Safety Films Night

...nter is located at 1200 North Alvarado Street @ Sunset Blvd. Map This ain’t a safety film and we won’t be showing this gem on Sunday, but it reminds us that we need to write about the aesthetics of urban homesteading. Something about the three-way nexus of Germans, country music, and “new wave” speaks to the notion of growing food and keeping livestock in the city:...

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The Horror

...d committed bike commuter Will Campbell (his mileage indicates that he’s got the Kool-aid in those bottle cages), has smacked down Cato institute stormtrooper Randall O’Toole in an ongoing debate on cycling in the pages of the L.A. Times. Urban Velo #5 is available for download and it’s free. Lastly, Commute by Bike has some tips on how to ride in cold weather without opening the wallet for expensive clothing. Here’s this morning’s Vitus californi...

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Something for Nothing – Wild Mustard Greens

...coside (sinigrin) to produce a sulphur compound. The reaction takes 10 – 15 minutes. Mixing with hot water or vinegar, or adding salt, inhibits the enzyme and produces a mild bitter mustard.” And speaking of urban foraging, we’ve been inspired by our visitor from Chicago, Nancy Klehm. Hear an interview with her, “Foraging for Food on the Streets of L.A.“, on Weekend America. Happy foraging . . ....

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Black Widow or False Black Widow?

...an invasive, this spider seems to be displacing our native black widows in urban areas. This spider is roughly the same size and shape as a black widow, but is brown with a faint purple sheen. I like this false black widow option a lot. The false widows don’t have a dangerous sting. The spiders in my box are pretty shy, but insofar as I can tell, they are all sort of an eggplant color–not that true, bad-ass black of a classic widow. Nor have I see...

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Saturday Linkages: The Calm After the Storm

...nion/opinion-la/la-ol-getting-jerry-browned-20121024,0,2854852.story … New Urban Velo issue free online: http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue34/ The fox is guarding the hen house! How the sugar industry defends itself against claims that sugar is unhealthy: http://boingboing.net/2012/10/31/how-the-sugar-industry-defends.html … Billboard firm wrote L.A. proposal on signs http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1027-billboard-influence-20121027,0,1562494....

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