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...

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109 Doubt is Our Product: Bees, Chemicals and Academia

...a State Beekeeping Association oppose legislation that would have required labeling neonicotinoid treated nursery plants? These are just a few of the controversial questions covered in this week’s episode of the podcast. My guests are Stacy Malkan co-director of US Right to Know and beekeeper Terry Oxford of Urban Bee San Francisco. Links: Follow the Honey: 7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits “Scientists Loved...

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Saturday Tweets: Foxes, Library Hand and Pyracantha

Gallery of London's urban foxes https://t.co/Et0md5ATv7 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 17, 2017 An Artist Mends Cracks in the Sidewalk with Gold https://t.co/5hGw5RgHln — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 17, 2017 Library Hand, the Fastidiously Neat Penmanship Style Made for Card Catalogs: @atlasobscura https://t.co/N9MsFVmAb3 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 17, 2017 ICYMI on the blog: in praise of pyracantha, by @gardeningshoe1 h...

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A Recipe for Injera

...by Sandor Ellix Katz. This is a life changing recipe book that every urban homesteader should own–so go out and buy a copy! So here’s how we made injera based on Katz’s recipe: Ingredients 2 cups sourdough starter (check out our post on an easy way to keep and maintain a sourdough starter) 5 cups lukewarm water 2 cups whole-wheat flour 2 cups teff flour (an Ethiopian grain available from Bob’s Red Mill at Whole Foods) 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ba...

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Will We Keep Keeping Chickens?

...asture raised eggs. As most readers of this blog know, the supermarket egg labeling game, “cage free” and “free range”, is a load of . . . chicken poo. Cage free and free range supermarket eggs are from chickens crammed in huge sheds. These chickens never see the light of day and live in appalling conditions. You might be able to get eggs from chickens that live outdoors at a local farmer’s market, but beware of unscrupulous vendors. A number of c...

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