How Much Can You Carry on a Bicycle?

July 23, 2013

...s to climb hills even with heavy groceries. One need not be car-free to enjoy a cargo bike. For many years Kelly and I shared a car. The Xtracycle was a big part of making that car-light arrangement work. When people ask if urban homesteading saves money, the first thing I point to is the cargo bike, not the chicken coop. The problem? Cargo bikes are not nearly as sexy as the Playboy Land Yacht. That’s a problem I’ll get to in a future post....

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Campfire Cooking: Fish in Clay (& Vegetarian Options!)

Mrs. Homegrown

December 26, 2013

Food, Foraging

1 Comment

...d a type of wild clover, sagebrush, wild mint, native sage, white pine and watercress–but not all on one fish! I think a little lemon and garlic slipped into our cooking, too, here and there, and of course, salt and pepper — um…all wild foraged, of course. Once the fish is dressed for dinner, it gets tied up in leafy bondage. This is where the yucca fiber or some other type of string or natural cordage comes in handy. It’s imperative that the fish...

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New Sill Plate and Joists

Mr. Homegrown

May 28, 2018

Design

13 Comments

...ld have spent doing the things that normally take up the time of glamorous urban homesteading bloggers in the big city such as pondering avocado toast recipes or dehydrating loquats. After much all caps thinking, I came to the conclusion that we need a kind of time traveling Dr. Who character whose sold mission would be to stop misguided remodeling projects in the past. He’d spend a lot of time in the 1960s and 70s halting bad patio pours, stoppin...

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Moringa!

Mr. Homegrown

September 14, 2006

Gardening, Permaculture

2 Comments

...by Harvey McDaniel One of the big inspirations for starting our front yard urban farming efforts at the SurviveLA compound is a Philippino neighbor of ours who has turned his entire front yard and even the parkway into an edible garden featuring fruits and vegetables from his native land, most of which we have never seen before. This morning, while walking the dog, I found him cutting hundreds of long seed pods off of a small attractive tree. He d...

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Councilmen Want to Astroturf Los Angeles and Turn it Into a Big Minigolf Course

Mr. Homegrown

November 3, 2014

Gardening, Water and Power

7 Comments

...ings and get all the details wrong. Offering homeowners rebates to replace water hungry lawns is a good idea. Letting them use those rebates to put artificial turf in the parkway (see council motion 14-1197–introduced by councilpersons Blumenfield and O’Farrell) is not ecologically responsible. I disagree with a recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times, about giving rebates for artificial turf. It’s time for all of us in this dry Mediterranean cl...

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