In Praise of the Hedgerow

November 10, 2014

...d, provide habitat and don’t need a lot of maintenance. Combine these two resources with a third, Piet Oudolf’s magnificent ideas about plant design in his book Planting: A New Persepctive and I think we might just be able to save the world....

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024 Water, Wilding our Gardens and Sewing

Mr. Homegrown

November 12, 2014

Domesticus, Gardening, Podcasts, Water and Power

3 Comments

...ifornia’s Central Valley The UC Davis Arboretum Allstar list Piet Oudolf’s book Planting: A New Persepctive In the sewing portion of the podcast, Kelly talks about: Sew L.A. Second Skin: Choosing and Caring for Textiles and Clothing 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 the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is...

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How to Make Great Pizza in a Home Oven

Mr. Homegrown

December 4, 2014

Food

5 Comments

...in those plans. I remembered that Josey Baker had some instructions in his book on how to make pizza in a home oven, so I decided to give it a try. I’m happy to report that it works so well that I’m beginning to doubt why I should bother to spend three hours tending a fire to prep the outdoor oven. Baker attributes this home oven technique to San Francisco street pizza maverick The PizzaHacker. It’s simple. Here’s what you do. Heat an oven safe sk...

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Analysis Paralysis

Mr. Homegrown

January 28, 2014

Design, Thoughtstylings

17 Comments

...ternet made it worse by providing way too many possibilities. A quote in a book finally broke my analysis paralysis spell. The gist of that quote was that we are all called by a higher power to build. I realized that I needed to set a deadline, get off my ass and construct the raised beds that I had spend endless hours researching, planning and discussing. I told Mrs. Homegrown that this Saturday I was buying lumber and cutting wood. I quickly dre...

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Fruit Tree Maintenance Calendars

Mr. Homegrown

December 19, 2013

Fruit Trees, Gardening

1 Comment

...pful page of fruit tree maintenance calendars for us backyard orchard enthusiasts. The calendars cover everything from when to water, fertilize, paint the trunks and many other tasks. You can also find them in one big handy set of charts in UC’s book The Home Orchard. The permaculturalist in me likes our low-maintenance pomegranate and prickly pear cactus. But I also like my apples, nectaplums and peaches–and those trees need the sorts of interven...

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