Meet the Amazing Sierra Newt

March 22, 2016

...unds and off trails. So imagine my surprise when, hanging out by a stream (Water! Living water! I hadn’t seen any for months) I found one of these guys coiled up and still on the bottom of the stream bed. It looked so out of place–I thought it might be dead, dropped in there by a predator, perhaps? So I poked it with a stick — a favorite primate tool–and was surprised to see Mr. or Ms. Newt jump up all affronted and wander off under water. He (I’m...

Read…

The Unintended Consequences of Water Conservation

Mr. Homegrown

September 9, 2015

Gardening

11 Comments

...dry, the risk of fires would increase. In changing over landscapes to low-water using plants or to non-planted, non-irrigated areas, labor and material costs for plants, installing or retrofitting irrigation systems, and other materials could be significant. Converting lawns to artificial turf is also expensive. Hodel and Pittenger’s main point is that if we cut off landscape irrigation entirely, we’d only save around 4.5% of all water use in the...

Read…

Local Politician Tom LaBonge Wants LA Covered in Astroturf and the City to Pay For It

Mr. Homegrown

January 19, 2015

Thoughtstylings

11 Comments

...o give them more money?] A recent study revealed that the annual amount of water needed to maintain the average lawn each year is about 34,000 gallons or about 670 bathtubs full of water. The quality and appearance of synthetic turf has gained popularity, and especially with the drought, turf has become more accepted. [By whom? It’s still plastic. And you need to water it in the summer to make it cool enough to walk on and to wash out pet urine. I...

Read…

Cold brewed tisanes, teas and coffee: Your summertime best friends

Mrs. Homegrown

July 25, 2016

Food, Foraging, Herbs

8 Comments

...good simple infusions are to have around. A few cucumber slices, a cup of watermelon chunks, a handful raspberries–all these things make iced water a little more fun. Just use whatever you have leftover on any given day–that spare half of a lemon, a melon slice that no one seems to want, that extra handful of herbs. My favorite Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles, Cacao, puts sprigs of rosemary in its table water. Other herbal experiments Experimen...

Read…

Bucket Flushing

Mr. Homegrown

December 5, 2006

Water Conservation

4 Comments

...ticularly for meat eaters can quickly turn your greywater into rancid blackwater. Greywater systems range from the simple to the complex and we’ll start with the cheap and easy — bucket flushing. Simply keep a bucket next to the shower and collect the water that you run before the shower gets hot. Since you haven’t even stepped into the shower this water is pure water, and not even technically greywater. You can use this water on plants or to flus...

Read…