Security

...a hat, or the visit of the particularly hated UPS deliveryman. At the same time, fireworks and sprinklers can send him cowering. Now, we strongly advice against running out and getting any kind of big protection dog. So-called “working dogs” like Dobermans and Rottweillers require a tremendous amount of training and are a great responsibility. We would have been in big trouble raising this beast without the assistance of a friend who is an experie...

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Get Off Your Ass and Plant a Survival Garden!

...list for each month, useful since maintaining a vegetable garden here over a year-round growing season can get complicated especially if you want to keep a steady stream of produce on the table. In general, remember that winter here is the best time for most crops with the summer reserved for stuff that can take the heat like tomatoes and basil. So get out there and plant your own food and remember our rule here around the Homegrown Evolution home...

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Plastic or Wood?

...these are the new rules. We are going to phase as many plastics out of the homestead as we can. We won’t toss what we have in the landfill right now, but when it is time to replace it, this is how it’s going down: Wood and metal utensils instead of plastic Glass storage containers instead of Tupperwear Wool blankets instead of Polarfleece blankets Down filling instead of polyester filling (even for allergy sufferers)* Silk and wool fabrics for ath...

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Erik’s 2012 New Year’s Resolutions in Review

.... Increase running distance. Organize bug-out box. Backpack more often. Camp on Santa Rosa island again. Return to biodynamic practices in the garden. Learn how to sharpen knives and tools. Create an iPhone or iPad app. Check email only twice a day. Take more time to cook. Keep the kitchen spotless. Ferment vegetables more often. My New Year’s resolution this year is to have a much shorter New Year’s resolution list. I’ll post that list tomorrow....

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That ain’t a bowl full of larvae, it’s crosne!

...n, justifiably, gives me a hard time for growing strange things around the homestead. This week I just completed the world’s smallest harvest of a root vegetable popularly known as crosne (Stachys affinis). Crosne, also known as Chinese artichoke, chorogi, knotroot and artichoke betony is a member of the mint family that produces a tiny edible tuber. While looking like any other mint plant, the leaves have no smell. The tubers look all too much li...

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