Straw Bale Gardens

March 25, 2013

Tasha Via’s straw bale garden. Michael Tortorello (who profiled us when Making It came out) is one of my favorite writers covering the home ec/gardening subjects we discuss on this blog. He had an article last week in the New York Times, “Grasping at Straw” on straw bale gardening. We’ve very tempted to give the practice a try in our backyard. Why? We have lead and zinc contaminated soil so growing veggies in the ground is questionable. We live o...

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Land Girls

Mrs. Homegrown

December 2, 2009

Thoughtstylings

7 Comments

...es,” saying, “The recession has led to endless talk of austerity measures, making-do-and-mending and growing your own vegetables on an allotment. But the big question is, of course, what to wear while mulching the compost on your carrots.” It’s good point. The Land Girls prove there’s no need to look like a slob out in the garden, trailing your already disreputable bathrobe through the mire–as Mrs. Homegrown is wont to do. Instead, as The Chap (an...

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Humanure Dry Toilet Made From a Milk Crate

Mr. Homegrown

July 18, 2009

Composting, Design, How-to, Humanure

157 Comments

...nvironment of a bathroom. Even with a coat of paint wood gets grungy. Alternatively, you can buy plastic camping toilet seats that will clamp on to a five gallon bucket but they have, in my opinion, an unacceptable wobble when you sit on them. For these reasons I designed a sturdy dry toilet making use of a scavenged milk crate. Even if the idea of humanure grosses you out (and it’s definitely the most controversial subject in our book), our milk...

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Cat Litter Compost, Installment #3

Mrs. Homegrown

August 12, 2013

Animals, Cats, Composting, Gardening

29 Comments

...years at least before you spread it. And then spread it around non-edible plants, or under fruit trees. The fruit trees won’t uptake anything nasty. It’s totally do-able and I’d do it again. But I’d rather do it again in a larger yard, where I could have a big, accessible compost bin. So now I’m doing something new. The New Paradigm I heard about a new kind of litter tray made specifically to work with pine pellets. I hate to be advertising–I get...

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Saturday Linkages: DIY Coffee Roasting and That Crazy Rhubarb Lady

Mr. Homegrown

August 17, 2013

Saturday Linkages

5 Comments

...ility, and Nature http://goo.gl/fb/VQHx3Garden Centers Sell Bee-Attractant Plants with Pesticide Residues Toxic to Bees http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=11566 … Want your kids to play outside? Rip out the lawn! by Garden Rant » good read http://gardenrant.com/2013/08/want-your-kids-to-play-outside-rip-out-the-lawn.html?utm_source=feedly … Design The Modern Seaweed House by Vandkunsten and Realdania Byg http://www.dezeen.com/2013/07...

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