Starting a Sourdough Starter Talk at Artisinal LA

...I’ll be doing a short talk at Artisinal LA this Sunday October 13th at 4pm on how to start a sourdough starter. Artisinal LA (yep, the “A” word) is a showcase of local small food vendors. In case you’re not in LA this is what I’ll be demonstrating: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bGLF8B_pZ0 Mark Stambler, who co-founded the LA Bread Bakers with me and Teresa Sitz, will also be doing a talk on baking bread at 4pm on Saturday....

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Bad Forager: Mistaking Hemlock for Fennel

...ck seeds? (photo courtesy of Wikimedia) And so I was fooled while out on a food forage hike last week. It was grim pickings out there! Acorns seem to be the only thing left to eat in the wild until the rains come. I’d sampled something unpleasant which lingered on my tongue. I wanted to clear the taste and spotted what I thought was the remains of a fennel plant. I pinched off a couple of seeds and put them in my mouth. They didn’t taste like fenn...

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Saturday Linkages: Gardening, Rocket Heaters and DIY Tips

...-designed.html … Seeds on seeds on seeds: Why more biodiversity means more food security http://garynabhan.com/i/archives/2347 Lawn Pesticides Outlawed! by Susan Harris http://gardenrant.com/2013/11/lawn-pesticides-out-lawed.html?utm_source=feedly … Chelle Lindahl’s rocket mass heater http://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/chelle-lindahls-rocket-mass-heater/ … Know Your Stuff: The 110 Best DIY Tips Ever http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/know...

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Who’s Visiting Your Garden While You’re Not Watching?

...nd skunk seem to be heading. The cat (which belongs to a neighbor): And the raccoon (below) are also headed in the same direction. That raccoon pic is another reminder for me to recheck my chicken coop’s fortifications. And the rat is telling me to lock up the chicken food at night. Reviewing these images has given me a less adversarial feeling about our mammalian visitors. They are just so damn cute, especially the skunk. Next up in my CritterCam...

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Saturday Tweets: Bikes and Bees

...itter.com/gDuy4LCYiM — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) June 29, 2016 Solar Food Dryer https://t.co/EeW5PblXpv — Root Simple (@rootsimple) June 28, 2016 Cheap precision drill stand https://t.co/IYUIkuDrPx — Root Simple (@rootsimple) June 28, 2016 Doctors issue warning about LED streetlights @CNN https://t.co/LQWxj6WPd2 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) June 28, 2016 Secretive Alphabet division aims to fix public transit in US by shifting control to Googl...

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