Olive Questions

...gle olive hosted olive fruit fly maggots. This summer, to reduce the olive fruit fly population I put some torula yeast lures in a McPhail trap in the tree and removed any fruit that had any signs of infestation. I change out the yeast tabs every month. The strategy seems to have greatly reduced the infestation. I lost probably around a third of the olives but had more than enough un-maggoty olives to fill three half-gallon jars. Today I plan on s...

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Home Orchards for Year Round Food Resiliency

...can maximize the amount of time during the year that you’re likely to have fruit. Here in California, if you have enough space, you can have fruit year round. The handy chart above from Dave Wilson nursery (head here for a downloadable version) can be used as a guide to planting for year round food resiliency. Results may vary. Due to a high squirrel population stone fruit doesn’t work well in our yard. But at least I have avocados and the olives...

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How do I keep squirrels and rats from eating my grapes?

...t exposed in the hopes that they would eat that first and leave the bagged fruit alone. It’s also hard to tell when the fruit is ripe when it’s in a paper bag. I’m thinking the long term answer is to make custom fruit cages out of hardware cloth. If the grapes were neatly tended on a vine it would be much easier to net them. Netting is not an option on our arbor. Look carefully in this image and you can see one of the “perps” reaching out to grab...

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Is the Urban Homesteading Trend Over?

...ikes that coincide with canning at the end of summer. Unsurprisingly, most homesteading topics revolve around seasons. Seasonality, by the way, is one of things I really like about this movement. A digression here–the flatness of time (see Charles Taylor)–is one of the things I don’t like about modernity. “Home canning” searches “Home canning” searches show a more dramatic decline. “Backyard Chickens” searches People research backyard chickens in...

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Saturday Linkages: Composting People, Jujubes, Bumpy Eggs and More

...t without plastic: http://www.washingtonsgreengrocer.com/everything-else/storage-tips/how-store-vegetables-fruit-without-plastic.htm … Hot? Get a fan: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2014/09/circulating-fans-air-conditioning.html … Urban Change in L.A. – Too Little, Too Slow http://la.streetsblog.org/2014/09/12/guest-editorial-urban-change-in-l-a-too-little-too-slow/#.VBSkrTljKfw.twitter … For these links and more, follow Root Simple on Twitter: Fo...

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