Kimchi Secrets Revealed

...i champion Granny Choe at Krautfest 2009 – photo from Eating L.A. The last time I tried to make the spicy Korean fermented cabbage dish known as kimchi it was such a disaster that Mrs. Homegrown exiled the batch to the back porch where it rotted for a good two months before we got around to sending it to the landfill. At Krautfest 2009, which we helped organize back in September, we had the great privilege of learning to make kimchi from kimchi en...

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Stirred, Not Shaken

...kinda hard to come by in Los Angeles. While it may be heresy to some, perhaps we’ll have to come up with some modifications to the rituals that make sense in this particular place and time. More on biodynamics, specifically planting by the cycles of the moon and planets, when Mr. Homegrown gets back from San Antonio next week....

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Siphon Your Bathwater

...ve siphoning devices available in hardware and auto parts stores made for siphoning gas, but SuviveLA has not tested them yet. If siphoning is too much effort for ya, it’s time to move on to more permanent solutions involving rerouting your plumbing that we’ll get into in subsequent posts....

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Buddy Burner

...lower temperature than the cardboard, so the cardboard should last a long time. UPDATE – 7/1/08 Reader Michael writes: “Hey! I love your site. But some thoughts on Buddy Burners! I made SOOOO many of these as a kid growing up (Mormon, y’know?), but they are not safe anymore. Most aluminum cans are now fully lined with plastics and other coatings (to prevent botulism, yay!) but they cannot be burned (boo!). Please please please do not suggest peop...

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Using Greywater from your Washing Machine

...k also slows down the flow of water going out to the garden, allowing more time for it to percolate into the soil. In addition the tank lets the water cool a bit, should we run a load in hot water. Bottom of barrel showing fittings Top of the barrel where the hose from the washing machine comes in For the tank we picked up a used and cleaned 55 gallon plastic drum with two “bung holes”, and plumbed it based on a design from Aquabarrel.com. The fol...

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