054 Digital Design Tools on the Homestead

July 22, 2015

...led (CNC) technology John’s Cat Bed 7 (pictured above) Using pen and paper Making physical models Architectural scale and rulers Cinema 4-D Sketchup (a free and simple 3-D tool) Rhino Adobe Illustrator Thingiverse 3-D Printing Low-tech CNC using just a video projector and your computer MoI Moment of Inspiration How to learn good design If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsi...

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That Sugar Film

Mr. Homegrown

July 16, 2015

Reviews

5 Comments

...both of which this film has in abundance. Show me don’t tell me is a film making mantra seared into my brain during the brief period I took classes and edited with Jean-Pierre Gorin (Full disclosure: my inner Gorin drives Kelly crazy and makes me a grumpy, no-fun movie going companion.) That said, what won me over to That Sugar Film is that its heart is decidedly in the right place. The strongest scenes were during visits to two disadvantaged com...

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Picture Sundays: Outsider Topiary

Mr. Homegrown

June 28, 2015

Picture Sundays

3 Comments

...This has to be one of the more creative examples of Southern California’s collective impulse towards making every living thing into topiary. To paraphrase Michelangelo, every hedge has a dolphin inside it and it’s the task of the gas powered hedge trimmer operator to discover it....

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Our Phoebe is gone

Mrs. Homegrown

June 9, 2015

Cats

49 Comments

...till burned in her eyes, and it killed a part of us to have to put it out. Making the decision to euthanize a pet is one of the most difficult of decisions to make. We’ve never had to do it before, because our previous pets having been lost in other ways. My heart goes out to all of you who are now remembering putting down your own pets, or who are contemplating that future possibility. Ending suffering is the right thing to do, but oh, it is a ha...

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Heirloom Expo in Photos

Mr. Homegrown

September 14, 2015

Food, Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

6 Comments

I highly recommend making the trip next year to Santa Rosa to see the National Heirloom Exposition put on by the folks at Baker Creek Seeds. The centerpiece of the expo is the massive display of hundreds of different varieties of squash, melons, tomatoes and other edibles. It’s inspiring and frustrating all at once since, unless you have your own garden, you’ll never see such diversity at the supermarket. I came back with the will to improve our...

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