Creating a Perpetual Garden Journal

October 5, 2021

...just commit to the lines. I would recommend finding a journal with enough pages to devote a spread of two pages to each week. I have only one page per week and I think the results will be a little cramped. Are my drawings great? Nope. But I’ve decided to embrace my slightly wonky draftsmanship and just roll with it. It’s the act of seeing, after all, that’s more important. Lara Call Gastinger’s Instagram is a great introduction to the perpetual j...

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Are Miniature Books the New Smartphone?

Mr. Homegrown

October 17, 2016

Thoughtstylings

10 Comments

...y. Loeb books are handsome, small and sturdy hardbacks with English on one page and Latin or Greek on the opposite page. Marcellinus is an entertaining Roman historian whose extant books chronicle the tumultuous years around the time of Constantine. So far it’s even more lurid than the updates on our current presidential election I get when I glace at the iPhone. Yes, you can read books on a smartphone, but I still think that the medium of a paper...

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Bubble Wrap Your Windows

Mr. Homegrown

December 16, 2006

Domesticus

Photo by Nick Lowe From the remarkable folks at Build It Solar comes this heating conservation tip – bubble wrap your windows. Simply cut sheets of bubble wrap to fit your windows, apply some water with a spray bottle and before it dries stick the bubble wrap on the glass. While you can buy special bubble wrap designed for greenhouses, according to Build It Solar, regular bubble wrap will probably work just as well. If you number the pieces you u...

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Lights Made from Soda Bottles

Mr. Homegrown

May 29, 2009

Solar

10 Comments

...Via Make Blog, a clever homebrew solar light made from soda bottles. I’m a bit skeptical about how you could make these watertight, but for an outbuilding or patio roof they might make for a nice low cost alternative to solar tubes or skylights....

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Village Homes: A Model for Sustainable Suburbs

Mrs. Homegrown

February 21, 2014

Design, Garden Design, Permaculture, Urban Farming

6 Comments

...ntelligence. For instance, the homes are all designed according to passive solar principles, so their heating and cooling bills are considerably reduced. Some have even have green roofs. But more interesting is the landscaping, the massive network of bike/walking paths and the creative use of public space. The entire development is essentially a big food forest. All of the rainfall is captured and instead of being directed to the sewer system, it...

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