Frida Paints Luther

...1930s. Kahlo liked to blur the boundaries between human consciousness, the vegetable and the animal. In her portrait of Burbank she touches on themes of life, death and transformation. You could write a book about what’s going on in this painting. Burbank’s work lives on inour backyards and orchards in the form of the fruit varieties he developed. I’ll view his Santa Rosa plum in our front yard differently after encountering Kahlo’s virtuosic pain...

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A Report from the 2014 Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa

...2010. The Expo features mind boggling displays of what can only be called vegetable porn. Hint: if you hang around after the conclusion on Thursday evening you can score the display items. For two years in a row we’ve gone home with a rental car stuffed with heirloom watermelon and squash. But the real draw for me are the seminars and panel discussions. Above, some of the leading figures in the Northern California permaculture scene: Toby Hemenwa...

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The Jerusalem Cookbook

...rt. It has lots of meat and fish recipes, but it also has plenty of salad, vegetable, bean and grain recipes, so it’s friendly to both vegetarians and meat eaters. We’re mostly vegetarian, and we feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of the meatless offerings so far. Though there are a lot of veg recipes which use eggs, yogurt and cheese, there are also good vegan-friendly offerings. To give you a feel for the book, these are the recipes we’v...

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My Apologies to the Skunk Community

...ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQBA58VoGQ For years I’ve blamed the nightly vegetable carnage that takes place in our raised beds on skunks. The other night, our CritterCam (a Wingscapes BirdCam Pro ), revealed the culprit: raccoons. And they work in trios! No wonder it’s been so difficult to secure the beds! Given the strength and agility of Racoons, I’m surprised that bird netting has worked at all (though, I’ll note, only when that netting is fi...

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Saturday Tweets: Artisinal Junk Food, Wide Streets and Neon Succulents

...zWUcg — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 25, 2015 Building Healthy Soils in Vegetable Gardens: Cover Crops Have Got It Covered Part I: Introduction to Cover Cropping http://t.co/kW3CLy8UJb — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 24, 2015 Where should you site your veggie garden: http://t.co/vEwdtLlA7K — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 24, 2015 A town that sleeps like it's pre-industrial times via @BoingBoing http://t.co/RXhgfwOI4t — Root Simple (@roo...

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