Grow Italian!

...ng on the permaculture bandwagon this year with an experiment in the backyard. And look for more root vegetables in our illegal parkway garden. Lest we come across as Eurotrashy, here’s two domestic seed companies that have interesting varieties: Seeds of change. Native Seeds which sells Native American seeds By the way, for us in L.A. the back of the seed packages have no connection with our climate. You need a book like Pat Welsh’s Southern Cali...

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Varroa Mites: No-Treatment is the Best Treatment

...ger colonies. Let’s first define what a “feral” bee is. Honey bees are not native to the Americas. They were, most likely, brought here by the Spanish. Since that introduction, some honey bees escaped tended apiaries and took up residence in forests and cities where they have lived, happily, for centuries without much human intervention. To clarify, when I say “feral” bees I mean untended honey bees (Apis mellifera) not any of the 4,000 species of...

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An Omnivore’s Dilemma

...its of knowing where my food comes from, but others may disagree and I respect that. Since I’ve been asked in the past, I’ll let everyone know that I’m a omnivore (though I don’t eat much meat, following Michael Pollan’s admonition, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”). Mrs. Homegrown is a “fishetarian”. And I’m interested in hearing our reader’s opinions on the ethicacy of keeping backyard livestock: please leave comments. I’ve also crafted...

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Essential System #9 – Hydration

...tructions for purifying water with iodine or chlorine can be found on this page. Filters, however, do not kill viruses which include hepatitis A., Norwalk virus, and rotavirus and are present when water becomes contaminated by the feces of affected individuals. In other words, bad dookie in the water. To kill viruses you need to use either iodine, bleach or expensive filters which also use iodine or electrostatic charges. Boiling water for at leas...

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Saturday Tweets: Architectural Screw-Ups, Road Diets and Pet Dragons

...cientist or other academic trying to fly less, please help shift the culture on academic flying. An easy way to start is to tell your story here: https://t.co/dTN60J6Abv — Peter Kalmus (@ClimateHuman) January 11, 2018 The average kid can identify 1,000 corporate logos and… 10 species of plants. https://t.co/Rr3YBJH9pU — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) January 11, 2018 Cartoon from 1906 predicts our obsession with smartphones https://t.co/p8TvygdVi...

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