Make a Sourdough Starter

...feel guilty about pouring off that cup of flour every day, and you aren’t making a loaf of bread, try making some sourdough pancakes. 7. If you aren’t going to bake for a few days put the starter in the fridge. Feed it once a week. To revive it, take it out of the fridge and give it a day or two of feedings before you use it. So how does this work? What you have done is create a hospitable environment for a pair of organisms (wild yeasts and lact...

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Defining a Garden’s Purpose

...eir merely symbolic role? The space is there, shouldn’t we use it? Growing food would certainly be one option that we’ve talked a lot about on this blog. But what about apartment buildings and difficult spaces where growing food isn’t practical? Organic Mechanics Succulents in the Organic Mechanic’s garden. The first stop on the Garden Blogger’s Fling was to a garden designed by Sean Stout and James Pettigrew (who, together, run a landscape design...

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Growing Your Own Food is Like Printing Your Own Money: Ron Finley’s TED Talk

Please take a moment and watch gangster/guerrilla gardener Ron Finley’s inspiring Ted talk. I first heard about Ron after he got busted for planting a vegetable garden in what used to be a weed strewn parkway. He’s gone on to plant many more gardens around Los Angeles. The end of this talk really hit home for me, “Don’t call me if you want to sit around and have meetings. If you want to meet with me come to the garden with your shovel so we can p...

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Permaculture Design Course at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano

...lanting, guild assembly, home garden design/consideration, fruit trees and food forests, orchard design workshop APRIL 27 / FOOD OFF-SITE – Guided tour of various farms in Vista, Tour of permaculture plant nursery, build plant lists MAY 10 / WASTE – Composting methods, nutrient cycle overview (nitrogen, carbon cycles), soil science overview, building biomass- focus in permaculture, keeping backyard chickens, composting methods workshop / build a w...

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