Changing the World One Party at a Time

May 24, 2017

Artist’s depiction of Jennie’s monthly neighborhood party. Extra points for finding our new dog in the painting. Once a month, our neighbor Jennie Cook (our guest on episode 50 of the Root Simple Podcast) hosts a cocktail party for neighbors. She started the party ball rolling by sticking handwritten invites in mailboxes up the block. Usually, around twenty people show up. I’ve come to believe that the most revolutionary acts in our lives are tho...

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From the Archives: That Time Kelly Accidentally Ate Hemlock

Mr. Homegrown

July 18, 2016

Food, Foraging

5 Comments

...be wise to avoid this family entirely. That said, Pascal tells a story of running into a group of older Armenian woman gathering hemlock. When he questioned them they explained that they boil the hemlock and change out the water multiple times to make the leaves edible. I suspect they were using the plant medicinally. Neither Pascal nor Root Simple endorse this. Happy summer foraging and watch out for the hemlock! Let us know in the comments if y...

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In Praise of Backward Compatibility

Mr. Homegrown

May 24, 2016

Appropriate Technology

9 Comments

...n’t work in our neighborhood (thanks for not letting me know that ahead of time!). In the end I was forced to switch to Time Warner for slightly better and equally expensive service. Our overseas readers should know this is common in the U.S., that we pay a lot of money for poor telecommunications services. But the electromechanical geek in me had a delightful surprise. Either Time Warner or the folks who designed the modem Time Warner provides ha...

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Root Simple Reader Survey Results

Mr. Homegrown

May 10, 2016

Thoughtstylings

6 Comments

...t on the blog in a positive way. Unfortunately, the podcast takes a lot of time. We have to book guests, conduct the interview and spend, on average, four to five hours editing. It looks like we could step back to one podcast every other week instead of every week. That will give us more time for the blog. It would be a lot easier for the Root Simple PR department if we just stuck to one topic like, say, chicken health or DIY lotion making. That’s...

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Time for some comments . . .

Mr. Homegrown

June 3, 2013

Age of Limits

43 Comments

...guys. Here’s some of the things we’re curious about, but feel free to sound off about anything else: We’re sensing anxiety in the air. Are we imagining it? Are you anxious over these things? The people you know? How do you handle that? If you practice homesteading activities, do you find they help you financially, emotionally or spiritually? Have you changed anything about your lifestyle in response to any of these factors, or do you plan to? Who...

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