094 The American Woman’s Home

On the podcast this week Kelly and I discuss a 19th century urban homesteading book written by Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, The American Woman’s Home. The book was written mostly by Catherine, with some contributions from Harriet (author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin). It’s likely that Catherine realized that attaching her famous sister’s name would sell more copies. Published in 1869, The American Woman’s Home covers a great deal of terri...

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Paper Wasps: Your New BFFs

...ative European variant is more the wasp you will likely be dealing with in urban/suburban North America, because unlike their native counterparts, Euro wasps aren’t shy. They are the ones who will build a nest by your back door, or on the side of your mailbox. Paper wasps build those distinctive, easy to recognize papery nests made of many cells. There are other types of native wasps which build with different materials, such as mud. Honeybee colo...

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Saturday Linkages: Raccoon Robber, Facebook Phreaks and T-Bricks

...ple) March 4, 2017 California Assembly bill would extend tax break to turn urban lots into farms https://t.co/jbXQ3KMVyW — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 4, 2017 T-bricks, the easy way to make an #adobe home https://t.co/2pqQOb93Hp #naturalbuilding — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 4, 2017 Re-purposed Laptop Screen for Raspberry Pi https://t.co/HuqOH6zxGM — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 2, 2017 How to French Polish https://t.co/TttyWoHq9b — Roo...

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Julian the Apostate’s Sleeping Advice: Sleep on the Ground and Your Mattress is Freeeeeeeeeee

...h blowback particularly if you’re a young hipster. I predict that soon after I spot the first pallium wearer at our local Trader Joes, REI will come out with “tech” palliums suitable for hiking, urban philosophizing and sleeping. Addendum: Kelly pointed out to me that fantasy literature is full of examples of cloaks doubling as bedding. Save Save Save Save...

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The Root Simple 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

...thought I’d offer some suggested gifts, mostly obtainable online, for the urban homesteady types in your life. Most of the links are to Amazon, and we get a small cut of the proceeds, which helps keep our webmaster in kibble. But First . . . Charity Of course, rather than buying unneeded crap that will only clutter our already messy houses, we could agree to give to a charity instead. This season, due to our national “orange swan” event, Kelly is...

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