Biochar: Miracle or Gimmick?

May 17, 2013

...e Andover site for some crops. Yet, there was a decrease in growth in some plants and higher yield in others. In the Arboretum and St. Paul campus sites, we noted similar results, but more crops seemed to decline with biochar than without it. There’s nothing new about biochar. It was in use by native peoples in the Amazon region before Columbus. Hopefully this study will help clarify what types of soils and what crops benefit most from its use. Do...

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Quick Relief for Poison Oak

Mrs. Homegrown

April 4, 2014

Domesticus, Herbal Medicine, How-to

34 Comments

...n oak. I don’t know how I’ve been so lucky so far. I’ve heard that rubbing native mugwort on the skin can prevent/treat the rash, and I’ve done that a few times when I suspect I’ve brushed against some poison oak. (Mugwort almost always grows where the poison oak does.) Whether all these emergency poultices prevented anything or not is impossible to prove, because I’ve never contracted a rash until this time. I’ll keep doing it, though. After avoi...

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Anagallis monellii : A New Favorite

Mrs. Homegrown

April 14, 2014

Gardening

10 Comments

...es would like its many blue flowers. Anagallis monellii is a Mediterranean native, so it is well suited to the California climate, and it follows that it does not need much water. It is perennial in zones 9 to 11 (that’s us), but can be grown as an annual elsewhere. If you see Anagallis monellii without blooms, it is not much to look at. It’s a rangy, low-slung plant with uninteresting foliage. What it excels at is blooming. I believe it comes in...

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The Horror

Mr. Homegrown

January 8, 2008

Bikes

1 Comment

...eat time waster. Fellow LA Bloggist and committed bike commuter Will Campbell (his mileage indicates that he’s got the Kool-aid in those bottle cages), has smacked down Cato institute stormtrooper Randall O’Toole in an ongoing debate on cycling in the pages of the L.A. Times. Urban Velo #5 is available for download and it’s free. Lastly, Commute by Bike has some tips on how to ride in cold weather without opening the wallet for expensive clothing....

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Monday Linkages: The Blob, Urine Soaked Acorns

Mr. Homegrown

October 7, 2013

Saturday Linkages

4 Comments

...ongoing.blogspot.com/2013/09/real-adventures-alastair-humphreys.html … Sailboats Made of Corrugated Metal in Australia http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/2013/09/sailboats-made-of-corrugated-metal-in.html … Bikes New issue of Urban Velo: http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue39/urbanvelo39.pdf … What To Do After an Accident When the Police Fail to Respond? http://la.streetsblog.org/2013/09/04/what-to-do-after-an-accident-when-the-police-fail-to-respond...

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