Chicken of the Woods

...calyptus. The very same mushroom pundits suggest thoroughly cooking all Laetiporus. I can report having consumed a lot of the mushroom we foraged with no ill effects. It was, in fact, one of the most delicious mushrooms I’ve ever consumed. But one should not trust the musings of an aging urban homesteading blogger when foraging for mushrooms. Find yourself a local mushroom nerd or run it past your cats. That said, don’t be too fearful either or yo...

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Food Storage Revisited

...e a big vegetable garden you will need a larger pantry or basement. We are urban dwellers with, at best, a tiny vegetable garden (which has been neglected this year while I work on the house). That said there are some big differences between the kitchens of the 1920s and the kitchens of today that present new challenges. Some of those changes: We have a lot more kitchen gadgets and consumer electronics. With the ascendancy of the personal automobi...

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127 Apocalypse Now with Father Mark Kowalewski

...t, seem off-topic. But I think it’s safe to say that within the DNA of the urban homesteading, permaculture and ecological movements is a concern with how the world might end and the possibility of either hastening, postponing or avoiding the collapse of human civilization. Then there’s the fact that a significant portion of U.S. government officials believe in some form of a “rapture.” Of course there are many divergent opinions on the nature of...

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Saturday Tweets: Rainy Day Tweets

Great resource for LA County urban farmers! https://t.co/gFgitxww6i — Rachel Surls (@RachelSurls) December 8, 2018 L.A. Adds Lanes For Cyclists To Recover From Getting Hit By Cars https://t.co/wmEvQHwCJM via @theonion — Colin Bogart (@ColinBogart) December 8, 2018 Metaphor alert. https://t.co/NG3LzEazzM — Peter Flax (@Pflax1) December 5, 2018 If You Can't Bike On It, It Doesn't Belong In the City https://t.co/7QXjPmbIRN via @RebelMetropol...

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

...d ate more than three eggs a day. I’d suggest that if you live in an older urban location, next to a gas station or other industrial site or a recently burned area you may want to get your eggs tested. Odds are that your backyard eggs are safe to eat but, as the study showed, some of the lead results were well over safe levels. Here’s what UC Cooperative Extension suggests if you have a lead issue, Once potentially contaminated areas are identifie...

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