024 Water, Wilding our Gardens and Sewing

...to discuss a recent talk I gave to a bunch of Master Gardeners about water harvesting and encouraging wildness in our gardens. On the second part of the podcast Kelly discusses the process of learning how to sew. During the first part of the podcast Erik mentions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoJ0OHWl3b8 Jacques de Vaucanson’s 1739 mechanical pooping duck A University of California study, Hedgerows enhance beneficial insects on farms in Califor...

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2013 in Review Part I

...ich to use in permanent raised beds that I’ll build this winter. I’m still harvesting squash from those bales! May We attend the Age of Limits conference along with our friend John Zapf. Kelly and I blogged about our initial reaction to this doomy event but we never told the whole story–deciding instead to move on and focus on positive action. June Good news and bad news. The amazing folks at Honey Love continued their efforts to legalize beekeepi...

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2013 in Review Part II

...r summer to be our winter in Los Angeles. It’s hot and dry and, other than harvesting tomatoes, summer here is not the best time for gardening. Time to contemplate closed vs. open floor plans and catch a crappy Hollywood movie. “Crappy Hollywood” is a redundancy, of course, as all Hollywood movies are crappy. September Mrs. Homegrown complained about my flour storage mess. I just bought a Komo mill and so this mess should diminish in the next few...

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Sourdough Bread Class at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano

...ients. Other benefits of baking at home include using less energy (used in harvesting, processing, and shipping store-bought bread), using less plastic packaging, and spending less money. Become a baker and join us for a weekend of heart-healthy, bread baking workshops: Saturday, June 21, 1-3 to make Sourdough and/or Sunday, June 22, 1-3p to make Sourdough rye! Topics discussed will include: How to make your own sourdough starter (also known as a...

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Print and Internet Resources for Natural, No-Treatment Beekeeping

...k on the one on swarm captures as well as how to do crush and strain honey harvesting. HoneyLove has some great resources and a forum. Discussions on the organic beekeepers Yahoo group get heated, to put it mildly, but there’s good info. Gaia Bees is the website of Michael Thiele, who we blogged about last year. Books The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beekeeping – not to be confused with the conventional approach in the Dummies book. The Practical Bee...

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