Search Results for: label/fruit/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

641 results

Make a Rain Barrel

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Design, rainwater harvesting, Water and Power, Water Conservation
11 Comments
...t least we’ll be channeling some of that water, via the barrel, to our new fruit trees. Those of you with flat yards could simply connect up an overflow pipe that would take the water at least ten feet from the foundation. In Southern California, where rain never falls between May and October, a 55 gallon drum won’t meet much of our irrigation needs, though Chenkin’s design does allow you to chain multiple barrels together. What we really need is...

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening

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Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
55 Comments
...l expensive, but at least I’m weaning myself from peat moss, an unsustainable product. Unfortunately, all those bags have to be hauled up thirty steps. As a whole, what we’ve done with our garden is a compromise. Most of the yard is permaculturish: lots of small fruit trees, some native plants, ornamental flowering plants for the wildlife and a whole lot of mulch. But I like to have a few Italian veggies so we’ve got five small raised beds. Did I...

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Making Tofu From Scratch at the Institute of Domestic Technology

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Food, Food Preservation
6 Comments
...ts brought some dehydrated crackers to class. He makes them with discarded fruit pulp that he gets at a local juice bar. He dehydrates the pulp with some soaked sunflower seeds. The result is delicious. It’s a clever idea. Back to the tofu. I’m going to try making my own this summer. At the very least I can make my own soy milk and skip the sugary stuff I’ve been using. You can get organic non-GMO soybeans and coagulant online at www.laurasoybeans...

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What Tree Should I Plant? Cal Poly’s SelecTree Has the Answer

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Gardening, Trees
...our Netlix queue that you never plan to watch (one of my vices). How about searching for oddball trees instead? What about a California native tree with favorable fire resistance, low root damage potential that produces edible fruit? The database came up with two options, the hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia) and the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea). Let me also put in a plug for our favorite tree, the Fuerte avocado (Persea americana ‘Fuert...

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