Greywater Design and Installation Workshop

February 8, 2014

Events, Water and Power, Water Conservation

...undry, saving you water, time, and resources. Experienced instructors will lead you step-by-step through the design process, tailoring a system to fit your home. This system is legal to install without a permit, just follow 12 basic guidelines you’ll learn about in class. Learn How to design a system for your home and landscape How to build a system- you’ll create a “mock-up” of a real system with real greywater parts What parts you’ll need for yo...

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening

Mr. Homegrown

February 20, 2014

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

55 Comments

...soil, we’ve got to grow our veggies in raised beds. There’s just too much lead and zinc in the ground, according to our local soil lab. Putting together three new beds recently got me to thinking about the ups and downs of gardening in raised beds. I thought I’d list off the pros and cons: Pros: Keeps roots away from contaminated soil. Good for disabled or elderly gardeners. Neat. If high enough, can keep out some critters–and keep veggies above...

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Cactus Thief Strikes Again

Mr. Homegrown

April 24, 2014

Gardening, Thoughtstylings

19 Comments

...cactus thief with free flats of baby cacti. The latter strategy could even lead to the first ever Root Simple Upworthy style clickbait headline, “Thief Steals Cactus and the Thorny Response Will Have You in Tears.” Stoic philosopher Epictetus set me straight on what I should really do. He says, “Stop admiring your clothes and you are not angry at the man who steals them . . . our losses and our pains have to do only with the things we posses.” (Di...

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Mulch Volcanoes: Another Bad Gardening Idea

Mr. Homegrown

May 2, 2014

Gardening

11 Comments

...It’s thought that the lack of air circulation at the base of the tree can lead to disease problems and you don’t want roots to grow up into the mulch so close to the trunk. When applying mulch you should keep it a few inches away from the base of a tree. Artist Herbert Bayer’s EarthMound, 1955. Image: GardenHistoryGirl. How strange gardening practices, such as mulch volcanoes, get started is really interesting to me. Mulch volcanoes remind me of...

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An Easy and Healthy 100% Whole Rye Bread Recipe

Mr. Homegrown

June 24, 2014

Bread, Food

32 Comments

...completing a step just put your dough in the refrigerator (which is kind of like hitting the pause button). Troubleshooting The longer the bread sits the more sour it will get (note that it could get too sour if you really extend the fermentation). Too short a fermentation will lead to an overly dense loaf. That said, you’ve got considerable flexibility. A few hours in either direction won’t make much of a difference. This is one loaf I’ve never...

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