Go Plant a Million Trees

...trees, a bunch of ponds, enriched soil and wild stories.” In our own small urban yard, we’re beginning to see the fruits, literally, of our own small-scale arboreal efforts that we began over ten years ago. This month we had a abundant crop of Mission figs, avocados, olives and pomegranates. And that pathetic vegetable garden I blogged about? My heretical thinking is to give up annual vegetables entirely and use the space to plant two small citrus...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: 12 Hours in an Ikea, Bike Helmets, How to Fix Drywall and Much More

...elmet debate: 'You don’t make it safe by forcing cyclists to dress for urban warfare' https://t.co/TVjtv9SdrK — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 21, 2017 Behind Lucky Peach’s Closing, Colliding Visions https://t.co/jU5RJ7rsMm — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 22, 2017 Fix a Hole in Drywall https://t.co/qxcZfgBxbk — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 23, 2017 Turkey splits up fight between roosters https://t.co/xPqOPqRgMU — Root Simple (@rootsi...

Read…

Weekend Linkages: Smoking Chickens

...anks Daniel for the link!) How To Build Your Own Trippy Meditation Pod Insects are vanishing from our planet at an alarming rate. But there are ways to help them Improving tiny urban greenspaces causes huge boosts in insect life If Hollywood Workers Strike, the Entertainment Industry Will Grind to a Halt...

Read…

Life in a Pandemic

...future holds. There are simply too many variables to know what will happen in the coming months. Will we have another wave infections? Will governments bail out corporations or individuals? Will we have a recession or depression? Will there be a revived interest in urban homesteading or will we go back to shopping and consuming? I’m wary of suggesting a silver lining in this crisis. For many, around the world, it will just be awful. I’m curious ho...

Read…

Allegedly Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder Not Rat Proof

...cilmen! Just kidding. It was rats. This discovery caps off a busy week for urban wildlife in our backyard. A young coyote visited last week and, last night, our indoor cats got in a full on cat fight on either side of a glass door with a visiting outdoor cat. Our new bird (rat?) feeder has a lever that closes when a heavy animal steps on it. This is supposed to deter squirrels. As you can see from the photos, rats easily hacked their way around th...

Read…