107 Urban Beekeeping with Terry Oxford

August 9, 2017

...systemic neonicotinoid pesticides such as Imidacloprid. Terry’s website is Urban Bee San Francisco. We get into a lot of topics including: Keeping bees on rooftops in San Francisco Ants and small hive beetles Natural beekeeping Splitting Natural beekeeper Michael Bush’s website Pesticide activism Treatment of nursery trees with neonicotinoids Senate bill 602 that would have required labeling of nursery plants treated with neonicotinoids How the Ca...

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Chicago’s Urban Bees

Mr. Homegrown

May 29, 2009

Animals, Bees

...hives on a former Sears and Roebucks site. The Co-op provides job training to under-employed folks and sells a variety of products. I didn’t get a chance to visit it on my trip to Chicago, but hope to the next time I’m there. In other Chicago bee news, the Green Roof Growers just got a hive. Urban rooftops and abandoned industrial sites make a lot of sense for beekeeping, as many agricultural areas are contaminated with pesticides. Keeping bees i...

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How to kill your palm tree

Mrs. Homegrown

November 14, 2016

Gardening, Trees

...or candle style cut, which leaves just a few fronds poking out at the top. Pruning a palm this way will only stress the palm and stands a good chance of killing it. Here’s a quick photo reference. Prune your palm with dirty tools. Diseases are carried on chainsaws and the like. Poor pruning hygiene has infected the stately 100 year old Canary Island Date palms in our local Elysian Park with deadly Fusarium wilt. Simple carelessness destroyed this...

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How to Design and Fabricate Homestead Projects

Mr. Homegrown

January 14, 2016

Design

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I’m a horrible designer. My music degree (I have a master’s degree in un-listenable noise from UC San Diego), did not prepare me for the rigorous design and fabrication needs required for our two books and this blog. But, over the years, I’ve bugged our art, design and architecture friends for advice. Luckily, I’m also married to a talented artist (also with a UCSD degree–go Tritons!) who can provide 24 hour emergency art and art history advice....

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054 Digital Design Tools on the Homestead

Mr. Homegrown

July 22, 2015

Design, Podcasts

1 Comment

Our topic this week is using digital design tools such as Sketchup to conceptualize and build simple projects around your house or apartment. Our guest is designer John Zapf, proprietor of Zapf Architectural Renderings and the genius behind our chicken run. During the podcast we discuss: Why you should draw up plans before you build something Architectural Graphics Standards Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) technology John’s Cat Bed 7 (pictu...

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