We Grew a Cocktail Avocado!

December 15, 2017

This morning Kelly alerted me to the latest avocado news making its way around the internet tubes. Apparently a chain of grocery stores in Great Britain, worried about the lack of knife skills in our young folks (ugh), is marketing a seedless “cocktail” avocado. What is a cocktail avocado? Some deep Googling revealed that they aren’t some new variety, just un- or under pollinated Fuerte avocado. Since we have a Fuerte tree in our backyard, I deci...

Read…

Saturday Linkages: Quitting Email, Muskiness and the RRR

Mr. Homegrown

December 16, 2017

Saturday Linkages

...2017 In the clearing: https://t.co/odIWq8jbaB — Root Simple (@rootsimple) December 16, 2017 The Best Seed Company in the World | Garden Rant https://t.co/MdWftVbuXQ — Root Simple (@rootsimple) December 16, 2017 How @Uber and @lyft are making traffic worse: https://t.co/AfKQVU3XvJ — Root Simple (@rootsimple) December 12, 2017 New insights into the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge & North American Winter Dipole https://t.co/O2Lnj9q90n — Root Simple (@ro...

Read…

Cutting Dovetail Joints With a Router Jig

Mr. Homegrown

January 5, 2018

Design

3 Comments

...at I needed to cut some dovetails. Dovetail joints are used most often for making drawers. The arrangement of the joint makes for a drawer that resists racking. Dovetail joints also prevent the front from coming off with repeated use. Even without glue the joint wants to stay together. It’s also, I think, very attractive. The two most common dovetail joints are through dovetails: Image: Wikipedia. And half-blind dovetails: Image: Wikipedia. Since...

Read…

Fun With Mortises and Tenons

Mr. Homegrown

January 22, 2018

Design

8 Comments

...els of craftsmanship, I haphazardly fixed the table with screws and nails. Making the mortises and tenons took forever even though I was working with power tools–a plunge router to make the mortises and a table saw to cut the tenons. Of course, a great deal of the time in the workshop was spent in idle chatter. My workshop is right on the public sidewalk and serves as a kind of conversational trap for every passing neighbor and dog walker. Kelly s...

Read…

Help! I’ve got Paper Wasps

Mr. Homegrown

August 2, 2016

Animals, Insects

9 Comments

...beneficial insect. They eat beetle larvae, caterpillars, flies and nectar (making them pollinators). They are your friends in the garden. Right now I have a large colony living in the eave of our front porch right over my favorite chair. I’ve sat in that chair, with my head a mere four feet from my paper wasp buddies, for many hours and have never once been bothered. Biology Like honeybees, paper wasp are social insects. A mated queen lays eggs. B...

Read…