February 2019 Garden Update

...Then plant trees that either feed native wildlife (such as oak) or provide fruit. Think carefully about their placement. Do all hardscaping first and build it out of durable materials. Those retaining walls that failed in the front yard are wood and only lasted 15 years. If you don’t know what your doing hire a professional. It think this would have actually saved money over the years due to hasty and poorly thought out amateur landscaping attempt...

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Wallpaper: Like a Tattoo for Your Walls

...w wallpaper so here you go. It’s William Morris’ popular pattern known as “Fruit,” first produced in 1864 and still available in a variety of color combinations. There’s also a version with birds (put a bird on it!), but Kelly thought the bird-less version would look less repetitious. We also installed Morris’ “Daisy” wallpaper in our breakfast nook. “Daisy” is the first wallpaper that Morris manufactured and it’s inspired by the illustrations in...

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May the Work I’ve Done Speak for Me

...ps or fret about insurance. He speaks often of addressing the “low hanging fruit” in our communities, things like planting a garden, mulch and compost. Many years ago he banished paper and plastic plates from the church’s kitchen, installing a commercial dishwasher and accumulating a supply of ceramic and metal utensils. Along with Kelly, he’s also the survivor of a harrowing aortic dissection. There are a number of lessons to take from Fr. Peter’...

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Saturday Tweets: Yuri Gagarin Pesach KonMari, Stick Shifting and a Procedurally Generated Infinite CVS Receipt

...ood and found that the app had changed the name of her community from the ‘Fruit Belt’ to something called ‘Medical Park.’” https://t.co/LSxYmKLpWK — david a banks (@DA_Banks) March 25, 2019 There’s a unified problem: sprawl, which makes driving cheap & housing expensive. @NatGeo breaks down the bulk of the world—and esp. CA’s—housing issues. Get out of our damn cars, support mass transit connected to job centers, build more housing. https://t.co/...

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Why I’m Growing Vegetables in a Straw Bale

...n some of the tomato plants showed signs (a lot of leaves and not a lot of fruit) of too much nitrogen. On the other side of that equation I grew some truly monstrous winter squash, enough to feed all the inhabitants of a generously sized cult compound. This time around I’m trying an inorganic approach, substituting the blood meal I used last time for urea. I’m curious to see if I notice any difference other than price (urea is a lot cheaper). Sho...

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