So Cal Alert: Polyphagus Shot Hole Borer

...ident maple (Acer buergerianum) 5 Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) 6. Castor bean (Ricinus communis) 7. California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa)* 8. Mexizan sycamore (Platanus mexicana) 9. Red Willow (Salix laevigata)* 10. Avocado (Persea americana) 11. Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) 12. English Oak (Quercus robur) 13. Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia)* 14. London plane (Platanus x acerifolia) 15.Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)* 16. Black cottonwood (P...

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Fruit Tree Update: Flavor Delight Aprium

...hat is hardy to zones 6 to 10 and requires less than 300 hours below 45°F, making it ideal for warm climates. It’s one of many hybrid fruit trees developed painstakingly over many years by Zaiger Genetics. In terms of taste and appearance it’s more of an apricot than a plum. If you live in the right climate I highly recommend this tree. * Note from Kelly: In our defense, we didn’t plant trees because we didn’t think we had room. Back then we didn’...

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Saturday Linkages: Bus Offices and Secret Doors

...pot.com/p/no-they-didnt-gallery-of-mockable.html?spref=tw … Ancient wheat: making a comeback http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Artisanal-Wheat-On-the-Rise.html#.UQM4YKWpmhs.twitter … Soul Searching The secret to feeling like you have more time available – Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2013/01/25/the-secret-to-feeling-like-you.html … Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (review): http://boingboing.net/2013/01/24/wild-fr...

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Transcendental Taggers

...g the amenities of rural life, i.e. nature and agriculture, to our lives here in this somewhat ugly but interesting place we call home, the City of Los Angeles. In short, we intend to put the Urban in Urban Homestead. By the way, to the transcendentalist gangbangers who did the tagging – nice handwriting – you are obviously not the product of the same public schools we are....

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Fava Fava Fava

...Evolution compound this spring. I can’t say enough good things about fava beans (Vicia fava): they taste good, the plant fixes nitrogen into the soil, making it an ideal cover crop, and it’s attractive. If harvested small you can eat fava raw but I prefer to remove the skins and briefly boil the seeds (around five minutes). Once boiled, fava can be used in a variety of dishes from soups to salads. We just toss them with olive oil, white wine vine...

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