How To Make a Sourdough Starter

November 10, 2012

...sts–if there’s a topic for a video you’d like to see just leave a comment. Making a sourdough starter is as simple as mixing flour and water. There’s no need for all the crazy things I’ve heard suggested: adding potatoes, grapes, yogurt and certainly not commercial yeast. And the yeast that makes sourdough happen is on the flour itself in far greater quantities than in the air. After following the simple steps I demonstrate in this video you’ll en...

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How To Make Hoshigaki (Dried Persimmons)

Mr. Homegrown

November 13, 2012

Food, Food Preservation, How-to

29 Comments

...eks of massaging, fructose in the fruit will begin to come to the surface, making it look like the persimmons have been dipped in powdered sugar. They are done when they have a chewy texture. In Japan, persimmons are dried by hanging them from the eaves of houses. A friend of mine who tried that had every single one consumed by squirrels in just one day. So indoors is the way to go. Hauben’s class was really great–we went home with a crate of frui...

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Picture Sundays: US Postal Service Creates World’s Ugliest Stamp

Mr. Homegrown

November 18, 2012

Miscellaneous, Picture Sundays

7 Comments

...mminent collapse of the US empire or just evidence that the email thing is making the post office go broke? Either way, you’d think the Postal Service would be embarrassed by this graphic design nightmare. How do we get them to reissue this one? I may not be a big fan of the American Poultry Industry, but that sure is a fine looking stamp. Thankfully the post office lets you make your own stamps. So how about one with that beekeeping donkey from y...

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Alternatives to the Funeral Industrial Complex

Mr. Homegrown

November 29, 2012

Thoughtstylings

45 Comments

...ntirely by funeral directors, tried to shut down a group of monks who were making and selling simple wooden caskets. And let’s not even get into the horrific tales of abuse, theft of dental fillings, reusing graves, etc. The good news is that there seems to be a growing alternative funeral movement. The monks won their court case. And I have a feeling that as the baby boomer generation begins to grasp its own mortality, we’ll begin to see more cha...

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A Review of Masanobu Fukuoka’s Sowing Seeds in the Desert

Mr. Homegrown

December 4, 2012

Gardening, Miscellaneous, Permaculture, Reviews

4 Comments

...ukuoka suggests carpet bombing these areas with seed pellets (a how-to for making seed pellets is included in an appendix). And the content of those seed balls? Whatever will re-vegetate the landscape most effectively regardless of whether those plants are native or not in order to achieve what Fukuoka calls a “second Genesis.” As he puts it, I would mix the seeds of all plants–forest trees, fruit trees, perennials, vegetables, grasses and legumes...

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