The Biochar Solution

November 25, 2014

...knee-jerk skepticism when it comes to the “notions and potions” school of gardening–the idea that some special substance will magically transform dead soil into a lush garden. That was my first reaction to biochar. But it turns out that there’s something to biochar. This informative research summary from the University of Washington, Biochar: A Home Gardener’s Primer, changed my mind. According to U of W, biochar can: Improve soil texture Upcycle...

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Saturday Tweets: Mini Gabions and Citrus Liqueurs

Mr. Homegrown

November 29, 2014

Saturday Linkages

4 Comments

How to make a mini gabion Timber Press | http://t.co/emfnLyJZJ8 #craft #gardening pic.twitter.com/ovmeYdnkc0 — Timber Press (@timberpress) November 24, 2014 The road death rate for children in the Netherlands dropped by 98% between 1972 and 2013 http://t.co/rb10Sf06KF pic.twitter.com/s6dUROJCpF — David Hembrow (@DavidHembrow) November 6, 2014 Designing California Cities for a Long-Term Drought http://t.co/WUKPGGqfqn — Root Simple (@rootsimple) No...

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Fashion on the Homestead

Mr. Homegrown

July 18, 2014

Design

24 Comments

It’s about time I addressed, on this home economics/DIY/gardening blog, the importance of the way we dress. I’ve been bothered of late by my rumpled appearance. Like most Americans I wear in public what in an earlier era would have been considered pajamas. And I’m approaching fifty. The people I’ve met who have aged gracefully generally seem to dress well though not ostentatiously. Knowing what to wear and finding that wardrobe on a budget is inc...

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Everything Must Go Part II: Books

Mr. Homegrown

January 12, 2015

Cleaning, Domesticus, Tidying up

41 Comments

...and theology stayed in addition to most of the appropriate technology and gardening manuals. We have no math books (not our subject to put it mildly) and popular science and non-fiction books I get at the library. Everything else “died” and went to our local library’s book sale. What can make it difficult to let go of books, even ones we never really intend to read, is that our personal libraries are an external manifestation of our souls. And, i...

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The Horror

Mr. Homegrown

January 8, 2008

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1 Comment

...an with the discovery that our neighbor’s roommate, practicing the kind of gardening we associate with crazy people and goats, had hacked off half the length of the native grape vine that we had counted on covering an ugly chain link fence. An innocent mistake, but evidence that some folks apparently don’t know what grape vines look like and that they loose their leaves in the winter. So what does this have to do with man bras? Nothing, but both m...

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