060 Eric of Garden Fork Returns

...we’ve had Eric on and in this episode he discusses tapping maple trees and making syrup, grilling steaks on coals, crowd funding, pie crusts and meditation apps. Here’s the rundown: Planting crops in a cold climate in the late summer Tapping sugar maples Building an evaporator for making maple syrup Earth Eats Podcast Cooking “Eisenhower” steaks on coals Crowd funding Amanda Palmer Ted Talk Pie crusts Meditation with the Headspace app New anchor D...

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Our Rocket Stove

...rn some of the palm fronds that regularly tumble down from the iconic palm trees that line our old L.A. street. Here’s the materials we used: 36 bricks 4-inch galvanized steel stove pipe elbow 4-inch stove pipe ash (scavenged from park BBQs) 1 tin can 50 pound bag of premixed concrete for the base mortar mix grill (scavenged) The first step was to make a small foundation for the rocket stove. We fashioned a 18 by 18-inch by 4-inch slab with 2 x 4...

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Least Favorite Plant: Tree of Heaven

...new metric: the economic health of a city can be judged by the size of its trees of heaven (aka Ailanthus altissima). The higher the Ailanthus altissima, the more likely a city is to economically distressed. Tree of heaven is a super weed much reviled by gardeners and landscapers for its unstoppable ability to grow in nearly every climate in the most inhospitable conditions. In a move that will raise a lot of horticultural hackles, the Detroit Tre...

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Yet More Reasons to Mulch

Image: Wikimedia. From a water conservation perspective alone, our trees need a good layer of mulch. But there are many more reasons to mulch, according to research by James Downer, Farm Advisor with the Cooperative Extension in Ventura County, California: Mulch provides nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. A serendipitous accident in one of Downer’s studies revealed that mulch changes soil structure so that mulched soils are able to absorb more w...

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Help Plant a Garden — and Help a Local Eagle Scout

...removed a large area of lawn, and on Friday they’ll be planting six fruit trees. It will transform the entrance to the church. Friday is supposed to be Taylor’s completion date, and there’s still a lot to do: installing headerboard (9am) composting the planting areas (morning) planting trees, flowers, vegetables (afternoon) assembling benches (all day) It’s a fun chance to work with an (exuberant) team of young scouts and to help get another sect...

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