A patch of lawn for people, dogs and cats who just want a little grass

Click here to order Pooch Patch

Indoor Pooch Patch shown here with Cookie and a flat of pennyroyal

Made in the USA of corrosion-resistant brushed stainless steel

Outdoor Pooch Patch

 As a decorative element inside or out

A flat of grass from your local nursery can be dropped in directly. 

Shown with Korean grass

Owls eat rodents - that's the ticket

The neighborhood cat, Jazz, and our dog Cookie, are both severely lacking in their ability to eradicate these pests so I've got to try something else. I took the compost bin apart and found no rats in it, but now Cookie digs in the pile and makes a mess. New plan: I found hungryowl.org and they have nesting boxes and nesting box plans for those that don't live in the bay area. I found their information very interesting and helpful. According to the Hungry Owl Project, if the male owl finds the nesting box in the winter he will coax his female to join him and make a nest in the box. A single barn owl can consume 3,000 rodents in a 4-month breeding cycle. Wow, I don't think I have that many rats, but I do have gophers and moles and voles I think and I'm sure my neighbors have plenty as well. In the meantime I am going to have to get some traps TODAY since this plan won't materialize until next winter and I can't have these rats destroying anything else.

I won't use D-con, although I have in the past; it's awful to watch these animals suffer and then there is the huge problem of these weakened animals easily getting captured and eaten by all of the local wildlife, including owls, who then are poisoned as well. Hopefully I can find a good trap.

Urban Homesteading workshop and store

Two great resources if you live in Altadena/Pasadena area:
Urban Homestead at 631 Cypress Ave., Pasadena with a farmstand, workshops and more. I just bought some organic pumpkin and cucumber seeds there this morning. http://urbanhomestead.org/


And a workshop tomorrow from 10am to noon at the Altadena Library, 600 E. Mariposa http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/altadena/web/nl_22.html

Mad as heck and I'm not gonna take it

I just deconstructed my compost bin because I've had enough. Found evidence of a rat in the house the other day: they had chewed a hole through the screen door, aka a rat door, which I thought I did a good job of blocking up - not. In the middle of the night I heard what I thought was chewing on the other screen door, so I thought there was a rat outside trying to get IN. Cookie started going crazy then trying to get at something under the couch, which led me to believe that there was a rat trying to get OUT. Turned on the light and sure enough, there it was underneath the couch, so I shooed it out with Cookie's help. Then when I got home last night and looked at the fruit bowl, there was a big chunk of avocado that had obviously been nibbled out. So enough with the cute way Cookie likes to watch the compost pile to see if a rat will come out. But I'm not giving up - I took apart the plastic compost bin so that they cannot hide out in there while they eat their dinner. Hopefully if the compost pile is open, the neighborhood cats, Jazz et al., will come and have those rats for a tasty treat. Eventually I will need to get a rat-proof compost bin, so if you know of any good solutions for me, please let me know. And I have to get the screen door repaired - not fun.

Great overview of simple but effective steps to reduce your carbon diet

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/reduce-your-carbon-footprint/four-places-to-cut-your-carbon/

Harvest getting more bountiful!

Lemon cucumbers,  etc. Worm tea and compost paying off! 

OMG - check out L.A. Design Festival

I'm on this self-guided tour right now. Stopped at L.A. Louver art gallery in Venice and Living Home in Santa Monica - wow -  1st home in U.S. to be certified LEED Platinum. Beautiful- what an amazing use of space - I could live here. ladesignfestival.org 

Organic Father's day omelette

Locally grown (front yard) zucchini, green beans, coriander and Swiss chard
Happy Father's Day!

Have to remember to turn off old fashioned sprinklers to save any water

Okay, I got the water bill and it was $80 which is much more than what it has been. Time to get an irrigation overhaul. Our sprinkler system has gone out and the hand watering and old fashioned sprinklers aren't working to reduce water usage especially when I'm multi-tasking and forget to turn them off after 10 minutes.  Any suggestions for a local company or person that does irrigation systems? 

Voila!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone

First zucchini!

This lovely little thing has inspired me to make a frittata for breakfast

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone

Not so fast

I thought I had killed my earthworms, and they were doing so well! I've been getting worm tea (a nasty name for the liquid gold that comes from the worms eating all those cantaloupe rinds into paper thin layers) several times a week to add to our organic vegetable garden. Getting worm tea sounds like milking a cow but that's not how it works. Anyways, I had added a bunch of food for these worms of mine and they didn't seem to be eating it. So I dug through trying to find them and couldn't really see many. I added some shredded paper and misted it and within a week they were back in business!  You should see my tomato plant now. It looks like I gave it steroids. Capresse salad anyone?