What is Killing the Bees?

August 5, 2013

...that may be contaminated with pesticides) that does not allow the bees to build their own comb. Regulate (through the use of foundation) the amount of drones the queen can make. Drones may be a sacrificial first defense against mites. Use queen excluders to prevent the queen from moving freely through the hive. Kill the queen and re-queen every year, often using artificially inseminated queens. Import hives from other climates. Feed hives high fr...

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Rain- The Best Gift of All

Homegrown Neighbor

December 27, 2009

rainwater harvesting

14 Comments

...lon barrels set up so far. Rainwater really helps flush out salts that can build up in the soil (an issue here in the West) and unlike tap water there is no chlorine. The plants just love the rain water. I also planted beet, carrot and onion seeds right before the rain. They are now starting to sprout. In the new year one of my projects is going to be upgrading the rainwater harvesting system. In addition to the existing rain barrels, I want to ma...

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Out Of The In Box

Mr. Homegrown

November 20, 2009

Design

6 Comments

...ppie design manuals. I recently stumbled upon Ken Isaacs’ 1974 book How to Build Your Own Living Structures, which contains plans for everything from a simple chair to a multi-level home, all in a distinct modular style. Best of all, it’s available as a pdf for free here along with a couple of other interesting books from the period. Above is Isaac’s clever cube crapper. Not much headroom in the head, but what a nice view. Isaac’s work has a playf...

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Saturday Linkages: Chicken Hot Dogs and Toilet Museums

Mr. Homegrown

December 8, 2012

Miscellaneous

2 Comments

...tp://boingboing.net/2012/12/05/printing-press-made-from-ikea.html … How to Build a Gypsy Caravan from Recycled Materials… http://bit.ly/S8pABN Gardening Home Depot’s Leaf Bags and their Eco-Terrible “Tips” | Garden Rant http://gardenrant.com/2012/12/home-depots-leaf-bags-and-their-eco-terrible-tips.html … Design High-Hanging Tea House Offers Suspended Getaway | Designs & Ideas on Dornob http://dornob.com/high-hanging-tea-house-offers-suspended-get...

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DIY Christmas Trees

Mrs. Homegrown

December 11, 2012

Design

5 Comments

...the Da Vinci Code and 50 Shades of Grey. These publishing phenomena are like biblio oil slicks, cluttering up shelves and choking out endangered books. Erik’s suggestion is Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust – And How You Can Profit from It: How to Build Wealth in Today’s Expanding Real Estate Market …published in 2006. Written by David Lereah, the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. (!) I’d say maybe that needs to go into...

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