134 Eric of Garden Fork on Mental Decluttering, Washing Machine Repair and More!

October 2, 2019

Animals, Bees, Podcasts, Water and Power

...Engine Saloon Video of Steve fixing $50 generator Eric’s Washing machine repair video Minimalist podcast Lino block printing and stencils If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. Closing theme music by Dr. Frankenstein. A downloadable version of this podcast is here....

Read…

A Simple and Life Changing Bagel Recipe

Mr. Homegrown

January 27, 2021

Fermentation, Food

14 Comments

...agels. Deep Bagel Thoughts Why did it take me so long to getting around to making bagels? It turns out bagel baking is much easier than the sourdough loaves I sometimes attempt. These homemade bagels are soooooooo much better than store bought or even bagels from specialized bagel bakeries. Why? First off, the boiling step gives you that perfect chewy bagel not found in supermarket bagels. But as Hamelman notes, hand shaping also gives you a bette...

Read…

Fence Appeal

Mr. Homegrown

April 11, 2023

Design

5 Comments

...the slats and the central pressure treated 4×4 posts are covered in cedar making them bigger and more attractive. The trellising at the top creates a kind of filtered view of neighboring vegetation while the lower panels obscure stuff you don’t want to see. Alas, nothing is simple at our funky property and I had to interrupt the fence twice to accommodate two trees that straddle the fence line. I also had to deal with a slight slope and a month i...

Read…

A Better Garage Organizational System

Mr. Homegrown

January 14, 2019

Design, Domesticus, Tidying up

11 Comments

...century. You can still pick some up at almost every lumber yard or big box store here in the U.S. But here’s the thing. It sucks. Even with the little plastic doodads that are supposed to keep the metal hooks from falling out, in my experience, half the time you you go to retrieve a tool off the wall the damn metal pegs fall out. This past week, inspired by an article in Fine Woodworking by Jason Stephens, I decided to put all my furniture buildin...

Read…

Build a Solar Dehydrator

Mr. Homegrown

October 1, 2008

Appropriate Technology, Preparedness, Solar

22 Comments

...moving without the use of electric fans such as you’d find in your typical store bought electric dehydrator. Our solar dehydrator is constructed out of plywood and consists of a heat collector containing a black metal screen housed in a box with a clear plastic top. This screen heats up on a sunny day and feeds hot air into a wooden box above it. Vents at the bottom and the top of the contraption create an upward airflow through natural convection...

Read…