Piet Oudolf’s Enhanced Nature

...at’s pragmatic, recognizing both the need for natural ecosystems within an urban environment, while at the same time providing visual interest. Oudolf’s imprint is on the landscape, but to most people that human touch will remain on a subliminal level. It’s a brilliant “third way” strategy outside of the dualistic smackdown between the simulated nature of English style gardening and the rectilinear hedges of Versailles. Oudolf’s plan for the Serpe...

Read…

Friday Afternoon Linkages–Some Fun, Some Scary

...pictured on the left. Meanwhile, in a busy month of blogging, the intrepid urban homesteaders over at Ramshackle Solid show you how to make depression style candles, sweet potato and yam chips, and acorn flour. All great projects for our world’s ongoing “deleveraging”. And, speaking of deleveraging, on the oooooh, scary we’re all going to die side of the equation: David Khan of Edendale Farms has a video from peak oil partisan Matthew Simmons on a...

Read…

Saturday Linkages: Fire Plows, Kite Fishing and Roundup-Ready Turfgrass

...ers à la carte http://shar.es/QRHOf Google hangout with Lloyd Kahn, master urban homesteader: http://boingboing.net/2014/02/12/google-hangout-with-lloyd-kahn.html … 3 MAKE projects to help you fight for your online privacy: http://boingboing.net/2014/02/11/3-make-projects-to-help-you-fi.html … Frugal Digital: Repairing, Hacking, and Repurposing Electronics http://feedly.com/e/x1zb0NgL Low-Tech Kite-Fishing in the Indo-Pacific http://feedly.com/e/v...

Read…

Shamelessly Tooting Our Own Horn

Unfortunately for the sedentary out there this new urban homesteading lifestyle involves a fair amount of physical fitness. We’ve found that the best way to keep up with SurviveLA’s strenuous fitness requirements is to have a goal such as a race, or a particularly difficult hike. This is why we’ve been obsessed over the years with the Ketchum Downtown YMCA’s oddball Stair Climb to the Top which involves a heart-pounding and vomit-inducing journey...

Read…