A happy tangle

October 12, 2015

...now, because we are providing other sources of forage as well. We let our plants go to seed. We don’t spray, so there are plenty of bugs to eat. (Why so many spiders this year???) My thoughts are always turning toward planting strategies which provide year round food sources for our flying friends. If you do keep a feeder, remember to clean it at least once a month. There are some bad bird diseases going around. Scrub it with soap and water and–a...

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Back to the Garden

Mrs. Homegrown

March 12, 2015

Back to the Garden, Thoughtstylings

22 Comments

...on, and I never underestimate the intelligence of other creatures and even plants, but human intelligence is unique. A falcon will distinguish between a lark and a rabbit, but only we can imitate both the lark and the rabbit. Only we can craft images of them, make up songs and stories about them, and weave those stories into the meaning of all things. I’ve had only a few visions or epiphanies in my life, things I believe with all my heart, though...

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Supper for a buck?

Mrs. Homegrown

February 25, 2013

Bean Fest, Food

16 Comments

...just a handful of leaves 2) I could forage it, and 3) plenty of the salad plants in our yard are volunteers anyway. It sounds Spartan, but the beans were really good, silky and filling, and the salad had little flowers from our arugula and mustard plants. The bread sopped up the juice in the bottom of the bowl. It was enough. It was a good way to end the day–not too heavy, and easy to pull together. Cheap eating can be good eating. I’m going to p...

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More on our gardening disasters

Mrs. Homegrown

January 21, 2013

Gardening, Mistakes, Thoughtstylings

15 Comments

...plant some unusual things this spring, stuff we’ve never grown before, or plants that attract me for some idiosyncratic reason. Fun plants, in other words. Above, I re-posted that picture of the heart-shaped flax bed I created planted back in 2011. Planting a few square feet of flax was not the most practical act in the world, but it was fun. I’d never seen flax growing before, and I wanted to get to know its ways, because it’s such an important...

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Mistakes we have made . . .

Mr. Homegrown

May 24, 2008

Animals, Chickens, Permaculture, Thoughtstylings

13 Comments

...t is too prodigious, and that’s the kind of problem you can hope for as an urban homesteader. 3. Newspaper seed pots Those newspaper seed starting pots we linked to earlier this year . . . well, there seems to be a problem with them. I think the newspaper is wicking the water away from the soil. While in Houston recently, I took a class from a master gardener in plant propagation and we used regular plastic pots, a thin layer of vermiculite over t...

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