What Does Tromboncino Squash Taste Like?

November 5, 2013

...over 25 feet long) you’ll find it more productive than zucchini. I planted seeds in April, transplanted the seedlings in May and in early November I still have squash on the vine. Like all squash it benefits from copious amounts of nitrogen and compost. We grew ours in straw bales. I’ve heard that it’s resistant to squash borers (not a problem I’ve had, so I can’t speak from experience). The seeds came from Franchi via the Heirloom Seed Store. Hav...

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Transcendental Taggers

Mr. Homegrown

September 4, 2006

Thoughtstylings

...g the amenities of rural life, i.e. nature and agriculture, to our lives here in this somewhat ugly but interesting place we call home, the City of Los Angeles. In short, we intend to put the Urban in Urban Homestead. By the way, to the transcendentalist gangbangers who did the tagging – nice handwriting – you are obviously not the product of the same public schools we are....

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The Survivor

Mr. Homegrown

January 4, 2007

Thoughtstylings

1 Comment

...ticles about rainwater harvesting for important breaking news at our urban homestead–the development of the SurviveLA signature cocktail–the Survivor. For a long time we’ve cursed the previous owners of our compound for their useless, inedible landscaping. One of the plants they left us that we’ve lived with for all these years is an ornamental pomegranate tree (Punica granatum) that, while attractive, we had previously assumed was useless due to...

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Maggots!

Mr. Homegrown

July 29, 2006

Composting, Gardening

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Like a lot of the agricultural duties around our urban homestead, composting requires time and initiative. Unfortunately both our garden and our energy level are at a low point, both sapped by the record breaking heat – anyone see Al Gore’s movie? The result of this lack of effort has been the maggot party currently going on in our compost pile. The best compostin’ revolutionary I ever met, photographer Becky Cohen maintained a three pile system...

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The Organic Minefield: How organic are your organic eggs, soy and dairy?

Mrs. Homegrown

August 28, 2013

Food, Thoughtstylings

4 Comments

I wish the label “organic” meant all that I mean when I use the term, but unfortunately organic is not a a guarantee of sustainable agricultural practice, much less humane treatment of livestock. The Cornucopia Institute promotes sustainable organic agriculture and family farms, and helps consumers parse the difference between greenwashed and genuine organic farms and suppliers. They release quick reference charts on various subjects, as well as...

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