Make an Aluminum Can Lamp

December 26, 2006

...cans. According to the author of that article, Del Gideon, the Vietnamese used to make these lamps back during the war. You can also use these lamps to heat up water. Making one is easy: 1. Remove the top off a can. We like to do this by scoring the inner ring of the top with a razor blade and then using a pair of pliers to bust it out. The fastidious and safety conscious may want to file down the sharp edge. 2. Cut a 2 1/2 inch square window out...

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Leaf Litter

Mr. Homegrown

December 12, 2006

Permaculture

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...ite notions in permaculture is the idea that “work makes work”. An example used to be the annual fall cleanup after our two large trees dropped their load of leaves in the back yard. Dave Jacke, author of the massive two volume permaculture guide, Edible Forest Gardens puts it this way, Simply relinquishing a need for “order” and “tidiness” in your garden will make a huge difference. . Order and tidiness by definition reduce structural diversity i...

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How to Stake Tomatoes

Mr. Homegrown

April 5, 2007

Gardening, How-to, Tomatoes, Vegetable Gardening

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...and then surround them with rolled up concrete reinforcing wire. Normally used to reinforce concrete slabs, reinforcing wire comes in 3 1/2′ by 7′ sections. We use a circular saw with a metal blade on it to cut off the bottom rung, so as to leave spiky wires with which to stick the reinforcing wire tubes into the ground, but this is not absolutely necessary. Once in place that’s it. According to So Cal gardening guru Pat Welsh, tomatoes surrounde...

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A Parvati Solar Cooker

Mr. Homegrown

March 24, 2008

Solar

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...nd affixed the aluminum foil with spray glue. For our first pot of rice we used a black enamel pot to better absorb the heat of the sun’s rays, and wrapped it in a roasting bag to increase the efficiency of the cooker. A five gallon bucket made a convenient stand and did not have to be rotated in the two hours it took to cook the rice. Longer cooking times would require re-aiming the cooker as the sun moves across the sky. Temperature in the pot q...

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Post Petroleum Lecture – a reminder

Mr. Homegrown

March 21, 2007

Miscellaneous

...k of the Americas (1994) and the Global Eco village Network (1995), Albert used his lifetime of eco-community living skills to create an incendiary meme, sparked by dedicated individuals and fueled by the pressing necessity of changing the way in which human communities relate to nature. Place: Audubon Center at Debs Park 4700 Griffin Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90031 Time:10:00 AM Cost:$10 on-line $15 at the door Instructions for payment: RSVP and pay o...

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