Random Covid Thoughts

...world, the DSA-LA has a Zoom meeting this Saturday I’m noticing that this “urban homestead” lifestyle thing sure is handy right now. Wish I had some citrus growing but I’m grateful for the eggs and avocados. Lastly, I used a sprayer to paint Kelly’s shed interior yesterday. I didn’t pull up the hood on my painting jumpsuit all the way. When I came into the house and looked in the mirror I had gone prematurely gray. Counting my blessings that this...

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How to Make a Hexagonal Raised Bed

...is project requires a compound miter saw, a tool on my list of recommended homestead accessories. Mine has gotten a lot of use over the years for everything from gardening projects to building furniture. The angle at the corners of a hexagon are 60º. Therefore, you will need to set your saw to 30º (90º-60º=30º). With the saw set, you just need to cut 12 sections, each 2’6″ long, with that 30º angle at each end. Secure the pieces together with scre...

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Be Idle

...Vivre and Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life. Part of the Urban Homesteadin’ thing involves simplifying one’s life, but we just can’t get behind the all the deprivation and mortification that often goes with American’s puritanical approach to the new simplicity. A compelling speaker, Andrews echoed our wariness and used the Slow Food movement as an counter-example to the pitfalls of the simplicity movement. The Slow Food movement began...

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Bread Camp at the Greystone Mansion

...a Baking of the Loaves Instructors Include: Erik Knutzen: Co-author of The Urban Homestead and Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World, co-founder of the Los Angeles Bread Bakers collective and a L.A. County Master Food Preserver Joseph Shuldiner: Institute Director and author: Pure Vegan: 70 Recipes for Beautiful Meals and Clean Living Carmi Paulson: Carmi trained at Le Cordon Bleu, London where she received a Grand Diplôme in Patiss...

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Root Simple is 10 Years Old

...g a chance on two first time authors. The book that they commissioned, The Urban Homestead, published in 2008, went through many printings and is still selling copies. After the success of the first book we got a lot of offers to write a sequel (or just another version of the same book for bigger publishers!). We ended up writing a how-to book for Rodale called Making It. Thank You! Root Simple is a group effort and there are many people to thank:...

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