Picture Sundays: Doberman Chariots

March 31, 2013

...nts.” Photos via The Doberman Insider. Now that we are without a car, it’s time for us to figure out alternative forms of transportation. Our late dog was a Doberman and I remembered a book we used to have about the breed that showed some unusual events that used to be held in South Africa in the 1970s: harness racing with Dobermans and kid jockeys! Remembering just how powerful and fast our Doberman was, I imagine these races were quite a thrill...

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Veggie Trader

Mr. Homegrown

March 26, 2009

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

14 Comments

...ently of the power of developing local currencies through concepts such as time banking (see our local Echo Park Time Bank for a great example of that) and how these local efforts could be the way out of our current economic morass. Rushkoff is especially interested in the roll the Internet can play in setting up new local economies. Homegrown Evolution just got an email about a nice example of the potential for using the Internet for localizing....

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Defining a Garden’s Purpose

Mr. Homegrown

July 8, 2013

Garden Design, Gardening

13 Comments

...rcent of the families, the parents did not carve out any back yard leisure time (relax, play, eat, read, drink, or swim) despite the presence of pricey features such as built-in pools, spas, above-ground pools, dining sets, lounge chairs, and swing sets. Children in this group of families enjoyed brief periods of outdoor recreation, but less than one hour in each case.” – from Life at Home in the Twenty-first Century: 32 Families Open their Doors...

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Quick Relief for Poison Oak

Mrs. Homegrown

April 4, 2014

Domesticus, Herbal Medicine, How-to

34 Comments

...e mugwort on the skin can prevent/treat the rash, and I’ve done that a few times when I suspect I’ve brushed against some poison oak. (Mugwort almost always grows where the poison oak does.) Whether all these emergency poultices prevented anything or not is impossible to prove, because I’ve never contracted a rash until this time. I’ll keep doing it, though. After avoiding the green bandit so long and so well, I was almost happy to get hit at last...

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Getting Hardscaping Right

Mr. Homegrown

July 18, 2013

Garden Design, Gardening, Mistakes

14 Comments

...do it right the first time, rather than re-do badly done projects multiple times. Go where contractors get materials not the big box stores. A recent trip to Home Depot reminded me about how ugly most of their stuff is. Get materials delivered. I once dropped a very heavy load of Trex on a steep hill near our home and watched, in horror, as it slid a hundred feet down the road. Thankfully no one got hurt. But it was not fun to reload the car on a...

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