With Christmas only a few days away, it's not too late to "tool up!" No, I don't mean buying yourself and your loved ones a lot of tools. Hopefully, you've already taken care of that task.
Courtesy iStockphoto/Thinkstock Reheat food in the microwave to save energy and time during holiday meal preparation. With the frenetic pace of the winter holidays, urban farmers looking for ways to save time in their preparations may also have an opportunity to save energy when reheating frozen, made-ahead holiday meals. The Electric Power Research Institute recommends […]

Nut trees can be a nutritious and delicious way to improve your diet, an easy source of income, and a valuable farm legacy for your children and grandchildren.
At my urban farm, I have four cats who live in the house. Two of them—Cheddar and Stanley—are real terrors, and truly make life a challenge.
Another item on the long list of things that I like about life here in Rapallo is the fact that there are a whole lot of dogs to play with on the streets.
Courtesy Institute for Human Services Hawaii As part of the urban farming initiative at the Institute for Human Services Hawaii, residents grow vertical gardens, which provide food for the emergency shelter and help lower the building’s cooling costs. The state of Hawaii depends significantly on imported foods, due in large part to the high property […]
Jackpot! A gardening friend sent me an email a few days ago to let me know she had a grow-light system that was currently homeless. Did I want it? Of course I did!
If you have limited needs for an anvil, a foot-long piece of railroad rail might be enough. For those who are intrigued by the idea of having their own working anvil, there are multiple other options …
Where did all of this stuff come from? I'm writing this from our living room futon, hemmed in by a somewhat intimidating mini-Grand Canyon of furniture and stacked boxes.
Courtesy iStockphoto/Thinkstock The Center for Climate Change Law created a model green-building ordinance as a resource that can be implemented by small cities. When it comes to green-building ordinances, size matters. Big cities have bigger budgets, which means there’s more cash to spend on researching and writing ordinances that promote and regulate green building. Faced […]
Courtesy Audrey Pavia Maddie the Cochin hen will soon be spending all her time indoors. When you keep livestock in the city, word gets around the office. I’m known throughout my department as someone who keeps chickens, and I’m occasionally posed with a question or two about chickens and their daily lives. But the other […]