Murder Hornets: It’s What’s for Dinner

May 13, 2020

...French Fries according to entomologist Matan Shelomi. There’s pictures and harvesting directions to prove it if you follow the link. The murder hornet looks tasty when deep fried. But what doesn’t? For more information see this fact sheet on the Asian giant hornet from Washington State University. If you’d like to meme about “murder” hornets there’s a Facebook group for you. There’s a term for when the media covers something that you have speciali...

Read…

Kelly and Chocineal

Mr. Homegrown

August 31, 2020

Animals, Insects

5 Comments

...cus) is a scale insect that produces carminic acid which is extracted for use as a red textile and food dye. I thought cochineal dying might make for the perfect quarantine craft project until I did some research. Like many things worth doing, harvesting and dying textiles with cochineal is a process that takes experience and skill. The Zapotec people of Oaxaca have been practicing this skill for a thousand years. In the video above you can see ho...

Read…

Chicken of the Woods 2021

Mr. Homegrown

September 24, 2021

Food, Foraging

8 Comments

...te that should this mushroom show up on one of your trees you’ll want to hire an arborist as this fungus can cause serious structural problems. On the plus side you’ll have many gourmet meals. To review, eat the young growth, cook well and know the species of tree you’re harvesting from and you should be fine. Chicken of the woods is sort of a gateway to edible mushroom foraging as it’s one of the easiest wild mushrooms to identify. The only probl...

Read…

Los Angeles Bread Bakers Blog

Mr. Homegrown

January 8, 2013

Bread, Food

...o with planting wheat. We got no crop last year due to either birds or not harvesting the wheat soon enough. We’re hoping for better luck this year. Thanks largely to Mark Stambler, California has a cottage food law and Paul is also posting videos of a presentation that took place this weekend on how to get a cottage food permit in Los Angeles. And if you’re in Southern California and interested in learning about bread baking and meeting other bre...

Read…

Seat Weaving for Fun and Profit

Mr. Homegrown

July 26, 2019

Design

6 Comments

...eave and remember to peek at the back periodically to make sure you’re not making any mistakes. Sloppy first attempt on left and improved second try on right. I’ll send you to Hammond’s oddly soothing video for the details of how to weave the chair. It’s easier to show than to describe in words but I’ll add a few lessons learned. Most importantly, take your time and make sure that each strand is tight and straight as you weave the chair. It’s not...

Read…