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Your Rosemary Died Because You Treated It Like Basil

Four kitchen herbs, two completely different gardens. Split them up and you'll stop buying the plastic clamshell at the grocery store.

StoryHistoryDean ShawOct 3, 20266 min

Wash Day, the Iceman and the Lamp Chimney Nobody Misses

Three machines took apart the American week your great-grandmother lived. The real story of how they got into the kitchen is better than the myth.

Ask BRO

Plan a cook for eight people

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GuideSkillsCal BrennanOct 3, 20267 min

Four emergencies, and the instinct that makes each one worse

Bleeding, burns, choking and sprains each come with one obvious move that's wrong. Learn the right one now, while nobody's hurt.

Coconut.com — Tell us when. We find where the sun is.

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Garden & Yard7 min read

Skip the Bucket and Grow Your Potatoes in a Bag

Bed, bag or bucket? One clearly wins, one is a trap, and the timing matters more than the container. What it costs and what goes wrong.

Poll

How many days a week are you actually training?

StoryHistoryDean ShawOct 3, 20266 min

The Can Came Almost Fifty Years Before the Can Opener

The zipper, the lawnmower and the can opener all took two men: one with the idea and a second, stubborn one who made it actually work.

GuideCountry BroDean ShawOct 3, 20267 min

Set up the block so your worst swing hits wood, not your shin

Most splitting injuries are decided before the maul leaves the ground. Get the block, the stance and the wedge right, and a bad swing costs you nothing.

GermProof.com — An invisible germ barrier on your skin for hours

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GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Peppers Want Warm Feet, So Plant Them Later Than You Think

Most pepper plants fail before they're two weeks in the ground. The fix costs about ten dollars and a little patience.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next two weeks.

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20266 min

The Flour Sack Dress and the Neighbors Who Fed Each Other

Our grandparents didn't get through the 1930s on grit alone. They had a system: the garden, the sewing box and the family next door.

GuideCan You Fix ItWes DunbarOct 3, 20267 min

Hang a Pre-Hung Door So It Doesn't Drift Open at 2 a.m.

Most bad door installs get decided before the first nail. Diagnose the opening, set the hinge side first, and the latch takes care of itself.

Ask BRO

Build me a 30-day training plan around two sessions a week

Ask it

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20267 min

Plant Paste Tomatoes If You Actually Want Sauce

Most homemade sauce fails in March, when you buy the wrong seeds. Pick the right variety and the timing, and one August afternoon fills your freezer.

PartnerWhackAWoke.com

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20266 min

Proving up took five years and two neighbors willing to swear

The Homestead Act's paperwork was easy. Staying alive on the claim was the hard part, and at the end your neighbors had to vouch for you.

Poll

When did you last ask for a raise?

GuideCan You Fix ItWes DunbarOct 3, 20267 min

Sweating a Copper Joint Is Mostly About Getting the Water Out

The torch is the easy part. A dry pipe and clean metal decide whether the joint holds, and most first-timers skip both.

GuideGarden & YardWes DunbarOct 5, 20266 min

Plant by Your Frost Date, Not Your Zone

Your zone tells you what survives winter. Your frost date tells you when to plant. Most first-year gardeners mix them up and lose a flat of tomatoes.

Dude.com — 16 AI advisers who listen, talk and are here with you

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StoryHistoryDean ShawOct 3, 20266 min

From the Plow to the Combine, One Broken Bottleneck at a Time

For most of history a farm was only as big as one family could harvest. How a blacksmith, a Virginian, and a few stubborn tinkerers changed that.

Quiz

Is your money actually in order?

Six questions. No email required, no sales pitch at the end.

Tools & Organizing7 min

The Ten Minutes Before You Start a Chainsaw After a Storm

Garden & Yard6 min

Your Soil Needs a Test and Compost, Not Another Bag of Fertilizer

Ask BRO

Rewrite my CV so it actually gets read

Ask it

StoryHistoryMarcus ValeOct 3, 20267 min

Baseball's Birth Story Was Made Up, and the Real One Is Better

A commission handed America a tidy origin myth in 1907. The true history has clerks, prisoners, a paid shortstop and a man who refused to swing back.

Delicious.com — Nine thousand recipes and a plan for tonight

PartnerDelicious.com

Cars7 min read

The spark plug job is easy until the last quarter turn

Gapping, torque and the hand-start habit that keep a simple plug change from ending with a stripped aluminum head and a tow truck.

Poll

What was your first ever job?

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