Search Results for: label/water conservation/page/4/2011/04/making-it/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

1159 results

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands

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rainwater harvesting
...l observation and some work with a shovel. He suggests that harvesting rainwater begins with considering the flow of water from the highest point (which for most people will be the roof) to the lowest point in your yard and then simply figuring out simple ways to get that water to percolate into the ground to nourish your plants. We’re especially fond of his method of hijacking street gutter runoff and directing it with a small improvised check da...

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Beads and Roman Sandals Won’t Be Seen

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Permaculture
...herb spiral which is essentially a mound. In the permaculture version the water hungry plants are placed at the bottom of the mound and the dry plants at the top, the idea being that the water collects towards the bottom of the mound shaped spiral. We didn’t do the mound thing out of laziness and a lack of materials, and because the herbs we planted don’t require much water anyways. As for the spiral shape itself, we’d like to think that it’s our...

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Essential System #7 – Repair Kit and Tools

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Preparedness, Tools
...er glove – for gathering or distilling water or for one-handed first aid 8 water purification tables (in straw) – see our earlier post on water 6 safety pins – for, among other uses, creating a sling with a shirt for a broken arm 2 medicated Bandaid strips 1 package first aid cream 6 aspirin 1 baling wire 4 fish hooks (snelled #2/#8) – for fishing! 4 split shot sinkers – also for fishing 1 snap swivel (#10) 1 filament (10 meters) Beyond having eno...

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A Self-Watering Container in a Pot

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Self Watering Containers
1 Comment
...owers. You fill SWCs up via a pipe and they can go at least a week between waterings. It is, in our opinion, the only way to grow water-needy vegetables reliably in a container. We have used them to successfully grow eggplants, tomatoes, collard greens and blueberries (note to the DEA: no cash crops at the Homegrown Revolution compound!). With our backyard looking fairly ugly this summer we’ve backpedaled on our earlier strident post about how we...

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New Health Food Trends at the Natural Products Food Expo West

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Food, Thoughtstylings
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...y have some sort of wheat allergy. However, someone tell me why we have to label products like tomato sauce and raw chicken as being “gluten free?” Most new gluten free products, everything from pasta to crackers to power bars, use quinoa. The Natural Products Expo’s own trade publication noted that the exponential growth of quinoa consumption in the U.S. has created a situation in which the indigenous people of Peru can no longer afford their own...

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