Why Urban Farm?

...r total up to four. Such are the cycles of life and death on the new urban homestead. Bryan Welch, who raises livestock and is also the publisher and editor of the always informative Mother Earth News, wrote an editorial in the February issue called “Why I Farm” in which he says, “There’s a Buddhist wisdom in the stockman’s cool compassion. The best of them seem to understand that our own lives on this Earth are as irrefutably temporary as the liv...

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Looking for the Union Label

...d a highly catchy ad jingle from the roller disco era, “Look for the Union Label” (youngsters can watch it on youtube here). We looked for the union label and we were surprised to find it via a company called Union House which carries a functional, if unexciting line of apparel. Unless hipsters take to golf shirts in an ironic fashion judo move, these offerings will never be cool like the domestically made clothes made by the union busting folks o...

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Of Gnomes and Peak Oil

...have it I stumbled on CNN commentator David Frum’s delusional editorial, “Peak Oil Doomsayers Proved Wrong,” at the same time as I discovered Renaissance physician, alchemist and philosopher Paracelsus’ treatise, On Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies and Salamanders. They have a few things in common. First, Frum’s notion that oil has no limits: Predictions that the world would imminently “run out of oil” have been worrying oil consumers since at least the 1...

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114 Will of The Weekend Homestead on Fire Safety

...at tree watered! Smoke detectors Fire extinguishers and how to use them Common causes of residential fires What it’s like to be a firefighter Will’s career in fireworks Upcoming and ongoing projects: outhouse, solar power, Instapot, apple orchard, and Will’s SKYBOX You can find The Weekend Homestead on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimp...

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How to Homestead

...ead videos to stream or download. No longer relegated to the rural sphere, homesteading can be done anywhere and we are here to show you how.” With many homesteading activities, from chicken slaughtering to tortellini making, internet based video is a useful resource when you don’t have a friend or relative to show you a skill first hand. Kudos to the How to Homesteaders and we look forward to future episodes on this nicely designed site. To celeb...

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