Category Archive

The Great Offbeat Outdoors

The “outdoors” might be a 24’x36′ garden or a clutch of terracotta pots in a window box, but these posts cover all things gardening, landscaping and even farming. This category also includes stuff about the outside of your house — doors & roofs! — as well as vehicles like cars & RVs.

What you need to know about safe urban biking — and general effective bike use

Many people (including me) are initially intimidated by biking through city traffic. Urban biking can be safe when done right. I can help you make your bike commute safer, smoother, and faster. Let’s ride!

Guerrilla art: neighborhood beautification without the blech

Have you thought about yarn bombing your neighborhood playground? Is there a building on your street that needs aesthetic help? Use this street art inspiration to plan a happening.

Painting trees: asking for trouble or making a front yard awesome?

In front of my house, there is a very nice elm tree. I’ve been wanting to paint it. Is this resale suicide? Pure tackiness? Tree murder?!

Make it easy to use bike-centered transportation

Bicycling brought me together with my sweetie, Timo, and we were car-free when we got together. Here’s how we make it easy to depend on our bikes.

Gardening at night: make the most of your time with a nocturnal workplan

I don’t have a ton of time to garden. At least in the daylight hours. If it’s light outside and I’ve finished all my indoors/schedule-dependent tasks, other stuff comes first: mowing the lawn. Cleaning out the garage. Important repairs.

And then I saw Susie Bauer’s post, in which she shares her own revelation: NIGHT GARDENING.

Care for your lawn organically and on the cheap

When my husband and I started talking about buying a house, I had a major hangup: lawn care. Yes, I am that much of a hippie that I didn’t want to buy a house because it had a lawn.

I spend my summers tenting: come tour my campground in a sanctuary

When Spring rolls around some folks clean; I organize camping gear. I have a seasonal camp I can visit whenever I’d like; come visit!

8 ways gardening is harder than pregnancy

It came to me after we found a power tiller in our shed, declared it not functional after more blood shed than I care to admit, and found myself tilling the garden with an ax: Gardening is a lot like pregnancy. But harder.