Saturday Tweets: Urban Ag, Climate Change and Gifts from Birds

...lagers' secret weapon: Growing their own food http://t.co/HqPiGovoir — Homesteader Supply (@HomesteadSupply) July 9, 2015 Debate truly over. Only ONE #climate scientist (of over 9K) published in 2012 & 2013 didn't attribute it to human activity. #CRinCanada — Brendan Seale (@bseale) July 9, 2015 Bees are losing their habitat because of climate change http://t.co/KhWwD5rhaa via @TIME — Root Simple (@rootsimple) July 9, 2015 Episcopal Church...

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Is Lead Poisoning a Risk in Urban Gardens?

...issue. But if the results of a University of Washington study on lead and urban agriculture are to be believed, we might not need to be as concerned. The researchers note that most vegetables don’t take up lead and that improving soil with compost greatly reduces the bioavailability of lead. You can read a summary of the results of this research paper here. Thanks to Joanne Poyourow of Environmental Change Makers for tipping me off to this resear...

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Putting Your Civic House in Order: How the Young Members of the Family Help

...ept homes with lawns, vegetable and flower gardens, clean vacant lots, and flowers, wild and cultivated, everywhere in greatest profusion. But of even greater value than these physical things are the effects upon the individuals who wrought the change–the teachers, children and parents–and the community at large. To the teachers the contest gave an opportunity for carrying gardening instruction into the homes in districts where school gardens have...

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Moldy Grapes!

...ass, in the dark, is essential for protecting those volatile oils, but the herbs really have to be crumbly dry before they go in jars. By the way, the secret to a good chamomile harvest is constant picking. Don’t be afraid to pick the flowers. The more you pick, the faster it will make more flowers. Like, overnight. I swear. Just pinch the heads off. And you use the whole flower, dry or fresh, to make tea. If a little stem gets in there too, it’s...

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Showers to Flowers

Here’s the truth, I’m lazy. So when it comes to the aforementioned greywater strategies such as bucket flushing and siphoning, while we might try them for a while we’ll most likely quickly tire of all the repetitive effort barring some apocalyptic water shortage. SurviveLA agrees with Art Ludwig, author of Create an Oasis with Greywater that the best greywater systems are the simplest, and involve the least amount of effort and maintenance. One o...

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