Dwelling Portably

...ctical advice in this publication should be a part of the library of every Urban Homestead. Holly and Bert Davis don’t have much nice to say about computers or the internet and as a result the only way to receive this fine periodical is by mail at $1 per issue 2 for $2, or 6 for $5, or 14 for $10 with back issues available. The P.O. box, which Bert and Holly check when they are away from the yurt is: Dwelling Portably POB 190 Philomath, OR 97370 D...

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Homegrown REvolution

...d and creative Process Media, spotted us and asked us to write a book, The Urban Homestead, thus beginning an unexpected course, which has forced us to consider things such as branding and marketing. Like all children of the late 20th century we’re inescapably linked to a “mediated” culture, to a world of appearances defined by mass media in all its many forms. In the midst of having to figure out a new name for ourselves, along with the incredibl...

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Trees Susceptible to the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

...st Dr. Jerrold Turney. I’ve learned, as a gardener, that there are certain plants in every bio-region that simply aren’t worth planting due to pest pressures. When it comes to trees it can be frustrating, expensive and downright dangerous to have a tree attacked by an incurable infection or pest. PSHB attacks hundreds of different tree species but is hosted on a more limited number. The list of PSHB host trees is growing as scientists study the pr...

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074 Beyond the War on Invasive Species with Tao Orion

...omething wrong with the “war” on invasive plants? What are these resilient plants trying to tell us? Is there such a thing as a “natural” landscape? What’s wrong with Glyphosate? These are some of the topics we discuss in our conversation with Tao Orion, author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Approach to Ecosystem Restoration. Tao is a permaculture designer, teacher, homesteader, and mother living in the southern Willamette V...

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Stirred, Not Shaken

...piles. Steiner has the biodynamic farmer spray these preparations on soil, plants and compost piles to act as a kind of homeopathy for the land. While we did not make our own preparations in class (it’s complicated!) we did a ritual stirring with pre-made preparations in buckets of water. Using sticks we created vortexes in the buckets, alternating in clockwise and counterclockwise motions. We then divided the mixture and rushed home to spread it...

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