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...

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A Homemade Mattress?

Mrs. Homegrown

March 15, 2013

Design, Domesticus

164 Comments

...the wool. It took her about 6 hours to fill the mattress. 3) Here is a webpage, in French, showing the mattress making process. Lots of useful pictures. I have to run it through Google Translate for more clues. 4) Do not fall for the eHow result if you search for how to make a wool mattress. It gets off to a great start by recommending you use glue, rather than stitching, to construct your mattress tick . (They call the tick a “fabric sheet pouch...

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Picture Sundays: Adobe Brick Making Workshop

Mr. Homegrown

May 10, 2015

Picture Sundays

1 Comment

...A few pics from yesterday’s adobe brick making workshop taught by Ben Loescher of Adobe is Not Software. If you’d like to join in on the fun we’ll be making more bricks next Saturday. Head over to the Environmental Changemaker’s website to sign up for either the brick making or the cob oven workshop in June....

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Making Tofu From Scratch at the Institute of Domestic Technology

Mr. Homegrown

June 9, 2014

Food, Food Preservation

6 Comments

...coffee roasting, bacon curing, bread baking, jam and exotic projects like making your own nocino and toothpaste. One of the perks of teaching at the IDT is getting to sit in on some of the other classes. The coffee roasting class changed my life. Now, every morning, I look forward to fresh coffee I roasted myself in a Whirley-Pop Popcorn maker. This past weekend I sat in a new IDT class taught by author Andrea Nguyen on how to make tofu from scra...

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Foodcrafting 101

Mr. Homegrown

December 1, 2014

Bread, Events, Food

1 Comment

...to recreate everything at home. Foodcrafting 101 Workshop Schedule: Bread Making: Master the simple technique of bread making from scratch using the no-knead bread recipe from the Institute Director’s own cookbook. Learn about types of flour, where to purchase them, how to shape loaves and achieve the perfect crust. You’ll learn how to recreate a professional bread baker’s oven at home and produce loaves that rival accomplished bakers. Cheese Mak...

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