De-Cluttering for DIYers, Homesteaders, Artists, Preppers, etc.

February 9, 2015

...from experience, I know I don’t need a hundred canning jars on hand at all time, much less their dented and rusty rings to be able to preserve food a couple of times a year. You might not really need that bin full of fabric scraps. But somehow this stuff does accumulate. Thin it out. Also, as we develop experience with any skill, we tend to find tools and techniques which work best for us, and we drop tools and techniques which don’t fit our style...

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A Three Step Strategy for Curing Internet/Smart Phone Addiction

Mr. Homegrown

March 8, 2017

Thoughtstylings

4 Comments

...Silicon Valley elite who profit from our distraction. Still, there will be times that problem #1 gets the best of us. We won’t always succeed in avoiding the interweb hole and we might, as Newport suggests, even schedule some time to mindlessly surf just to get it out of our system. But the more we get out and just do stuff the less we’ll end up internet surfing and the better we’ll feel. In short, schedule a time to surf a real wave rather than a...

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Why I’m Growing Vegetables in a Straw Bale

Mr. Homegrown

May 29, 2019

Gardening, Straw Bale Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

10 Comments

...ough to feed all the inhabitants of a generously sized cult compound. This time around I’m trying an inorganic approach, substituting the blood meal I used last time for urea. I’m curious to see if I notice any difference other than price (urea is a lot cheaper). Should I try it again, I’m thinking of building some simple wooden boxes to hold the bales and keep them moist in our hot and dry summer season. My previous success with straw bale garden...

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Acedia Part II: An Internet of Narcissism

Mr. Homegrown

June 21, 2024

Thoughtstylings

...ures, of style without substance” thinking of, I imagine, moments like the time the Yippies cast a spell to levitate the Pentagon or, in our time, throwing soup cans at paintings. He also targets therapeutic culture (much like Mark Fisher) and delivers a spot-on evisceration of New Age and Gnostic spirituality all of which he considers as support structures for a narcissistic ideology. I couldn’t help thinking about Lasch as I viewed the new Max d...

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Essential System #3 – Sew Your Own Damn Clothes

Mr. Homegrown

October 6, 2006

Domesticus

1 Comment

...tart spinning and weaving your own fabric). Some recommendations for brave urban homesteaders who want to take up sewing. Don’t start with stretchy fabric. Don’t even think of using velvet (we learned this the hard way). Choose patterns carefully so you don’t end up looking like, well, folks who sew their own clothes. Consider purchasing a used serger, which cuts the fabric and finishes the seam all at once, which folks in the know tell us makes l...

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