Let’s Talk About the Holidays

...s season in the US presents challenges to folks who are on the radical homemaking path. One action that’s helped around our household was to cut off commercial television, something we did many years ago. A number of people mentioned that they really enjoyed hearing Shannon Hayes on our podcast talking about how her family celebrates the holidays. She has also written a blog post on the subject, “Murdering Santa and Other Tips for Enjoying the Hol...

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A Report from the 2014 Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa

...had a great time, as usual. I’ve attended every year since its inception in 2010. The Expo features mind boggling displays of what can only be called vegetable porn. Hint: if you hang around after the conclusion on Thursday evening you can score the display items. For two years in a row we’ve gone home with a rental car stuffed with heirloom watermelon and squash. But the real draw for me are the seminars and panel discussions. Above, some of the...

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111 Cardoons, Medlars and Hipster Toilets

...Angeles Bread Bakers (sign up for an invite to the monthly pizza party) Our 2010 post on cardoons. Our original post on medlars and a follow up post. All you need to know about Toto’s Eco Promenade toilet (with elongated bowl–round bowl version is here). If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitc...

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National Heirloom Expo 2013

...l full of great companies and organizations. I’ll be speaking on a panel on Wednesday September 11th at 2:00 pm on urban homesteading along with longtime friend Suzanne Mackey of Petaluma Urban Homestead and Trathen Heckman of Daily Acts and Transition USA. If you’re planning on attending please leave a comment and let’s try to meet up....

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What Does California’s Prop 64 Say About Home Marijuana Cultivation?

...ry it ended up in. This was before bookstores created separate shelves for urban homesteading. Unsurprisingly, we found it in the gardening section. What did surprise me was the other books in the garden category. The overwhelming majority were about growing marijuana. There were lavish coffee table books of bud porn, detailed encyclopedias edited by huge teams of experts and countless tomes covering the technical details indoor lights, fertilizer...

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