The Blue Bear

...myself, I suppose–but you know what I mean.) Still, fifty years is a long time, even for polyester fun fur, so Blue Bear is disintegrating. In the end, I suppose, time decides things for us this way. But I made things worse by washing him. His head and one arm came loose, revealing that he’d been stuffed with strange scraps and lumps of polyester wadding of different colors. His body material is so fragile at this point I can’t even consider tryi...

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Do Hens Make Noise?

...n wanted wake-up call, but so far nobody has complained. Being naive first time chicken owners, the first time we heard this sound caught us by surprise. We suspected that it’s the result of discomfort from squeezing out an egg, or some wonder of selective breeding, a way to announce to the poultry farmer, “Hey, time to collect an egg!” In fact, research presented by University of Sheffield animal scientists Tommaso Pizzari and Tim R. Birkhead, in...

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Take Back Your Time

...Today, October 24th, is Take Back Your Time Day which, according to the website www.timeday.org, is “a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.” So take it easy out there....

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Keeping it Local

...naking), but I got to connect with some great folks. If you don’t have a time bank near you you can start one via timebanks.org. Now that I’ve switched to time banking, Goldman Sachs has kindly agreed to take all my extra Edendale Dinars....

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121 Beekeeping, Fireworks, Solar Power and Extending Wi-Fi with Will of the Weekend Homestead

Will of the Weekend Homestead returns to the Root Simple podcast to talk about how to get into beekeeping without busting the bank, fireworks, rigging up a simple solar power system and extending your wi-fi. During the podcast we discuss: Inexpensive beekeeping. Fireworks. Will’s small solar system. Will on the Garden Fork Podcast discussing his solar power system along with part recommendations. Kill-a-Watt. Cooking with a Sous Vide machine. Bro...

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