A Three Step Strategy for Curing Internet/Smart Phone Addiction

...r. Don’t look at your phone/computer first thing in the morning. Pick up a book first. Build something. Garden, pull some weeds and plant some vegetables. Go to concerts, plays, lectures etc. Seek out a spiritual practice that involves both private time and scheduled group engagement. Read and apply some of the “deep work” anti-distraction strategies found in Cal Newport’s blogs and books. I think the common thread with these activities is redirec...

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Nature Fest this Weekend!

...have a booth in which we’ll be selling copies of our rare and hard to find booklets, done in collaboration with the Ecology Center, on container gardening, rainwater harvesting, bicycle basics, backyard chickens and food preservation. They’ll be priced to fly out of those boxes in my garage! I’ll also be doing a coffee demo at 1pm on both Saturday and Sunday and dispensing free advice in the booth for the entirety of the festival. Please drop by a...

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Get a Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor From Your Local Public Library!

...os Angeles Public Library, have Kill A Watts you can check out just like a book. I’ve got one right now and I’ve been running around the house checking out our gadgets. Some appliances, such as the refrigerator, that cycle on and off need to be left plugged into the Kill A Watt for at least a day or longer to get an accurate result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K2uBZKLOEg I found the instructions for the Kill A Watt a bit confusing. Naturally,...

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093 Micheal Judd on Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist

...profit supporting agro-ecological research.” He’s also the author of a new book, Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist. During the podcast we discuss: What Michael learned from living in Latin America for 20 years His circular straw bale house Handling water through swales on contour Dealing with homeowner’s associations Pawpaws Custard apples InStove rocket stove Cocktails American persimmons Mulberries and grafting mulberries Jujubes Grow...

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More on How to Make Clear Ice

...ding to English. I also learned that the enigmatic David Rees (author of a book on sharpening pencils!), and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, did a whole National Geographic special on ice that includes a segment on making clear ice. And did you know that clear ice sometimes happens naturally? Behold this viral YouTube hit, “Walking on beautiful clean ice in Slovakian Mountains:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WBqX7MSqWw Lastly, I want...

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