How To Make a Sourdough Starter

...sts–if there’s a topic for a video you’d like to see just leave a comment. Making a sourdough starter is as simple as mixing flour and water. There’s no need for all the crazy things I’ve heard suggested: adding potatoes, grapes, yogurt and certainly not commercial yeast. And the yeast that makes sourdough happen is on the flour itself in far greater quantities than in the air. After following the simple steps I demonstrate in this video you’ll en...

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Picture Sundays: US Postal Service Creates World’s Ugliest Stamp

...mminent collapse of the US empire or just evidence that the email thing is making the post office go broke? Either way, you’d think the Postal Service would be embarrassed by this graphic design nightmare. How do we get them to reissue this one? I may not be a big fan of the American Poultry Industry, but that sure is a fine looking stamp. Thankfully the post office lets you make your own stamps. So how about one with that beekeeping donkey from y...

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Alternatives to the Funeral Industrial Complex

...ntirely by funeral directors, tried to shut down a group of monks who were making and selling simple wooden caskets. And let’s not even get into the horrific tales of abuse, theft of dental fillings, reusing graves, etc. The good news is that there seems to be a growing alternative funeral movement. The monks won their court case. And I have a feeling that as the baby boomer generation begins to grasp its own mortality, we’ll begin to see more cha...

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A Review of Masanobu Fukuoka’s Sowing Seeds in the Desert

...ukuoka suggests carpet bombing these areas with seed pellets (a how-to for making seed pellets is included in an appendix). And the content of those seed balls? Whatever will re-vegetate the landscape most effectively regardless of whether those plants are native or not in order to achieve what Fukuoka calls a “second Genesis.” As he puts it, I would mix the seeds of all plants–forest trees, fruit trees, perennials, vegetables, grasses and legumes...

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Did Kelly follow her 2012 resolutions?

...this month: switching banks, upgrading my RAM, getting a new passport, and making appointments for a physical, a dental exam and an eye exam. (In terms of engaging with the medical establishment, I prefer to behave as if though the zombie apocalypse has already occurred, thus I’m well overdue for a complete overhaul.) This I did. All of it. Yay me. -Organize the labels or tags on Root Simple so our dear, somewhat abused readers can find informatio...

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