How To Force Carbonate at Home

...l as good advice. Conclusions When you’re holding a hammer everything looks like a nail. When you’re holding a carbonator, everything needs to be carbonated. So far we’ve carbonated a lot of Los Angeles tap water (surprisingly delicious), Americano cocktails (recipe here) and jamaica. Someone please stop me before this gets out of control and I start carbonating soup, greywater or cat urine....

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Make a Rain Barrel

...ion into the LA River and the ocean (see creekfreak for more on LA’s pesky water issues). At least we’ll be channeling some of that water, via the barrel, to our new fruit trees. Those of you with flat yards could simply connect up an overflow pipe that would take the water at least ten feet from the foundation. In Southern California, where rain never falls between May and October, a 55 gallon drum won’t meet much of our irrigation needs, though...

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Drought-Proof your Landscape with Greywater Lecture

...reywatercorps.com/whatwscurrent.html. Interested in Reusing Greywater? Greywater is water from sinks, showers, and washing machines. Instead of sending it down the sewer it can be safely and simply redirected into the landscape for irrigation. Reusing household greywater saves water, saves time, and reduces water flowing into the sewer system. Find out if a greywater system is a good match for your home and landscape in our informative evening sli...

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California’s Drought and What To Do About It

...program our drip irrigation system. Keep in mind that 77% of California’s water use goes to agriculture (the media tends to forget this). Residential water use is a small part of the total. That being said, there’s a lot more we can do–the residents of Sydney Australia use half as much water per person as Californians in a similar climate. I’m fairly certain we’ll eke our way out of this crisis but I’m not sure about the next one. In the meantime...

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Composting the Deceased/ My DIY Funeral Fantasies

...a “full-body maritime burial”. In the U.S. you just need to be in Federal Waters, at least 3 miles off shore and in water at least 600 ft. deep. It turns out there’s a joint that works out of Long Beach Harbor which does this for you. Erik, are you taking notes? Fantasy 3: Composting. I’d love to be composted. Compost is life, and it is what I’d most like my body to become when I die. But I used to imagine that the only way to successfully compos...

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