Yes, you should earthquake-proof your home. Here’s how to do it.

Simple steps to take now that will help keep your home — and you — safe in an earthquake.

* This article was originally published here

Raccoons in the kitchen, bugs in the walls: Welcome to log cabin life

Rustic log cabins are part of the American psyche. I moved my family into one.

* This article was originally published here

Burford garden centre: how did it become the UK’s hottest celebrity haunt?

It sells £70 trowels and £3,000 trees – and with A-listers suddenly flocking to the Cotswolds, some of the most famous people on earth have been seen there

Name: Burford Garden Company.

Age: 49.

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* This article was originally published here

Watch fire researchers burn down homes to show how to save them

How to protect your home from wildfires? It comes down to three simple, affordable things.

* This article was originally published here

Allotments are a safe space in times of crisis | Letter

Dr Hannah Connelly on why the government needs to recognise the value of having more allotments in cities

As a former allotment holder in Glasgow, I read Robin Tyne’s article with empathy (‘I joined every list’: the gruelling search for a Glasgow allotment, 2 September). I too joined every waiting list in Glasgow before I became a plotholder. There are not enough allotments in Glasgow and indeed across the UK. While the company Roots and other private allotments have a place, they can never be a replacement for local authority ones. Under the 2015 Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act, Scottish local authorities have a duty to provide allotments. We need to find more space in our cities for them – spaces that have been proven to improve mental and physical health, at an affordable price.

In 1932, the Scottish allotment scheme for the unemployed was created. Plots were provided, as well as grants for seeds and tools. The scheme was not just to provide a place for growing food but also seen as preventing a mental health crisis, even though that would not have been said at the time. Plots were found on existing allotment sites, but the scheme also worked with local authorities to create new sites.

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* This article was originally published here

‘It’s a secret garden’: National Theatre turns roof into a riot of colour with dye plants

Textile artists are reshaping how the theatre makes its costumes with the aim of replacing harsh synthetic dyes

Squint at the roof of the grey, brutalist National Theatre on London’s South Bank and you might be able to spy a riot of colour spilling from the concrete.

This is the theatre’s new natural dye garden, from which flowers are being picked to create the colours for the costumes worn in the theatre’s plays.

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* This article was originally published here

* This article was originally published here

‘It’s a secret garden’: National Theatre turns roof into a riot of colour with dye plants

Textile artists are reshaping how the theatre makes its costumes with the aim of replacing harsh synthetic dyes

Squint at the roof of the grey, brutalist National Theatre on London’s South Bank and you might be able to spy a riot of colour spilling from the concrete.

This is the theatre’s new natural dye garden, from which flowers are being picked to create the colours for the costumes worn in the theatre’s plays.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here