Saturday Tweets: Mountain Lions, Chunky Gravel and Living in a Dumpster

...a @NatGeo — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 5, 2015 Back to the land on an Urban Homestead http://t.co/ES3mJJEmjP http://t.co/QyQILBx3oK — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 5, 2015 Toronto tunnel dug by 2 men as 'man cave', police say http://t.co/2PugkySbw7 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 5, 2015 What living in a dumpster for a year taught this professor about the things we don't need http://t.co/sBGKL35TD2 — Root Simple (@rootsimple)...

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Adam Parfrey, RIP

Our first book, The Urban Homestead, was published by Process Media which was, at the time, a collaboration between Jodi Willie and Adam Parfrey (who founded Feral House). I was deeply saddened to hear of Adam’s passing yesterday at the age of 61. Jodi and Adam took a big chance on us as new authors when they commissioned our book back in 2006. Most publishers are unoriginal and afraid to take chances. Not Adam and Jodi. It was a great pleasure t...

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Eat Food, Mostly Plants, Not too Much

In the course of writing and researching our book, The Urban Homestead, coming out this June, we learned a lot about contemporary agricultural practices. And what we learned sure ain’t pretty. It has made our trips to the supermarket, to supplement the food we grow at home, a series of moral dilemmas. Where did this food come from? How was it grown or raised? What are these mysterious ingredients? Our book contains practical how-to advice for way...

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FlicFloc Sticker Shock

...gility of our food chain. In recent years we got a bit lazy around the old urban homestead. There were a few too many meals out and an over-reliance on convenience foods. But at least we had experience growing and processing our own foods. When the yeast disappeared from the store I got a sourdough starter going within a week. So I’d say that experience trumps equipment when it comes to the living from scratch lifestyle. It’s never too late to lea...

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Bisphenol-A

...the early onset of puberty in girls. We’ve done our best around our little urban homestead to eliminate plastics from our lives, but where we still encounter BPA is in canned foods which we like to have on hand. Next time you pop open a can take a look at the inside–odds are there is a nearly invisible clear plastic lining which is where you’ll find the BPA. So with BPA we have yet another one of those throw up your hands in disgust, anger and des...

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