A Year After the Age of Limits: Mr. Homegrown’s Take

...l or half empty?” So I drank the water. No more problem.” In her post Mrs. Homegrown mentioned that I had more to say about last year’s Age of Limits Conference. I don’t have much. She’s is a much better writer than I and she said pretty much everything I would have said. Not to minimize the challenges we all face from resource limits or climate change, but we humans are very bad at predicting the future. And we have a tendency to turn our desires...

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A Tour of the Homegrown Evolution Compound

It’s about damn time we gave an overall tour of the Homegrown Evolution digs, at least to dispel some misconceptions out there (more on those at the end of the post). Let’s begin with the front yard, pictured above. Our house sits up about 30 steps from the street level. Running the laundry water out to the front (using Oasis Biocompatible Detergent), has really made the plants happy. The front yard has a mix of prickly pear cactus, Mexican sage,...

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Denver and Los Angeles Experience Crowds Staring at Chicken Coops

...ts with the handy networking tool known as the internet. Above, the Denver Urban Homesteading meetup group. If you’re in the Denver area (where Mrs. Homegrown Evolution spent her formative years) get to know these fine folks at: http://www.meetup.com/Greater-Denver-Urban-Homesteaders/ LA Urban Homesteaders looking at a chicken coop. Photo by Elon Schoenholz In a strikingly similar photo, our urban livestock workshop that we hosted yesterday featur...

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The Homegrown Mailbox: How and Where Do I Get My Soil Tested?

...Savio kindly sent me the following list of labs with comments. Biological Urban Gardening Service PO Box 76 Citrus Heights, CA 95611 (916) 726-5377 URL: www.organiclandscape.com Email: bugs@organiclandscape.com Organic recommendations, very user-friendly Owner Steve Zien and I co-author “Organic Matters” organic gardening column in Sacramento Bee for 20 years. Wallace Laboratories 365 Coral Circle El Segundo, CA 90245 (310) 615-0116 www.bettersoi...

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Non-Toxic Cleaning for the Home

...n their travel paths with vinegar or rubbing alcohol to erase their scent, making it hard for them to find their way back in. Block their points of entrance with strong smelling and powdery substances. Start with non-toxic stuff and work your way up to boric acid if you have to. Many people find lines of cinnamon very effective. Other have used lines of baby powder or even lavender buds. If your fruit bowl went bad and now you are plagued by fruit...

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