Biodynamic Composting Workshop

...Root Simple. Erik Knutzen is the author, with his wife Kelly Coyne, of The Urban Homestead and Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post Consumer World. He blogs and produces a podcast at www.rootsimple.com. Cost: $20 per person. Space is limited to 20 attendees. Children are free and welcome to participate under the supervision of their parents. Register in advance here. What to bring: hat, gloves, sturdy shoes – be prepared to get your hands dirty!...

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Foodcrafting 101

...Guinness Stout, liqueurs, orange flower water, coffee or fresh citrus zest. You’ll have an entire flavor bar™ of spices, sweeteners and herbs to pick from as you create your own signature mustard blend. INSTRUCTORS INCLUDE: Erik Knutzen: Co-author of The Urban Homestead and Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World and a L.A. County Master Food Preserver Joseph Shuldiner: Institute Director, and author: Pure Vegan: 70 Recipes for Beauti...

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Saturday Tweets: Mountain Lions, Chunky Gravel and Living in a Dumpster

...a @NatGeo — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 5, 2015 Back to the land on an Urban Homestead http://t.co/ES3mJJEmjP http://t.co/QyQILBx3oK — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 5, 2015 Toronto tunnel dug by 2 men as 'man cave', police say http://t.co/2PugkySbw7 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 5, 2015 What living in a dumpster for a year taught this professor about the things we don't need http://t.co/sBGKL35TD2 — Root Simple (@rootsimple)...

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Bisphenol-A

...the early onset of puberty in girls. We’ve done our best around our little urban homestead to eliminate plastics from our lives, but where we still encounter BPA is in canned foods which we like to have on hand. Next time you pop open a can take a look at the inside–odds are there is a nearly invisible clear plastic lining which is where you’ll find the BPA. So with BPA we have yet another one of those throw up your hands in disgust, anger and des...

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Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

Every time we visit the nice folks at Petaluma Urban Homestead they send us home with some strange plant. Thanks to PUH, who are busy actually doing things as opposed to blogging about doing things, we now have a beautiful flowering mullein plant (Verbascum thapsus). Verbascum thapsus is one of those plants that most people think of as a weed. Native to Europe and Asia, Verbascum thapsus was introduced to North America because of its many medicin...

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