Author Archives: beth

Open Sesame

I have one strip of our yard between our house and the neighbor’s driveway that I use for experiments. Over the years I’ve grown corn, wheat and soybeans (yes – I’m from Illinois), and this year’s experiment was sesame seeds. … Continue reading

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Ants are Ranchers

Our little lime tree is finally starting to produce. It put on quite a lot of growth this year, with lots of fresh juicy leaves. So the aphids and the whitefly moved in next? Or was it the ants first … Continue reading

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5 things you can do now to help you get the most from this winter’s rains

Here in San Diego, nearly all of our 10 inches average annual rainfall comes in the winter. How much water is that? If you use the formula of .623 gallons per square foot per inch of rain, that comes to … Continue reading

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Switch to kegging your homebrew

Jeff – this one’s for you.  The sooner you start kegging, the happier you’ll be.  It saves so much time and effort (even if you don’t include cleaning up bottle bombs) that you’ll find many more opportunities to brew.  As … Continue reading

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With a hoop house, we can put those chickens to work!

Since the tomatoes are done for the season and have been ripped out, I was inspired by some recent reading (Kate’s Hoop House at Living the Frugal Life ) to build a hoop house. It’s a good deal for everybody … Continue reading

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