Picture Sundays: California Bike Map 1895

November 3, 2013

...Via Paleofuture: The 1895 map rated each road for its condition: Good (G), Fair (F), Poor (P), and Very Poor (VP), as well as rating its grade: Level (L), Rolling (R), Hilly (H), and Mountainous (M). Even a cursory glance at the map below shows that a good, flat road was rare — especially outside of California’s urban areas....

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Filter Fail: How to Cure Internet Addiction

Mr. Homegrown

August 9, 2013

Thoughtstylings

21 Comments

...is an incredibly useful research tool and a great way to reach out to the urban homesteading community. That being said, I just can’t seem to stop watching those dancing raccoons. We may be well past the point where the distraction potential of the internet is beginning to adversely effect its usefulness. Preventing filter fail So what can be done on a personal level to prevent “filter fail?” Only two things have worked for me in the past: Checki...

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Of Skunks, Sauerkraut and Stoicism

Mr. Homegrown

January 3, 2014

Thoughtstylings

1 Comment

...We were honored when the nice folks behind Stoic Week 2013 asked us to write a blog post. It begins, Practicality is why stoicism works so well as the philosophical operating system of urban homesteading. While Foucault and Hegel might help me navigate the epistemological frontier, when I’m staring at a carefully tended vegetable bed that just got destroyed by a skunk, you can bet I’ll reach for the Seneca. Read the rest here....

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Help us With a Fodder System for our Hens

Mr. Homegrown

January 13, 2014

Animals, Chickens

24 Comments

.../run. Ideally they’d be grazing on green pasture all day. But our abundant urban predators, lack of space and dry climate make the vision of hens clucking on verdant fields a challenge. I’m thinking of building a DIY fodder system but I’m a bit confused by the instructions I’ve seen floating about the interwebs. Which is where you come in. Have you built a fodder system? Do you know any good instructions? How big should it be for five hens? Or do...

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How To Calculate Anything

Mr. Homegrown

January 30, 2014

Resources, Water and Power

3 Comments

...ate Ohm’s law? Convert women’s clothing sizes? Calculate the area of a circle? Figure out whether its better to buy or rent a home? It’s all at www.calculatoredge.com. The site has lots of formulas for the urban homsteader even if you never have to perform a Sallen-Key Butterworth Low Pass Filter equation (except, perhaps, for recreational reasons). Thanks to Bruce Nolte, N1BN for the tip....

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