Video Sundays: Doberman Outsmarted by Chicken

...berman was deathly afraid of chickens, for some reason. Addition from Mrs. Homestead: I wouldn’t characterize our dog as having been deathly afraid of chickens. Rather, I’d say he let the chickens push him around–very much like this video. Once I found him trapped, unable to get to the house because the mean chickens were blocking his path, so I had to rescue him. But often enough they’d all coexist peacefully, with the chickens pecking right unde...

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133 Trees of Power with Akiva Silver

...lk to Akiva Silver of Twisted Tree Farm, described in his author bio as a “homestead, nut orchard and nursery located in Spencer, New York where he grows around 20,000 trees a year using practices that go beyond organic.” Akiva’s background is in “foraging, wilderness survival and primitive skills.” He is also the author of Trees of Power: Ten Essential Arboreal Allies (Amazon, library) just published by Chelsea Green. In our conversation we discu...

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Our New Straw Bale Garden–Part I

Straw bales–ready to prepare. Pot in the center will be a solar powered fountain. We’re going to experiment with a straw bale vegetable garden in our backyard, inspired by Michael Tortorello’s article in the New York Times. The plan is to grow in the bales and harvest the resulting compost for use in permanent raised beds (that have yet to be built). We’ll keep growing in bales until we have enough compost for the beds. The problems presented by...

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A Library for a Post-Electricity Future

...ecent episode of WNYC’s On the Media took a look at what would happen if a solar flare or electomagnetic pulse zapped our access to the Interwebs. What will we do when we can’t Instagram our taco platters? One of the segments of the show profiles Rocky Rawlins, who runs a fantastic website, survivorlibrary.com. The library is a trove of pre-electricity how-to books, everything from building your own steam engine to beekeeping, navigation, parlor g...

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Saturday Tweets: Naked Gardening Day Edition

...on — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 29, 2015 Something from Nothing – DIY Solar heater from scrap bottles http://t.co/Ygle3ndjDD — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 29, 2015 CNN: Home-canned potatoes to blame for botulism outbreak http://t.co/cyjUmx4dNr — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 29, 2015 Britain has a poo-powered bus. But does its design campaign stink? http://t.co/DBNhOmYD1T via @slate — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 29, 2015 Where can y...

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