National Heirloom Expo 2013

...l full of great companies and organizations. I’ll be speaking on a panel on Wednesday September 11th at 2:00 pm on urban homesteading along with longtime friend Suzanne Mackey of Petaluma Urban Homestead and Trathen Heckman of Daily Acts and Transition USA. If you’re planning on attending please leave a comment and let’s try to meet up....

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De-Cluttering for DIYers, Homesteaders, Artists, Preppers, etc.

...at you should never run out of anything, meaning no emergency trips to the store for cat food or toilet paper. Rehearsal Hold “Olde Tyme Nights” where you unplug everything and pretend you don’t have electricity or gas. Or the Internet. It’s fun, and it will give you a good idea of what kind of equipment you need to be comfortable, how much light you’ll need and where, how you’ll keep busy and warm, and most importantly, how you’re going to cook....

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The Arroyo Co-op in Pasadena

...to come and share their knowledge and experience with our membership. Our store has opened on a shoestring, but that won’t hold us back! We’ve come a long way in 5 years, from a dream to a real store, through the efforts of a core of dedicated volunteers. We still have a way to go – and we’ll get there faster with more members!If you want to be able to shop your conscience, and meet other like-minded folk, please check out our product offerings a...

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Empty Your Attic!

...o, I pulled everything down from our attic and sent most of it to a thrift store and some to the trash. If your attic is unfinished, as is ours, it’s also a horrible place to store things, even in a mild climate. Temperatures in our attic can swing from the low 60s to well over 110º F (43º C) in a day. And then there’s the rats. For some reason people associate rats with cities like New York and Chicago. You really should think of our hometown, Lo...

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Eating the Void: On Making a Raw Café Gratitude Chocolate Hazelnut Pie

...d cashews and coconut flakes. The results? It tasted the way a health food store smells, like some vague mixture of old carob from the bulk bins and seaweed chips. I have a nostalgia for 70s California health food store ambiance so I kinda liked it. Kelly tasted it and made a face. I gifted some vegan friends a slice which both they and their pet parrot rejected. I will say that I’m happy that the raw food trend seems to have faded in recent years...

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