p...

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Did Kelly follow her 2012 resolutions?

...due for a complete overhaul.) This I did. All of it. Yay me. -Organize the labels or tags on Root Simple so our dear, somewhat abused readers can find information when they want it. This I did as part of our overhaul. -No processed sugar for the month of January. Or beer. (sigh) This I did. I’d forgotten. I probably should do it again, because I’ve been having a torrid affair with the cookie jar. -White flour, crackers, tortillas, pasta & etc. are...

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Straw Bale Garden Part III: Adding Fertilizer

...rea, on philosophical grounds, but blood meal, a byproduct of our industrial food system, doesn’t make me feel much better. Urea would be a lot cheaper. Perhaps the best solution would be human urine. Throw a week-long party, serve a lot of beer and invite your guests to fertilize your bales! Undiluted human urine has an NPK ratio close to that of blood meal. Those of you who have experimented with straw bale gardens please leave a comment on what...

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Does Sourdough Offer Hope for the Gluten Intolerant?

...mentation process. Very few bakeries are milling their own flour and baking 100% whole wheat breads. But you can do this at home if you own a small mill (something on my Christmas wish list). None of the breads I make involve any kneading, so the time investment is minimal. I think fermented breads and home milling offer hope to people who mistakenly believe they are gluten intolerant. And as Anson also pointed out, nobody has studied the effects...

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Prickly Pear Jelly Recipe

...put in a pot with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Mash with a potato masher and strain the juice and water through a colander with two layers of cheesecloth to remove the seeds and pulp. 3. We’ve found that 2 1/2 pounds of fruit will yield a little over 2 1/2 cups of juice using the method above. 4. We use a recipe from the Jamlady Cookbook, by Beverly Ellen Schoonmaker. Here’s the recipe: 2 1/2 cups prickly p...

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