Cutting a Beehive Out of a Wall

November 18, 2009

...gave Kirk a call and he suggested we spray the mass of workers with sugar water and use our bee brush to push them into a dust pan. The sugar water occupies the bees with cleaning themselves and makes them easier to move. Once in the dust pan they are easy to dump into the nuc box where, we hoped, the queen had taken up residence. After scooping up as many workers as we could we taped up the nuc box and got ready to put it in the back of Sue’s ha...

Read…

Welcome to the Summer Fruit Season

Homegrown Neighbor

May 26, 2009

Gardening

...wn peach tree and some growing tips. And did you know fruit trees are excellent for irrigating with greywater? Learn how you can irrigate your home orchard with your old laundry water at the greywater workshop tomorrow night with my Homegrown neighbors. Soon you will have an abundant and water-wise garden....

Read…

Fish Don’t Fart

Mr. Homegrown

June 21, 2009

Aquaculture, Preparedness

20 Comments

...ern California climate, common aquaponics fish such as tilapia need heated water. Portable Farms owner Colle Davis runs a two acre farm in Escondido California and has been working on his aquaponics system for over 37 years. The tag line “Fish Don’t Fart” refers to the benefits of fish over methane generating cattle. We skipped over aquaponics in our book since we considered it too expensive and complicated for most people. But perhaps we should g...

Read…

Native Plant Workshop

Mr. Homegrown

February 4, 2009

Events, Native Plants

3 Comments

...ives bring in beneficial wildlife, are hardy and are efficient in terms of water use. Flexibility is key here–go ahead and mix natives with vegetables, fruit trees and other climate-appropriate plantings. 2. Natives aren’t edible. Many natives yield edible and medicinal crops. In North America the best way to delve into this topic is to figure out the plants that Native Americans in your area used. 3. Southern California is a desert and native pla...

Read…

A Used Tire Hose Caddy

Mr. Homegrown

December 20, 2008

Design

8 Comments

...could use a sharp knife, but electricity makes this task a lot easier. You’ll end up with the half cut out tire you see above. But your work is not yet complete. Drill a bunch of drainage holes in the bottom of the tire, at least one hole every three inches. This is to keep water from pooling when it rains. Incidentally, used tires combined with water make the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes (more on the tragic global consequences caused b...

Read…