Los Angeles is One Step Closer to Legalizing Bees

February 14, 2014

...taking a look at our overly restrictive municipal codes as they relate to urban agriculture. HoneyLove cultivated grass roots support and got more than a dozen resolutions from local neighborhood councils in support of legalizing beekeeping. They found a sympathetic councilman to support a resolution. They gathered supporters to go to meetings. And they seem to be on good terms with the media if the press conference was any indication (I’ve haven...

Read…

Saturday Linkages: Fire Plows, Kite Fishing and Roundup-Ready Turfgrass

Mr. Homegrown

February 15, 2014

Saturday Linkages

14 Comments

...ers à la carte http://shar.es/QRHOf Google hangout with Lloyd Kahn, master urban homesteader: http://boingboing.net/2014/02/12/google-hangout-with-lloyd-kahn.html … 3 MAKE projects to help you fight for your online privacy: http://boingboing.net/2014/02/11/3-make-projects-to-help-you-fi.html … Frugal Digital: Repairing, Hacking, and Repurposing Electronics http://feedly.com/e/x1zb0NgL Low-Tech Kite-Fishing in the Indo-Pacific http://feedly.com/e/v...

Read…

Keep Those Bikes Locked, Even in the Garage!

Mr. Homegrown

February 26, 2014

Bikes, Transportation

15 Comments

...ock your bike when out and about. Leave it unlocked for one second in most urban areas and you can bet it will be gone when you return. In San Fransisco, for instance, bike theft outstripped iPhone theft 3:1. But there’s another kind of bike theft that a lot of folks don’t think about–theft from your home or apartment. Yes, even at home base your bike needs to be locked up. Some thieves drive around in pickup trucks looking for open garages with u...

Read…

Climate Change and Personal Responsibility

Mrs. Homegrown

June 28, 2013

Age of Limits, Thoughtstylings

63 Comments

...en so much positive change on this front, even just in the last few years. Urban homesteading, slow food, organics, bikes, car share, DIY, all of it — it’s blossoming. It’s very hopeful. I’m going to put the next part in italics because it’s so important: The pleasure and satisfaction that we all receive from living this way is the positive counterspell to the dark enchantment of consumer culture. When we live this way, we become positive examples...

Read…

Bee Fever in Los Angeles

Mr. Homegrown

June 14, 2013

Animals, Bees

8 Comments

...the radical “backwards” approach to beekeeping advocated by LA’s maverick urban beekeeper Kirk Anderson, Anderson learned from apiarist Charles Martin Simon, who invented the concept of “beekeeping backwards.” Simon’s approach was stupidly simple: Give the bees a clean box, put them in it and leave them alone. If they get sick? Don’t medicate them. Let them die. Then get some more bees. Amen. Selecting for strong bees is an approach that, in my o...

Read…