Paper Wasps: Your New BFFs

...ative European variant is more the wasp you will likely be dealing with in urban/suburban North America, because unlike their native counterparts, Euro wasps aren’t shy. They are the ones who will build a nest by your back door, or on the side of your mailbox. Paper wasps build those distinctive, easy to recognize papery nests made of many cells. There are other types of native wasps which build with different materials, such as mud. Honeybee colo...

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094 The American Woman’s Home

On the podcast this week Kelly and I discuss a 19th century urban homesteading book written by Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, The American Woman’s Home. The book was written mostly by Catherine, with some contributions from Harriet (author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin). It’s likely that Catherine realized that attaching her famous sister’s name would sell more copies. Published in 1869, The American Woman’s Home covers a great deal of terri...

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Saturday Tweets: Waffles, Shipwrecks and Soil Erosion

...t Simple (@rootsimple) January 16, 2017 From India: Bengaluru's oldest urban farmer leads the way in sustainable living https://t.co/Omj9eVCAJK — Green Guerillas (@greenguerillas) January 15, 2017 The False Prophet [BnF, Latin 8878, 11th c.] pic.twitter.com/fR8D0OOVJG — Damien Kempf (@DamienKempf) January 15, 2017 Looking for a way to be on time to work? How about being more energized in the morning? #Biking to work can help! https://t.co/Wu3g...

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So Cal Alert: Polyphagus Shot Hole Borer

...two or three feet. That’s no quick sprinkle with a hose! Visit the Inland Urban Forest Council to download a PDF about how to properly water your trees. Also, we might suggest that this is a great time to install a laundry to landscape graywater system. Many thanks to our excellent arborist, Nick Araya of Tree Care LA, who came out yesterday to look at our drought-stressed avocado tree (no beetles yet, thankfully!) and gave me the 411 on the Poly...

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Saturday Tweets: Date Palms, Clear Ice and Hugs

...Rochow (@GardenForkTV) May 22, 2017 Paint the Town: 3 More Strangely Legal Urban Street Artworks | Urbanist – https://t.co/ld9AjUHzof — Eric Rochow (@GardenForkTV) May 22, 2017 Hippies are the new hipsters: the Silver Lake shaman: https://t.co/twqIDKLmx7 via @qz — Root Simple (@rootsimple) May 22, 2017 A random medieval city layout generator https://t.co/oZX3FkHX2J #procgen pic.twitter.com/YiMCaeQY6X — algoritmic (@algoritmic) May 23, 2017 A Musli...

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