Surface Walk with Nance Klehm Saturday February 11th

February 9, 2017

Events

...investigate how the vegetation relates to the ecology and vitality of the soil that supports it. Surface Walk is part of Nance Klehm’s Bowtie residency titled Double Pairing. Nance Klehm has been an ecological systems designer, landscaper, horticultural consultant, and permacultural grower for more than two decades. Her approach is centered on instigating change by activating extant communities. Her work demonstrates her lifelong commitment to re...

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Reader Favorite California Native: Ceanothus

Mr. Homegrown

June 7, 2017

Gardening

8 Comments

...e is over-watering during the summer months and planting in overly fertile soil. We didn’t over-water, so how we manged to kill three of them is a Root Simple gardening mystery. That said, many of our neighbors have had no problems with Ceanothus. If you have a well drained sunny spot, it’s a good bet. I’m particularly fond of the short sprawling varieties such as Ceanothus thyrsiflorus repens. The UC Davis Arboretum keeps a list of “All Star” pla...

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038 The Ground Rules with Nance Klehm

Mr. Homegrown

February 18, 2015

Composting, Gardening, Podcasts

3 Comments

...ting compost along with mushrooms and plants to bioremediate damaged urban soils. Nance describes The Ground Rules as “re-imagining waste and biological infrastructures.” You can find out more about the project on the Social Ecologies website and on Nance’s personal website. There’s also a video about The Ground Rules. If you’re in Chicago you can visit Nance and Emmanual Pratt’s exhibition, For the Common Good: Meet the Remediators. Nance’s expla...

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Free Egg Testing for California Backyard Chicken Keepers

Mr. Homegrown

April 9, 2018

Animals, Chickens

4 Comments

...irds for various contaminants such as Pb, PCBs, and PBDEs. I know that our soil has lead in it and have always been curious to see if our chickens are passing any of this lead into their eggs. I sent off eggs for testing last Friday and will report back on the test results. The New York Times reported on the issue of contaminants in eggs from backyard flocks back in 2012. If you’re a California resident and would like to send in some eggs for test...

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Garden Update Part II: The Good the Bad and a Lot of Ugly

Mr. Homegrown

March 4, 2019

Gardening

11 Comments

...cleaning up faster. Don’t worry, I leave the leaves in place to enrich the soil. The leaf blower just helps me clear the hardscaping. There’s actually a nice brick patio under the weeds and clutter here. Ugh, more junk. Here’s the nice new patio the Haynes landscaping folks built. The adobe oven is under a blue tarp. Blue tarps are the architectural equivalent of a comb over. The oven needs a little roof which, to extend the metaphor would be the...

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