The Root Simple 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

November 23, 2016

...ht I’d offer some suggested gifts, mostly obtainable online, for the urban homesteady types in your life. Most of the links are to Amazon, and we get a small cut of the proceeds, which helps keep our webmaster in kibble. But First . . . Charity Of course, rather than buying unneeded crap that will only clutter our already messy houses, we could agree to give to a charity instead. This season, due to our national “orange swan” event, Kelly is favor...

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Paleo Grift

Mr. Homegrown

June 2, 2021

Thoughtstylings

6 Comments

...before the toil of agriculture is an idea that pops up often in the urban homesteading and permaculture scene. While I’m sympathetic to complaints about modern agriculture, I’ve long thought that this Golden Age narrative sounds too simple, too much like the “noble savage” archetype, the idea that if we can somehow just get back to “nature” all will be okay. This notion of a idyllic distant past was the subject of an excellent episode of the Tril...

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Gourmet Foraging and Advanced Acorn Processing

Mrs. Homegrown

October 24, 2013

Food, Foraging, How-to, Preparedness

31 Comments

...g been interested in acorns, knowing that they were the staple food of the native people who lived here, and I’ve gathered and processed them before. However, once I have the acorn meal, I’ve never known exactly what to do with it. It’s highly nutritious, but I thought (wrongly!) that it was somewhat bland, and all I could do was incorporate acorn meal into baked goods. This weekend, however, I’ve had my eyes opened to the possibilities, thanks to...

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Branch Weaving & Climbing Structure Workshop

Mr. Homegrown

January 29, 2016

Events

...abriel Valley into a playful sculptural garden installation that will grow native flowers as well as vegetables and fruits. Come and learn about weaving tuteurs, composting, mulching, water harvesting, and large structure wood weaving, and how to make a climbing structure for kids all from found wood. All workshops are led by artist/activist Jeeyun Ha. This is a four part Workshop, where you can attend one workshop at a time or all four. This is W...

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Is Our Furniture Killing Us?

Mr. Homegrown

March 24, 2009

Thoughtstylings

4 Comments

...en work while nimbly crouched low to the ground, in a posture I doubt most native born Westerners half their age could mimic. Their health and flexibility is, no doubt, due in part to cultural and architectural differences. Switching out our Western furniture for a down-on-the-floor type arrangement would force me to incorporate stretching as a part of my daily routine rather than separating it out as an activity (like yoga) that I never seem to g...

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