Saturday Linkages:

The Japanese art of Furoshiki–a way of making packages with a reusable cloth. Via No Tech Magazine. Zero waste shopping in Japan with Furoshiki: http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/04/furoshiki-zero-waste-shopping-in-japan.html … A solar powered grain grinder: http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/04/solar-powered-grain-mill.html … Bee Friendly Gardening In The Pacific Northwest http://www.nwedible.com/2014/04/bee-friendly-gardening.html … Nesting fo...

Read…

The Theme of a Great Garden

...den it would be useful to toss around a few abstract words and ideas to help unify the design vocabulary of the garden. Picking a theme or several related themes could make it easier when it comes to making plant and hardscpaping choices. Of course, the current theme of our garden is “Skunk Encounters.” We’re going to have a bunch of stinky school groups this spring . . ....

Read…

Online Adobe Classes With Kurt Gardella

...ils for use in adobe construction and also take you through the process of making your own adobe bricks: Class: History & Basics of Adobe Construction (8-Week Online Class) Dates: March 17 to May 11, 2014 Credits: 2 Location: Online Instruction via Minigroup Instructor: Kurt Gardella Fee: $250 The Foundations class covers detailed design and construction techniques of foundations that work well for adobe structures and meet code in New Mexico: Cla...

Read…

How to Search for Science-Based Gardening Advice

...ave access to tools beyond Google. Hot Topics To that end, I’m thinking of making the trek to UCLA this year to look into a number of controversial horticultural and homesteading questions that have come up in the course of writing posts on Root Simple. Some topics I’m interested in: The effect of chloramine on soil health/human health. The temperament of Africanized bees. Hugelkultur in dry climates. Compost tea. Phytoremediation of lead and/or z...

Read…

Does Sourdough Offer Hope for the Gluten Intolerant?

...uickly. But even before Pasteur, bakers used the yeast remaining from beer making (also a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to make doughs rise. Sourdough cultures are not as powerful and predictable, so it’s understandable that commercial bakers would want a more dependable alternative. What is in a sourdough culture? There are many strains of yeast in sourdough cultures, but the main one is Candida milleri. Candida milleri is tolerant of highl...

Read…