Name: Erik Knutzen
Recent Articles/Projects for MOTHER EARTH NEWS:Build a Self Watering Container
Occupation: writer
Place of Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Background: Erik is an avid tinkerer, vegetable gardener, beekeeper and backyard poultry wrangler. He is the co-author, with his wife, Kelly Coyne, of The Urban Homestead (Process Media) and Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post Consumer World (Rodale).
Erik lives, with his wife Kelly, in the heart of Los Angeles, in a little bungalow set on a 1/12-acre lot where almost all of their land is devoted to growing edible or otherwise useful plants and trees. Erik has a particular interest in Mediterranean cuisine and grows, almost exclusively, Italian vegetable and herbs.
In addition to gardening Erik has an interest in do-it-yourself greywater and home scale solar projects. Mood and loads permitting, he negotiates LA traffic on a either a cargo bicycle or a road bike.
Personal History: Erik’s mom, a former junior high art teacher, gave him a life-long interest in working with his hands. After finishing grad school, Erik worked as a video editor before buying a house in Los Angeles and going “back to the land” right in the backyard. He was inspired in part, by the book The Integral Urban House, profiled in a 1978 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS.
Current Projects: Learning beekeeping from Kirk Anderson of the Backwards Beekeepers. Pefecting bread making skills.
Other Fun Facts: Erik is a fanatical barefoot runner.
More Places to Find Me on the Web:www.rootsimple.com; Twitter: @rootsimple
