California’s Drought and What To Do About It

February 6, 2014

...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

Mrs. Homegrown

December 9, 2013

Composting

47 Comments

...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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Self-Irrigating Gutter Update

Mr. Homegrown

June 5, 2013

Gardening, Self Watering Containers

4 Comments

...rel. Unfortunately the lower gutter leaked around 50 gallons of stored rainwater down into the garage below (our house is on a hill and the garage is at street level). To prevent this problem in the future I put a manual irrigation timer on the barrel so that if there is a leak, I won’t lose all the water at once. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeCgGAbvwk If I were to do this project again, I’d also use a refinement that Larry Hall just posted in...

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How To Manage a Compost Pile Using Temperature

Mr. Homegrown

February 22, 2013

Composting, Gardening, How-to

7 Comments

...get high temperatures can be an indication of too much carbon or a lack of water. To correct, add more nitrogen and water and turn. A loss of temperature could indicate that the pile is going anaerobic. The solution is to add more carbon material and turn. Once the pile has had 15 complete days over 131° F you just let it sit. Compost is done when it is dark, smells like earth and you can’t recognize the original ingredients. It will likely be sev...

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Greywater Precautions

Mr. Homegrown

December 5, 2006

Water Conservation

2 Comments

...need to be careful. So here are SurviveLA’s rules to follow when using greywater: Do not apply greywater to crops that you will eat raw, such as strawberries, carrots or lettuce. Using greywater on any vegetables is somewhat dodgy in general for heath reasons, but greywater is fine for edible plants such as fruit trees where the crop is far from the ground and the risk of direct contamination by contact with contaminated water is low. Do not apply...

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