Straw Bale Gardens

March 25, 2013

...strawbalegardens.com–the website of Joel Karsten, profiled in Tortorello’s article and the author of a book and a downloadable pamphlet on straw bale gardening. Some tips from an experienced straw bale gardener at The Gardener’s Pantry We’re going to bioassay (that is, test ) the straw from our local feed store. The Compost Gardener has good instructions for this. In our case, we’re doing the method where you plant beans in soil, and water them wi...

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Grief is the pathway to action

Mrs. Homegrown

April 9, 2015

Back to the Garden, Thoughtstylings

28 Comments

...n the other end of the hurt, an apology alone isn’t enough. It’s not enough that the one who injures feels bad about it, they have to learn from the mistake, so they don’t do the same thing again. They have to re-form their hearts. That is the path of atonement between us and the natural world. Grief is not an end, it’s a beginning. Can we re-form our hearts to make them big enough to encompass the world? I think we can. And then we begin the work...

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Land Girls

Mrs. Homegrown

December 2, 2009

Thoughtstylings

7 Comments

...es,” saying, “The recession has led to endless talk of austerity measures, making-do-and-mending and growing your own vegetables on an allotment. But the big question is, of course, what to wear while mulching the compost on your carrots.” It’s good point. The Land Girls prove there’s no need to look like a slob out in the garden, trailing your already disreputable bathrobe through the mire–as Mrs. Homegrown is wont to do. Instead, as The Chap (an...

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Home Baked Bread in Five Minutes

Mr. Homegrown

December 24, 2008

Bread, Food

10 Comments

...d a nice, hard crust. We tried the basic white bread recipe in the Mother Earth article and can report that it works quite well. Hertzberg and François have penned a bread cookbook, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, that takes this basic recipe and uses it as the base for variations such as pizza dough, sticky rolls, and whole-wheat bread. While not having as rich a flavor as our wild yeast recipe, Hertzberg and François’ method is an excellent...

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Busting open a Durian

Mr. Homegrown

November 27, 2008

Food, Gardening

1 Comment

...and exotic fruit? Mrs. Homegrown has become concerned about Mr. Homegrown dropping talk of durian into conversations at inappropriate moments of late. And look out Mrs. HG, because Mr. HG just heard about the Mimosa Nursery (thanks beer making Scott!), purveyors of exotic fruit trees here in Southern California. From my web research it looks like Mimosa has at least two locations, one in Anaheim and the other at 6270 Allston in Los Angeles. We’re...

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