Connect with Nature Project #2: Rediscover Your Feet

June 17, 2013

...your knees soft and springy, even slightly bent. Take your arms out of the picture. No swinging arms. Fox Walking is not striding, it’s creeping. Clasp your hands in front of you or hold them bent softly at your sides. Whatever is most comfortable. Just keep them still. Lift one foot, transferring all your weight to your grounded foot. Lead with the toe. Let the ball of the foot, touch earth first. Before committing to lowering your heel, pause to...

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Federico Tbn’s Self Irrigating Pots

Mr. Homegrown

May 3, 2013

Gardening, Self Watering Containers

12 Comments

Federico Tbn sent me some very cool pictures of two self irrigating pots (SIPs) he built out of found materials. The one in the picture above uses a water jug and a five gallon bucket. Unlike my really ugly SIPs, Federico has taken the time to ornament the outside of the bucket. Federico says, This one is a variation on the 5 gallon bucket system. The handle on the jug was a convenient way of inserting a piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe to refill the r...

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To each hen her own egg

Mrs. Homegrown

March 27, 2013

Animals, Chickens

9 Comments

...e is speckled, one is light olive green and the other dark olive drab. The picture doesn’t capture the olives at all. It’s useful to be able to associate each hen with her egg, so you know if there are any problems with her laying. Unfortunately, these four ladies look so much alike–and tend to visit the nesting box in pairs–so we haven’t been able to ID their eggs yet. Closer surveillance is required! *** And while we’re talking chickens — Update...

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On the Difficulty of Finding Pastured Animal Products

Mr. Homegrown

March 12, 2013

Animals

22 Comments

...tion–specifically eggs and meat from a farm that looks like the one in the picture above. I’m hugely disappointed. And I wish I could be more specific but I don’t want to end up in a lawsuit. Let’s just say that at this point I’m not aware of any animal welfare rating service that I consider adequate. Let’s not even talk about the joke that is the USDA. I do think there is a entrepreneurial opportunity here for someone to start a reliable third pa...

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Garden Design Trends: Interplanting and Plant Communities

Mr. Homegrown

January 23, 2013

Garden Design, Gardening

4 Comments

...same interplanting strategy can be used with edible and medicinal plants. Another related design strategy are gardens inspired by wild plant communities. The example Rainer cites is the Daily Telegraph garden seen in the picture above. You can watch a video about that garden here. Now how do I get Sarah Price to redo our backyard? Have you seen a new garden you really like in the past year? If so, tell us about it in the comments . . ....

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