Search Results for: label/lead/2010/06/the-urban-homestead/2011/04/making-it

876 results

Rubber Sidewalks Rescue Trees

Avatar photo
Thoughtstylings
2 Comments
...ing we just need more of here in Southern California. I used to work at an urban forestry non-profit, TreePeople. So I am familiar with the challenges of the tree/sidewalk interface. I have fielded calls from people frantically trying to save trees that are being ripped out because they are lifting the sidewalk. I have also received calls from people eager to remove trees for the same reason. Sadly, I have also heard from people that would call ju...

Read…

The Great Sunflower Project

Avatar photo
Animals, Bees
6 Comments
Help determine the health of urban bees with a citizen science experiment called the Great Sunflower Project. It’s simple and free. Just register at the Great Sunflower Project website and you’ll be sent a package of wild annual sunflower seeds (Helianthus annuus). Twice a month you’ll get an email to remind you to time how long it takes for five bees to visit your sunflowers. Sounds like it has drinking game potential, though that might lead to...

Read…

Far Side of the Stairs

Avatar photo
Fitness
2 Comments
...ing Australian and fiery high-horse Hungarian. But seriously, part of this urban homesteading thing is about whipping our communities into shape and LA needs a serious thrashing, and I don’t mean the sort delivered by the ladies in the back of the LA Weekly. We need to make LA a walkable, bike-able and livable place just like the folks in the other great cities of the world have done. Why is it that LA suffers from low self-esteem and low expectat...

Read…

Learning to Draw Version 4.0

Avatar photo
Design
6 Comments
...rris tried to tell us, combining art with evolving beyond crapitalism will lead us to a better place. Over the years I’ve made several abandoned attempts at learning to draw. Coincidentally I’m married to a talented artist and have a lot of friends who teach art (Fun fact: I met Kelly because the TV station I worked for had offices in the UCSD art department). When my attempt to learn Spanish tanked, mid-quarantine, I took up drawing again, mainly...

Read…

Paleo Grift

Avatar photo
Thoughtstylings
6 Comments
...before the toil of agriculture is an idea that pops up often in the urban homesteading and permaculture scene. While I’m sympathetic to complaints about modern agriculture, I’ve long thought that this Golden Age narrative sounds too simple, too much like the “noble savage” archetype, the idea that if we can somehow just get back to “nature” all will be okay. This notion of a idyllic distant past was the subject of an excellent episode of the Tril...

Read…