How to Keep Skunks Out of the Yard

...Skunk Habitat In the wild skunks dig dens or live in hollowed out logs. In urban areas they like to take up residence in crawl spaces and under decks. (Design tip: avoid creating skunk habitat in the first place by making sure these types of spaces are not accessible.) I suspect that there may be a skunk or two living under our back shed. This shed is as old as the house (almost 100 years) and can’t be skunk proofed on all sides due to its setting...

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Garden Swap

...neighbors who have yard space in order to grow and share in the profits of urban food gardens. Urban gardens are not only fun; they support low-carbon food production, create economic development, inspire healthful eating, build community, create opporunities for education, address watershed health concerns, create productive green open space, and beautify communities. CSC is currently taking requests for participation in this program. If you’d li...

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So Much Poultry, So Little Time

...chickens for sale at reasonable prices. -Someone needs to put together an urban version of the 4-H club to bring urban agriculture programs to the inner city. Maybe it’s already been done, but from what I’ve been told urban 4-H clubs are all about nutrition, science fairs, and maybe training guide dogs. Kids desperately need contact with nature and animals. Let’s grow some food! But we may need to hippify the uniforms a bit . . . -When the econom...

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I Made a Mallet

...tools. I’ve done a lot of carpentry over the years such as building sheds, chicken coops, laying floors, repairing joists and hanging molding. I’ve done this all with hand held power tools. But I have very limited experience with chisels and planes as well as shop machines such as table saws and bandsaws. And I’ve never paid enough attention to the details. Kelly is thrilled with my attempt to, ever so slightly, raise the quality of work around th...

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Saturday Tweets: Animals Sounds, White Bread and LA’s Worst Politician

...ge, Britain’s Cycling Capital http://t.co/spPg8uqHBI via @Streetfilms @MitchOFarrell — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 6, 2015 White bread, pasta and an increased risk of depression http://t.co/3yagzOWy2z — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 6, 2015 Chicken receiving 3D-printed prosthetic leg via @BoingBoing http://t.co/4LkhCsHZwe — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 3, 2015 The Skip Garden a moveable urban veggie patch built with 90% reclaimed mater...

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