“Urban Homesteading” belongs to us all

November 9, 2015

...teading” freely from now on out. Longtime readers may remember that back in 2011, the Dervaes Institute sent notices to a dozen or so organizations, informing them that they could no longer use the terms “urban homestead” and “urban homesteading” unless speaking about the work of the Dervaes Institute, as they had registered trademark on both terms. Beyond that, some people found their web pages or social media sites removed when their hosting ser...

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Lead in Backyard Eggs: Don’t Freak Out But Don’t Ignore the Issue

Mr. Homegrown

March 11, 2019

Animals, Bees, Lead

3 Comments

...elevated lead levels in our soil when we did a series of soil tests back in 2011. Thankfully our egg results came in at 1.02 ug, just under the average level in the study. You’d have to eat a lot of eggs as an adult to go beyond the Federal Drug Administration’s maximum recommended lead intake level, though you could bump up against it if a child ate more than three eggs a day. I’d suggest that if you live in an older urban location, next to a gas...

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What’s Your Everyday Carry?

Mr. Homegrown

May 9, 2017

Preparedness

11 Comments

...ebsite. Consider this blog post as an update of the pocket dump I posted in 2011. Since that time my EDC has changed, mostly via subtractions. Here’s my current EDC: 1. Leatherman Rebar This is the central and, unquestionably, most useful cornerstone of my EDC. Not a day goes by when I don’t pull out the Rebar to fix something or slice off a piece of cheese with the dull (my fault) pocket knife. The Leatherman folks have tried to anticipate every...

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Primitive Grain Storage Technique

Mrs. Homegrown

November 4, 2013

Appropriate Technology, Food Preservation, How-to, Preparedness

8 Comments

When thinking about technology, I like to play with the idea of what is the absolute minimum you need to get the job done. This may be because I’m not very handy at building things, but yet have survivalist tendencies. So while I’m pretty sure I’ll never actually have any need for these skills, it’s fun to think about how I’d get by in a DIY world. So I was delighted when I ran across this minimalist grain storage technique on the BBC documentary...

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Saturday Tweets: One Crazy Week

Mr. Homegrown

November 3, 2018

Thoughtstylings

2 Comments

...The Panic Button Over Brazil’s New President. If Jair Bolsonaro opens the Amazon to more business, as his backers want, the new president threatens the world’s ability to prevent catastrophic climate change.https://t.co/jpyo10Ksk2 — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) October 30, 2018 well one of us needs to go home and change. (silverlakeghoul on IG) pic.twitter.com/RLd0SPNqGZ — Clint Falin (@ClintFalin) November 1, 2018 Watch a kitten grow up: http...

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