Homegrown Evolution in the LA Times

...he summer of 2006 of tomatoes supported by one of the obelisks. With a backyard dominated by two large shade trees, the parkway, with its excellent sun exposure, is the best location for us to grow food. We invite neighbors to share our harvest, and to answer a commonly asked question, we’ve never had a problem with anyone getting greedy and taking all the tomatoes....

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Bird Flu and Industrial Agriculture

...poultry keepers such as ourselves are a greater threat. A report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Industrial Livestock Production and Global Health Risks (pdf) lends credence to Dr. Greger’s assertion that the hazard of a bird flu outbreak comes not just from backyard flocks but from large scale livestock operations. It seems logical: pack thousands of immunosupressed birds in a shed and spew their waste into the...

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Carrot Cake Smackdown!

...The charming Evan Kleiman searching for that elusive Korean taco wagon . . . Listen to Mr. and Mrs. Homegrown Evolution talking about urban homesteading on KCRW’s Good Food with Evan Kleiman. The show is archived here at KRCW.com....

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Bugs Ate My Garden

...tter from one of our readers: “I just read the article on growing your own food. I have tried this but have had great difficulty with insect damage. I have tried some of the “natural” insecticides but they don’t seem to work very well. Two of the major problems I have are cutworms that snip off seedlings before they can get started, and a plague of small white snails which invade later in summer and devastate everything. I cannot use chemical pest...

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