Diyas: oil lamps from India

November 12, 2014

...rop shaped pinch pots, go for 5 for a dollar. That’s a lot of fun for a dollar, and a good way to light up a party with a hundred warm little lights–if you can keep your guests from catching themselves on fire! (For more info, see my post at the first link above for all the deets on making and using a vegetable oil lamp.) Also, it occurs to me that it would be a great lesson for kids to make a pinch pot out of clay dug from the ground, and then ma...

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Behind the Scenes at Root Simple is a World of Big Pumpkins, Pomegranate Catapults and Man Crates

Mr. Homegrown

October 7, 2014

Thoughtstylings

7 Comments

...ocation for this annual event. “The available space and the City’s help in making the event happen really creates the perfect environment for the Pomegranate Festival,” Debi Bray, president and CEO of the Madera Chamber of Commerce says. Returning to this year’s lineup is a display for various aircraft as well as skydivers from Madera Parachute Center. New to this year’s festival will be a children’s stage featuring local dance, karate and other t...

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From the Archives: Loquat Leather

Mr. Homegrown

April 29, 2014

Food, Food Preservation, Foraging, Fruit Trees, Gardening

10 Comments

...My philosophy is simply that if one is going to go through the trouble of making fruit leather, preserves, pies etc., one should use outstanding fruit. The flavor tells in the end. After all, the starving times are not upon us. Even Erik can’t get super excited about this fruit leather–as I recall it tasted mostly of lemon and booze. Then again, some people may have outstanding loquats–it sounds so from the comments on the last post. The ones we...

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Ten Uses for Palm Fronds

Mr. Homegrown

April 7, 2014

Gardening

22 Comments

...I’m excited about this idea. Here’s how to do it. 9. Use as a symbol of victory. Palm fronds have symbolic meanings across numerous cultures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu4I8bDQsS0 10. Rob a liquor store. I’m not making this up. Via Bob in Oz. One runner-up idea: hugelkultur. I’m skeptical. What did I leave out? Basket weavers do you have any tips? Please tell me I don’t need to scale the tree to get a green palm frond....

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Straw Bale Gardens

Mr. Homegrown

March 25, 2013

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

27 Comments

Tasha Via’s straw bale garden. Michael Tortorello (who profiled us when Making It came out) is one of my favorite writers covering the home ec/gardening subjects we discuss on this blog. He had an article last week in the New York Times, “Grasping at Straw” on straw bale gardening. We’ve very tempted to give the practice a try in our backyard. Why? We have lead and zinc contaminated soil so growing veggies in the ground is questionable. We live o...

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