Reject Modernity Embrace Post-Capitalism

...minority neighborhoods and install freeways and parking lots to benefit suburban white commuters and financial interests. He’s already profiled 12 cites and has a plan to do many more. We Prefer the Before We Prefer the Before is an Instagram account that shows the horrific HGTVification of the last decent period of vernacular architecture in this country, those magic years from around 1900 to 1929. Here in my own neighborhood most of the old bung...

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2022 in Review: Cats, Mushrooms and Politics

...apture at least one swarm of bees and hand them off to a friend who has an urban farm and apiary. Kelly and I have a pet sitting arrangement with some friends of ours. When we go away they watch our menagerie and when they go away I head out to Pomona to look after Harpo the parrot and his dog, cat and gecko companions. Random Wanderings When you see a display of fake plastic corn dogs you have to take a picture. I tried and failed to get through...

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Root Simple: 2015 in Review

...not optimistic about this but I hope to be proved wrong. Honesty in Urban Homesteading We don’t do nearly enough blogging about the many hair brained notions and failed projects that transpire here at the Root Simple Compound and Labs. We did mange to chronicle a few of our shortcomings, such as our lack of a clothes line (Busted: Drying Racks, Clothes Lines and Cheese Puffs), the train wreck that was our summer garden (Our Disasterous Summer Gar...

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Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities

...they also managed to define the eclectic topics contained within the urban homesteading movement. A confession here: when it came time to write our two books, Kelly and I leafed through our old copy of the Whole Earth Catalog to make sure that we didn’t leave any topic out. Kevin Kelly kept the Whole Earth Catalog ethos alive through his Cool Tools review website. That website has morphed back into print in the form of Cool Tools: A Catalog of Pos...

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Campfire Cooking: Fish in Clay (& Vegetarian Options!)

...rout we’ve ever eaten. Erik and I are going to try this out at home in our bread oven, perhaps after a pizza course! Veggie Options: I have to admit, I was so obsessed with trout process, I missed some of what was going on at the vegetarian table. But in essence the process is the same. You can dress sturdy veggies like carrots and baby potatoes with fat and herbs, wrap them with leaves, cover that with clay and throw it on the coals. Pascal also...

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