We Went to Japan

March 13, 2024

...the Tokyo area and our visit coincided with the March 11 anniversary of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster. Near our hotel was the headquarters of the Japanese Communist Party which is more of a progressive party not a Stalinist type org. These two posters say Yes to higher wages and No to military expansion. On the other end of the political spectrum we also got to watch a bizarre and loud caravan of Japanese Qanon enthu...

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Aerated Compost Tea: Does it Work?

Mr. Homegrown

December 6, 2012

Composting, Gardening

15 Comments

...horticulturalist Linda Chalker-Scott has a set of pdfs as well as a long list of ACT studies on her gardening myths page....

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Picture Sunday: A Table Made From Election Signs

Mr. Homegrown

November 25, 2012

Picture Sundays

2 Comments

...Now that the election is over it’s time to make some tables. Via the Homesteading/Survivalism Facebook page....

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Black Widow or False Black Widow?

Mrs. Homegrown

May 9, 2013

Animals, Composting, Insects

73 Comments

...e kind of dangerous, either. This is not reassuring. But then on the handy page Frequently Encountered Spiders in California, I learned about the False black widow. Another European invasive, this spider seems to be displacing our native black widows in urban areas. This spider is roughly the same size and shape as a black widow, but is brown with a faint purple sheen. I like this false black widow option a lot. The false widows don’t have a dange...

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