131 Learning to Smell the Roses with Kendra Gaeta

June 5, 2019

...tion Beyond perfume–who works with scent The Smelly Viles Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles Perfumers Apprentice + Flavors Apprentice (An amazing source for small quantities of scents and flavors) The smell of the International Space Station If you’d like 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. Closing...

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Scooters? Not a New Idea

Mr. Homegrown

July 1, 2019

Transportation

7 Comments

...8 · New York Herald (New York, New York) · Newspapers.com It turns out the urban scooter craze isn’t a new idea. From a story in an October 8, 1916 newspaper, “Skidding Through Fact and Fancy on an Autoped: Solo Devil Wagon Taken Up in a Serious Way Might Add New Terrors to City Life” is a description of motorized scooter not all that different than the ones we see today: You stand on the cute platform and get your feet neatly fitted on the rubber...

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Will We Keep Keeping Chickens?

Mr. Homegrown

February 22, 2017

Animals, Chickens

19 Comments

...operations. There’s a lot of negatives for keeping chickens in our small, urban backyard. We have lead and zinc in the soil, so many predators that the hens have to live in what I call “chicken Guantanamo,” and a small irregular piece of property that makes using a chicken tractor impossible. While I built a generous run for our four hens, I really wish that they could wander more freely, but that’s just not possible where we live. Another big ch...

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I Deleted my Facebook Account

Mr. Homegrown

April 23, 2018

Thoughtstylings

44 Comments

...n-target information. Facebook knows that I’m an epee fencer who practices urban homesteading, reads Rowan Williams and goes to Nick Cave concerts (damn, that’s all pretentious!). But it also seems to think that I’m an African-American who grows with hydroponics, rocks out to the Queens of the Stone Age and loves Honey Baked Ham. I suspect much of the data Cambridge Analytica gathered was, similarly, off-target and useless. How to #DeleteFacebook...

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What is a Swarm of Bees and What Should I Do About It?

Mr. Homegrown

February 13, 2017

Animals, Bees

8 Comments

...y’ll take any dark enclosure with a small, easily defensible, entrance. In urban areas, in addition to tree cavities, they might choose the walls of buildings, utility boxes, compost bins and even the inner workings of hot tubs. But before a swarm can find permanent digs, they need a place for the swarm to hang out while the swarm’s scouts go off in search of the perfect home. Where a swarm lands When shopping for permanent real estate most swarms...

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