News From Nowhere

May 25, 2018

...for everybody; so that no man is sacrificed to the wants of another. From time to time, when we have found out that some piece of work was too disagreeable or troublesome, we have given it up and done altogether without the thing produced by it. Now, surely you can see that under these circumstances all the work that we do is an exercise of the mind and body more or less pleasant to be done; so that instead of avoiding work everybody seeks it: an...

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California’s New Greywater Code: Common Sense Legalized!

Mr. Homegrown

August 6, 2009

Water and Power, Water Conservation

8 Comments

...imes spur more innovation like this. Originally slated to go into effect in 2010, the plumbing code was updated as an emergency measure to deal with drought conditions that have plagued the southwestern US for years. Under the new California greywater code: 1. In most cases you won’t need a permit. 2. Allows discharge into a simple mulch basin rather than the expensive and complicated sub-surface emitters required under the old regulations. 3. No...

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Root Simple is 10 Years Old

Mr. Homegrown

July 13, 2016

Thoughtstylings

20 Comments

...g a chance on two first time authors. The book that they commissioned, The Urban Homestead, published in 2008, went through many printings and is still selling copies. After the success of the first book we got a lot of offers to write a sequel (or just another version of the same book for bigger publishers!). We ended up writing a how-to book for Rodale called Making It. Thank You! Root Simple is a group effort and there are many people to thank:...

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Maggots!

Mr. Homegrown

July 29, 2006

Composting, Gardening

2 Comments

Like a lot of the agricultural duties around our urban homestead, composting requires time and initiative. Unfortunately both our garden and our energy level are at a low point, both sapped by the record breaking heat – anyone see Al Gore’s movie? The result of this lack of effort has been the maggot party currently going on in our compost pile. The best compostin’ revolutionary I ever met, photographer Becky Cohen maintained a three pile system...

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FlicFloc Sticker Shock

Mr. Homegrown

April 20, 2020

Food

7 Comments

...ked oats in water on the counter for a day or two at room temperature. The time at room temperature causes fermentation and gives your oats a pleasant, sour flavor. You can make a batch of it ahead of time and put it in the refrigerator after it reaches the right amount of sour funk. Baker suggests adding nuts and maple syrup to make your oatmeal more interesting. Lastly, let me add that, back in 2015, I compared the results of the FlicFloc vs. a...

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