How to Cook Broadleaf Plantain

November 19, 2012

...one else we know–as a gourmet experience. Combining Old World traditions, Native wisdom and a good deal of culinary invention, Pascal and his partner, chef Mia Wasilevich push foraged food to “the next level.” In fact, together they run a website called Transitional Gastronomy dedicated to just this idea. If you want to learn how to make your foraged food delicious, go see Pascal and Mia. If you live around LA or are planning a visit you can hook...

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Picture Sundays: Name This Flower

Mr. Homegrown

April 21, 2013

Picture Sundays

6 Comments

...I planted our parkway with a California native wildflower mix from Theodore Payne last year. This flower was the most successful and reseeded itself. But I lost the seed package and don’t know its name. Identify it and you win bragging rights . . . Update: Dree wins bragging rights! It’s Elegant clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata)....

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Black Widow or False Black Widow?

Mrs. Homegrown

May 9, 2013

Animals, Composting, Insects

73 Comments

...k widow. Another European invasive, this spider seems to be displacing our native black widows in urban areas. This spider is roughly the same size and shape as a black widow, but is brown with a faint purple sheen. I like this false black widow option a lot. The false widows don’t have a dangerous sting. The spiders in my box are pretty shy, but insofar as I can tell, they are all sort of an eggplant color–not that true, bad-ass black of a classi...

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Help! Small birds are eating us out of house and home!

Mrs. Homegrown

July 24, 2014

Animals, Mistakes

25 Comments

...ldfinch obesity crisis? Our yard does have more natural food sources, like native sunflowers and white sage gone to seed. Perhaps we should have left it at that? ( I suspect we’re not going to win any permaculture awards for our feeder.) Bird people, help! What are your thoughts on feeders? Is it okay to leave the feeder empty sometimes? Does that encourage foraging, or is it just not very nice to be random about the filling? Is there a cheaper al...

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Straw Bale Garden Tour Part II

Mr. Homegrown

August 21, 2013

Gardening, Straw Bale Gardening, Vegetable Gardening, Videos

6 Comments

...growing are Tromboncino squash, Lunga di Napoli squash (growing up into a native bush), Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato, Celebrity tomato, eggplant and Swiss chard. And just to take down my smugness a notch I also included a shot of an unsuccessful cucumber plant. Other than the cucumber, though, this is one of the most productive vegetable gardens I’ve ever planted. I’m now a big fan of the straw bale method. The music is by Karaoke Mouse–“Shanghai Re...

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