Behold the Ant Lion

November 20, 2014

...have been made by a big man’s thumb. I might think it was made by dripping water, if there was ever any water anywhere in this dry land. The answer was “ant lion” — and I was the only one among them who did not know the answer. Ant lion??? It was such as strange conjunction of terms (see jackalope) that I thought they were pulling my leg. When I got home and checked the Internets, I realized that, as always, truth is stranger than fiction. The nam...

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Greywater Design and Installation Workshop

Mr. Homegrown

February 8, 2014

Events, Water and Power, Water Conservation

18 Comments

...oduce and how many plants you can water What soaps and detergents are “greywater friendly” Tour Real L2L greywater system Gravity “branched drain” greywater system from sinks Date: February 22, 2014 – 10:00am to 12:30pm Location: Los Angeles EcoVillage 117 Bimini Place LA, CA 90004 Cost: Sliding scale $15 to $40, limited work trade positions available Register HERE Bring: Photographs of your laundry room and landscape. Site plan of your yard. For...

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Quick Relief for Poison Oak

Mrs. Homegrown

April 4, 2014

Domesticus, Herbal Medicine, How-to

34 Comments

...til I found one I liked from good ol’ Dr. Weil. He recommended running hot water over the rash, as hot as you can stand it. I don’t remember that he said how long you should do this, but I decided to do it as long as I could stand it, which in my case was probably a minute or so. He said the heat will cause the itching to flare temporarily, but then suppress the itching for hours, and speed healing as well. Results? It worked like a charm for me....

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Anagallis monellii : A New Favorite

Mrs. Homegrown

April 14, 2014

Gardening

10 Comments

...uited to the California climate, and it follows that it does not need much water. It is perennial in zones 9 to 11 (that’s us), but can be grown as an annual elsewhere. If you see Anagallis monellii without blooms, it is not much to look at. It’s a rangy, low-slung plant with uninteresting foliage. What it excels at is blooming. I believe it comes in a few colors, but “Blue Pimpernel” makes 1″ flowers in a rich gentian blue with magenta eyes, and...

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Dry Climate Vegetables

Mr. Homegrown

April 17, 2014

Gardening, rainwater harvesting, Vegetable Gardening, Water and Power

20 Comments

...the seeds we buy for our vegetable gardens are adapted to require lots of water. One solution is to find veggies that have reseeded accidentally without supplemental irrigation. Here’s a short list of reseeding rogue veggies from our garden that have thrived with just the small burst of rain we got last month. New Zealand Spinach The one I’m most excited about is New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides). It’s reappeared for at lest three y...

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