Digital Götterdämmerung

...ill. But your hobby could also be something like sewing, welding, cooking, gardening, volunteering or learning a musical instrument. Reclaim conversation by shutting off the phone. Join something and be a part of a face to face group. Take up a sport. Newport contends that at the end of the month long digital fast you’ll find that services you looked at compulsively will lose their charm. This has already happened to me with Instagram. I took a lo...

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Top Six California Native Plant Performers

Between Kelly’s aortic episode and my mom’s passing, gardening took a back seat during the past six months. As a result, our yard doesn’t exactly look like Versailles. I’m thankful Kelly had the foresight, before our family emergencies, to reduce the amount of fussy annuals and increase the number of California native plants. While no garden is ever “zero maintenance,” some plants, such as these six California natives can survive with less care....

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The Perfect Crisis Vegetable: Prickly Pear Cactus

...came with the house and another that I picked up a few years ago: Luther Burbank’s spineless variety that, well, isn’t actually spineless. My favorite method for preparing and eating the pads is to scrape them with a knife to remove the spines (you don’t need to peel the skin off). I then chop and boil the pads for five minutes to reduce the sliminess. Then I fry the pads in a pan with onions. You can also just chop the pads and eat them raw in a...

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138 Erics Gone Wild

...rk using a bonding agent such as Weld-Crete De-cluttering the garage A big gardening problem Building a boat Gavin Atkin Ultra Simple Boat Building 17 Plywood Boats Anyone Can Build Storer Boat Plans Fixing a canoe Insulation and new windows You can also find Eric on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gmail.com. You can subscribe t...

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Erik to Speak at South Pasadena Beautiful on June 3rd

...nity room at 4:00 pm (refreshments at 3:30). In addition to the usual subjects of chickens, bees, vegetables and the home arts I’ll touch on some hot button issues I find equally important: Tree care in a drought Creating walkable/bikeable communities Gardening with native plants Throwing neighborhood parties Why hay hooks are the new hipster fashion accessory (just kidding) It’s freeeeeeee! The South Pasadena Library is located at: 1115 El Centro...

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