050 Who Wants Seconds?

...Secrets to vegan cooking Tips for healthy home cooking Roasting vegetables Making your own mayonnaise Involving kids in the kitchen The problems with cooking shows Working with leftovers Advice for throwing a party Jennie’s book Who Wants Seconds? How to not burn your soup Food swaps If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gmail.com. You can subscribe to our podcast in t...

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Grow the Soil

...he right is the victim of depleted soil. There’s some irony here. With our book release and press folks coming around to see things we’ve been doing too much planting and not paying enough attention to soil quality. Here’s two options we should have taken to help out that sickly eggplant in the raised bed (other than the expensive route of new potting soil): 1. Sheet Mulch A concept from the permacultural toolbox, sheet mulching involves making a...

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Physalis pruinosa a.k.a. “Ground Cherry”

...orted on with enthusiasm by the late Dr. David Fairchild in his well-loved book, The World Was My Garden. He there tells of its fruiting “enormously” in the garden of his home, “In The Woods”, in Maryland, and of the cook’s putting up over a hundred jars of what he called “Inca Conserve” which “met with universal favor.” Our package of Physalis pruinosa was priced at a staggering $3.99–a lot considering the package only contained 12 seeds. You can...

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Humanure Dry Toilet Made From a Milk Crate

...grosses you out (and it’s definitely the most controversial subject in our book), our milk crate toilet would be great for camping, emergencies or your remote cabin. Putting this toilet together takes just a few minutes. First, find a milk or beer crate and a five gallon bucket. Make sure that the crate you use is large enough to accommodate the bucket. And note, I know of someone arrested for scavenging beer crates behind a strip club, of all pla...

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May the Work I’ve Done Speak for Me

...yone who wanted to use it. Along with Joanne, he generously hosted several book promotion events for us, including lectures, a beer making party and pickling and bread classes. He nurtured deep relationships with other faith traditions and hosted ecumenical lectures and events. Peter is of the “ask forgiveness not permission” style of leadership. In keeping with this he says “yes” where others might hem and haw and wait to check with the higher up...

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