The Homegrown Mailbox: How and Where Do I Get My Soil Tested?

...I was able to interpret the results myself with their slightly overpriced booklet that you can order along with the test. Another approach, especially if you live in an old house like ours, is to assume that your soil is contaminated, skip the test, and grow things in raised beds, containers or stick to ornamentals. You could also try bioremediation: each season plant a cover crop, let it grow, and then pull it up and dispose of it. Test the soil...

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127 Apocalypse Now with Father Mark Kowalewski

...m off-topic. But I think it’s safe to say that within the DNA of the urban homesteading, permaculture and ecological movements is a concern with how the world might end and the possibility of either hastening, postponing or avoiding the collapse of human civilization. Then there’s the fact that a significant portion of U.S. government officials believe in some form of a “rapture.” Of course there are many divergent opinions on the nature of this e...

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Essential System #3 – Sew Your Own Damn Clothes

...tart spinning and weaving your own fabric). Some recommendations for brave urban homesteaders who want to take up sewing. Don’t start with stretchy fabric. Don’t even think of using velvet (we learned this the hard way). Choose patterns carefully so you don’t end up looking like, well, folks who sew their own clothes. Consider purchasing a used serger, which cuts the fabric and finishes the seam all at once, which folks in the know tell us makes l...

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Saturday Tweets: A Big Excuse to Post Cats with Mustaches

...canyon streets” and “no setbacks” as a negative aspect to architecture and urban design: pic.twitter.com/RbVvKEN4EO — Pushing The Needle (@pushtheneedle) July 27, 2018 URL: https://t.co/zX4xznNBIV — Reader (@readiesresearch) July 22, 2018 Sharing Stuff without Apps – https://t.co/BqjMgOz84H — Eric Rochow (@GardenForkTV) July 22, 2018 How jeans are distressed at the sweatshop https://t.co/svVoG5rTSm — Root Simple (@rootsimple) July 27, 2018 Coffee...

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Saturday Tweets: Date Palms, Clear Ice and Hugs

...Rochow (@GardenForkTV) May 22, 2017 Paint the Town: 3 More Strangely Legal Urban Street Artworks | Urbanist – https://t.co/ld9AjUHzof — Eric Rochow (@GardenForkTV) May 22, 2017 Hippies are the new hipsters: the Silver Lake shaman: https://t.co/twqIDKLmx7 via @qz — Root Simple (@rootsimple) May 22, 2017 A random medieval city layout generator https://t.co/oZX3FkHX2J #procgen pic.twitter.com/YiMCaeQY6X — algoritmic (@algoritmic) May 23, 2017 A Musli...

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