Practical Backyard Chicken Biosecurity

June 29, 2015

...e decided to increase the times I change out the litter. Trips to the feed store The place I get my feed from is, to put it charitably, dirty. They also sell chickens, and pet birds that don’t look healthy. Unfortunately, it’s the only place that carries the feed I like (Modesto Milling). From what I learned at the conference, you need to be careful about trips to the feed store. I should change clothes, put them in the wash and take a shower befo...

Read…

What I’m Growing this Winter

Mr. Homegrown

October 23, 2013

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

11 Comments

...n the recommendation of Franchi’s West Coast distributor The Heirloom Seed Store, who had a booth at this year’s Heirloom Exposition. The owners of the Heirloom Seed Store, who run a farm in the Santa Cruz area, raved about this particular chicory. It’s a large-leafed variety that can be used in a salad or cooked. Radicchio and Chicory Mix: “Misticanza di Radicchi” I’ve never gone wrong with Franchi’s salad mixes. The best damn salads I’ve ever ha...

Read…

Everything Must Go Part 5: The nitty gritty

Mrs. Homegrown

January 21, 2015

Domesticus, Tidying up

34 Comments

...ral dusty old 12 oz bottles of homemade mead–a few of which were helpfully labeled, “Bad Mead?”–which have sat on a back shelf unloved and undrunk for many years, for so long the printer ink on the labels was fading. Far longer than any aging period. Erik caught me draining the bottles and just about had kittens. He’d planned on carbonating these bottles…someday…to see if that would improve the flavor and now I’d gone and ruined all of his work. H...

Read…

Everything Must Go Part 3: Clothing

Mrs. Homegrown

January 13, 2015

Cleaning, Domesticus, Tidying up

30 Comments

..., you thank the item for its service to you and “release it” to the thrift store. For KonMari, it all comes down to your emotional relationship with the item–your positive relationship, that is. Nothing is kept through guilt or false nostalgia. She doesn’t believe in following the more usual sorting advice, such as discarding anything you haven’t worn for a year, or doesn’t fit your current body shape, etc., but I also kept those ideas in my mind...

Read…

Everything Must Go: Tidying Up at the Root Simple Compound

Mrs. Homegrown

January 9, 2015

Cleaning, Domesticus, Tidying up

36 Comments

...n of stuff. And we’re not talking about sending a bag or two to the thrift store every now and then, mind you. Her private clients typically pare their possessions down by two-thirds or even three-quarters over the course of one intense purge. KonMari’s philosophy is that you only keep those things that bring you joy and resonate with you, so wherever you look in your newly-purged house, you feel and sense of peace and well-being, as opposed to th...

Read…