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Why I Garden #40

Submitted by TimJFowler on Fri, 2014/08/01 - 10:31am
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Common Yarrow in bloom

Common Yarrow, a.k.a. Plumajillo, blooming in our front yard. Another native perennial, yarrow has slowly grown and spread despite the ongoing drought. With a little rain it blooms and the pollinators love it.

More Info:

Wikipedia - Achillea Millefolium

USDA - Plant Fact Sheet - Common Yarrow

How to Make it Rain

Submitted by TimJFowler on Sun, 2014/07/27 - 3:55pm
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Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour 2014 - Waiting Out the Hail Storm

Have you ever wondered how to make it rain? The folks at Home Grown New Mexico may have figured it out. For the second year in a row the Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour has concluded with a downpour. I can't think of a more fitting end to a tour of permaculture gardens, water catchment systems and chicken coops than a powerful rainstorm.

Can You Fix It?

Submitted by TimJFowler on Thu, 2014/06/26 - 7:06pm
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Broken - Storm Door Latch and Coffee Grinder

Stuff breaks. This is a fact of life. But, is that stuff fixable?

Here are two recent examples of broken items from our home, a storm door latch and coffee grinder. The storm door was fixed by replacing the inside latch. The coffee grinder wasn't fixable (yes, I took it apart to attempt a repair). The coffee grinder, although it lasted 25+ years, is disposable. The storm door was designed with replaceable parts (latch, handle, screen, etc.)

DIY Coffee Roasting

Submitted by TimJFowler on Fri, 2014/04/25 - 4:22pm
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Roasting Coffee - cooling beans

I am a big DIY nerd. Sometimes that leads to complicated, long term projects that take over your life. Fortunately, some DIY projects are ridiculously quick and easy. Case in point: roasting coffee. While I'm not a coffee connoisseur, I grind my own beans and we have four types of coffee makers (drip, moka pot, french press, pourover). I had read many self-described coffee geeks wax rhapsodic about roasting their own coffee. Frankly, I was leery of over-complicating my simple morning coffee habit.

Why I Garden #39

Submitted by TimJFowler on Tue, 2014/04/01 - 4:11pm
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Santa Rosa Plum Tree in Bloom

One sure sign of spring is our Santa Rosa Plum tree in bloom. With crossed fingers, compost, water and a little help from Mother Nature and Luther Burbank we could have a crop of plums later this year. Barring any late freezes or big wind storms, of course.

More Info:

Prunus x domestica 'Santa Rosa' plum

Slow and Steady Brings Results

Submitted by TimJFowler on Thu, 2014/02/20 - 5:42pm
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Tortoise and the Hare

Over the past several years I've made incremental improvements to the building envelope of our home. Adding insulation above the garage ceiling is the latest in a string of insulation and weather sealing DIY projects. My slow and steady wins the race approach has chipped away at our natural gas usage. But, have I come to the end of the low hanging fruit?

From Merry to Mulch

Submitted by TimJFowler on Tue, 2014/01/14 - 10:25am
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Christmas Tree Recycling

Ours was a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and I hope yours were too. With the passing of the holidays it is time to clear our the decorations, especially the more flammable ones. The family loved having a fragrant and green Christmas tree in our home.

L'air du vinaigre

Submitted by EcoMommyo on Thu, 2013/12/05 - 4:20pm
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Hey kids! Would you like your house to smell like vinegar? Have I got the recipe for you!

We had a surprisingly good tomato year this year in our garden. This is extra amazing considering we had a massive hail storm in early July which reduced many of our plants to sticks. The tomatoes bounced back and, boy howdy, did they produce. However, the cold descended before all the tomatoes could ripen. So, we had lots of green tomatoes and didn't have the heart to toss everything on the compost pile.

Our Jeans Keep Us Warm

Submitted by TimJFowler on Mon, 2013/12/02 - 6:01pm
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Garage Ceiling Insulation

A few years ago we insulated our home's attic which made a huge difference in our heating bills. At the time we didn't insulate above the garage because I thought it was unconditioned space. But, the walls between our kitchen/living room and laundry room are poorly insulated - allowing lots of heat transfer between the house and garage. That makes the garage "indirectly-conditioned space" and in dire need of insulation.

EcoMommyo Reads Michael Pollan's "Cooked"

Submitted by EcoMommyo on Thu, 2013/11/14 - 9:06pm
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Cooked by Michael Pollan

Oh how I wish I was a highly paid journalism professor at UC-Berkeley. Then I would be blissfully unaware that people have accents in this great nation of ours and have long Sundays of no errands to stand around watching meat braise. AHHH, that would be the life.

Instead we ate leftover fish tonight and roasted vegetable salad and cleaned a few more things out of the refrigerator. Now I'm sitting here watching Glee, thinking about eating graham crackers for dessert and reveling in the fact that we got EcoBaby to eat brussel sprouts. Life's little victories.

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