Who’s Gonna Care?

In lieu of a Root Simple podcast today (it’s just too hot in our editing room) I’m going to point you to Douglas Rushkoff’s always engaging Team Human Podcast. You should listen to them all but I want to especially commend an episode featuring Palak Shah, Social Innovations Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). At some point in all of our lives we will probably need someone to either help care for children, an elderly relativ...

Read…

RIP Chef Ernest Miller and Dr. Tracy McFarland

...zabeth McFarland. Both were guests on previous episodes of the Root Simple podcast. I had the great privilege of taking chef Miller’s Master Food Preserver training. Chef Miller’s knowledge of food preservation and safety was encyclopedic. Whenever I had a question I’d send Ernie an email. He was an accomplished chef, teacher, Navy veteran and a kind and gracious person who volunteered countless hours of his time. There is no replacement for him....

Read…

Götterdämmerung Under the Palms

...ater, called in the national guard. That’s not even of fraction of what happened. You can hear a day by day breakdown of the craziness on episode 122 “Seven Days in Mayday” of an excellent podcast called, appropriately, LA Podcast. Even if you’re not a local it’s worth listening to because the problems here are everywhere in this country....

Read…

RIP Michael Brooks

...now in. My writing beat, what has, for lack of a better term, been called “urban homesteading” is poisoned by that individualism which manifests in a concept of self sufficiency whose ultimate destination is a lonely existence in a doomstead bunker. I’ve always tried to point out that we’re all in this together, that we need to build up our households and our communities. It’s not one or the other. Michael was just beginning to formulate a strateg...

Read…

Will We Keep Keeping Chickens?

...operations. There’s a lot of negatives for keeping chickens in our small, urban backyard. We have lead and zinc in the soil, so many predators that the hens have to live in what I call “chicken Guantanamo,” and a small irregular piece of property that makes using a chicken tractor impossible. While I built a generous run for our four hens, I really wish that they could wander more freely, but that’s just not possible where we live. Another big ch...

Read…