Saturday Tweets: DIY Kayaks, Maps and Dragon Anatomy

...able, lightweight, foam kayak (23 lbs). Free DIY kayak plans, the hardware store boat https://t.co/0Cr6dIM31s — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 2, 2016 Having a lot of fun playing with the True Size map of the world. Definitely worth a peek: https://t.co/Zp93jA5jSf — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 1, 2016 9 building materials made entirely from waste products https://t.co/I9msD5K0M7 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 1, 2016 Almost Every Kind o...

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Kickstart the North Memphis Farmers Collective

...stories, there’s a happy ending. What began in one yard has grown into an urban farming movement transforming vacant lots into sources of food and jobs. There’s a Kickstarter: The City of Memphis faces many challenges. Among them are blighted vacant lots, food deserts, health challenges, and unemployment. North Memphis Farmer’s Collective seeks to take these challenges and turn them into solutions by using what others see as waste as the fertiliz...

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How to Get Skunks Out of Your Basement and Yard

Basements and crawl spaces under houses make idea dens for urban critters. If we could charge rent for all the skunks, raccoons and feral cats that have taken up residence under the house we’d have paid off the mortgage by now. Our particular crawl space critter B&B was opened by virtue of a flimsy access door. Some animal, most likely a raccoon, pried it open. The problem with this situation is that you can’t just close up the door. Some poor cr...

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Rainwater Harvesting with Joe Linton

...e will be the subject of a future hands-on permaculture workshop, hopefully in early fall 2008. Watch for details. Fee: $35 (sliding scale available) – bring a bag lunch. Registration required: 213/738-1254 or [email protected] (workshop size limited) About Joe Linton Joe is an artist and urban environmental activist. He’s been involved for many years in efforts to restore and revitalize the Los Angeles River, including writing and illustrating the gui...

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Hipster Compost

...d here we’ve seen our local stretch of Sunset Boulevard go from boarded up storefronts and auto body shops to restaurants, bars and cafes. Along with those new businesses and artisinal facial hair, comes a great new set of compost sources. Some of my enterprising neighbors, one in particular, have been creating what could be called hipster compost or, at least, compost made from hipster sources. Interestingly these materials are often very high in...

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