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A viewing suggestion from the media arm of Root Simple
I really enjoy learning about technologies that are basic enough that I feel like I can understand them–and maybe even replicate them. The technology of Tudor-era in England is by no means primitive,...
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The tale of the tub scrubber
I’ve used the purple bath puff on the left in the photo above to scrub my bathroom sink and tub for eight years. Eight years! It’s a little shocking now that I count back. (Puff n’ me, we’ve done a...
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My Brand New Homebrew Soda Carbonator
Erik won the good husband award this Valentine’s Day. He surprised me with my very own soda making machine. This is not a SodaStream–it’s better. It’s an industrial strength CO2 tank topped with...
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Quick Relief for Poison Oak
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons I went camping in Poison Oak Central last week, and though I tried to be careful, I got a kiss on the back of the hand from our rakish woodland friend, Toxicodendron...
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Easter Lessons
So, facing an overabundance of eggs, and having hard boiled a dozed out of desperation and having espied a charming post on naturally dyed Easter eggs, I decided to have a go at dyeing eggs on...
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Kintsugi: Creating Art out of Loss
Many thanks to reader Maribeth for turning us on to this subject, and sharing a great video. I liked it so much I had to share it with you all in turn. She sent us this nice short article on...
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The canning lid conundrum
How do you guys store your used canning lids and rings? We keep a lot of them around because we use canning jars for so many things other than canning: dry goods, leftovers, food-to-go, body care,...
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Tippy Tap, Beta Version
A tippy tap is a water-saving handwashing device developed for use in areas where there is no running water, usually fabricated out of simple found materials. Erik and I both love appropriate tech,...
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Toilet paper in the woods: a rant and some advice
What’s wrong with this picture? Ladies. Sisters. I have a rant for you. It’s an appeal to women, because this is pretty much a woman-centered problem. It’s about leaving toilet paper behind after...
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Quick Tip: DIY Decaf Tea
EDITED 8/6/2014 It appears we have been taken in by a popular Internet myth. A reader comment (Thanks, Laura!) brought alerted me to an excellent post on tea myths and includes findings from...
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011 Cleaning, Long Crowing Roosters and Water Storage
Kosova long crowing rooster chick. Image: Wikimedia. In the eleventh episode of the Root Simple Podcast, Kelly and I discuss our new house cleaning routine, long crowing roosters and we answer a reader...
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Shoemaking workshop in Los Angeles, Oct. 16-19
The kid’s shoe is made of salmon skin. If you’re a loon like I am, and want to make your own shoes, I have great news for you. This October, my friend Randy Fritz is coming down from Santa Barbara to...
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How to do fewer dishes and save water
Erik’s outdoor office and his special glass. This is just a little thing which we’ve started doing recently, but I really like it. Erik and I now have assigned water glasses and coffee mugs to use...
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DIY Sage Deodorant
I like Weleda because they are one of the few cosmetic companies that makes products simple enough for my tastes. Their website is also well done in that they break down and explain every component in...
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I made shoes!
As regular Root Simple readers know, I’ve been obsessing on making shoes for some time now, but was not able to wrap my mind around the process without help. Help arrived this weekend in the form of...
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023 Cleaning, Spam Poetry and Shoemaking
In episode 23 of the Root Simple Podcast, Kelly and Erik give an update on their housecleaning habits, read some spam poetry and discuss Randy Fritz’s shoemaking workshop. Some links we mention: Wired...
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024 Water, Wilding our Gardens and Sewing
Kelly and I return this week to discuss a recent talk I gave to a bunch of Master Gardeners about water harvesting and encouraging wildness in our gardens. On the second part of the podcast Kelly...
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Diyas: oil lamps from India
[Oops! We accidentally posted Thursday’s post today–Wednesday. Please don’t miss our regular scheduled Wednesday podcast, below.] As readers of this blog and our books know, I’m a big fan of little...
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025 Bees and Home Ec Disasters
Of the 25 podcasts we’ve produced, this may have been the most difficult to put together. I don’t think most people know how contentious beekeeping practices are. There’s a sharp divide between...
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Return of the Caftan?
A hasty blog post on Sunday about a 1970s caftan pattern provoked a passionate response. Craig of Winnetka Farms called and joked that since we’ve already hosted a shoe making workshop we might as...
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