Life in a Pandemic

April 27, 2020

...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...

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Allegedly Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder Not Rat Proof

Mr. Homegrown

June 10, 2020

Gardening, Pests

9 Comments

...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...

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The Great Beekeeping Debate

Mr. Homegrown

August 25, 2016

Animals, Bees

13 Comments

...untry is a different question than how to keep a few hives in a biodiverse urban area. To be fair, the first question is essential since it’s how we currently keep everyone fed. But much of the advice given to large scale beekeepers does not always apply to small scale backyard beekeepers. The hubris can go both ways. Those of us on the natural beekeeping side can also think we understand the whole better than we do. We can fall into the same redu...

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Friday Afternoon Linkages–Some Fun, Some Scary

Mr. Homegrown

October 10, 2008

Thoughtstylings

1 Comment

...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...

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RIP Michael Brooks

Mr. Homegrown

July 24, 2020

Thoughtstylings

5 Comments

...now in. My writing beat, what has, for lack of a better term, been called “urban homesteading” is poisoned by that individualism which manifests in a concept of self sufficiency whose ultimate destination is a lonely existence in a doomstead bunker. I’ve always tried to point out that we’re all in this together, that we need to build up our households and our communities. It’s not one or the other. Michael was just beginning to formulate a strateg...

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