Lord of the Flies Inspired Bike Rack

...me from the Central Library, where I had checked out some books on Belgian beer for a project I’m working on. I walked up Broadway to catch the bus home, stopping at Grand Central Market on the way. But outside the market I saw this truly strange sculpture with many bikes locked to it. Obviously it was designed to celebrate the market, where meat, produce, spices, nuts and almost any imaginable type of ethnic food can be found. The top is adorned...

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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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Epic Homesteading Fiascos

...this disaster. I think I would have been too dispirited to hit record. It’s particularly frustrating when months of work end in one catastrophic moment. In terms of personal disasters, skunks tearing through our salad beds comes to mind, as well as ruining three five gallon batches of home brewed beer one after the other. These sorts of disasters can be a lesson, particularly if you have the courage, as Eric does, to share them publicly. And, as...

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