To All the Dervaes

I just happened to come to your website and I'm so impressed with your great accomplishment. Your way/philosophy is a true one that can liberate people to become independent. There are so many of us that do not know how to escape from the imprisonment of the society. You are here to show people the how's.

Thank you so much for doing this to yourselves. And best of all, you have shared your way with others, like me. I hope that I can do just a fraction of what you are doing. Please keep up your fantastic work to the human beings, us.

Best regards,

~Chau_ya~

I just wanted to drop a line and say how great it was to meet you guys at Sol Fest. I just checked out your website -- very impressive! In fact, the whole of your path is extraordinary and very inspirational.

One particularly amazing thing is your motivation to very actively get the word out about what you are doing when you're not getting paid for doing so.

I was told in a class I took that there are a few basic types of passionate people that work to change the world; those that live by example, the educators, the activists... honestly I can't really remember exactly, but I believe that you are all of the above!

~ Amber ~

... you have been a vital part of our inspiration, and even though I have thanked you before, I wanted to thank you again.

What you are doing is very, very important. You are creating a ripple effect. Your actions have helped to create my actions, and my actions are creating positive actions in others. Not only have some of my neighbors become interested and (somewhat) involved in our project, I helped convince a co-worker and his sister to take a permaculture workshop. We didn't even know what permaculture was until I met you met you and saw what you were doing!

Thanks again. Press on!

~ Guy ~

I applaud your hard work! Excellent site on the internet. I'm amazed by record keeping to the last detail.

~ Jan ~

You guys are my heroes!

~ Ron ~

Your project has had a huge impact on me! My family did essentially the same thing that you are doing back in the seventies on a half acre in the city. I'm a generation X'r that grew up on goat's milk and free range chickens. My mom even had a goat boarding business right in the city!

Your webpage has inspired me to leave corporate america and get back to my roots. It is amazing what 6 months of not being a wage slave can do for your spirit! I've taken the plunge and I'm now working on converting my own little half acre in the city into a semi-self sufficient homestead. I'm not going to "run for the hills" if peak oil hits.

There is too much of the Y2K mentality associated with peak oil. When people talk about preparing, they talk about hording and competing for the remaining resources. That's the zero sum mentality that is causing the problem in first place! We need to focus on sharing and Nash equillibrium type solutions to our problems that create win win propositions. (No this is not naive!)

I'm going to stay where am at and share what little knowledge and resources I have. Sharing gives you synergy, strength and builds kinship with the people that you are doing the sharing with! I want to set an example too! :)

Wish me luck..I have a such a long way to go and so much to learn about "living my beliefs". Thanks to your entire family for having the integrity to live yours.

~ Herb~

Yours is one of the best websites I've seen dealing with an authentic method of revolution. You do not drown your message in reactionary banter and debate, but clearly present your position in how you live.

The power to be free is truly within each of us, and not something that belongs to the so-called elite groups. Fortunately, people like Thoreau, Gandhi, MLK and countless others saw things from outside the box and showed who really gives the power to whom. Billions of dollars and social status are worth nothing if people do not want it.

Finding your website was like finding a lost coin or sheep. After reading Gandhi's words and life, which led me to a renewed insight into the message of the Sermon on the Mount, I have been researching for viable, sustainable methods of revolution. I've recently joined the Jubilee USA movement for the cancellation of unjust, oppressive debts in third world countries, but have had doubts about street protests or appealing to politicians and decision makers.

So I looked deeper into MLKs speeches and the lives of the main players in the Civil Rights movement. I've read about Dorothy Day and Fannie Lou Hamer; St. Francis of Assissi, Vandana Shiva and Ruskin; I talked to people and researched the global justice movement. Then I found the simplicity of Tolstoy's religious writings, which left no doubt in my mind that the poor have had it right all along -- their way of life represented a balanced community approach to work and living that was perfected and handed down through countless generations. (Until, of course, someone else came along and turned profit-making and resource plunder into an economic goal, and invalidated the culture and traditional wisdom that preserved natural wealth.)

I was researching about various forms of "subsistence living" (almost a derogatory economic term at this time) when I came across your website. I was starting to feel resourceful enough to start planting veggies and owning chickens in my suburban yard. All remaining doubts evaporated when I saw your ongoing "experiment with truth."

I hope to have as much success and learning experience in my planned Seattle area homestead, together with my wife and two young daughters. While I shall continue experimenting with traditional forms of activism, I hope to incorporate this "spinning wheel (khadi) movement" in my life and help propagate its meaning in this media- obsessed society. Hope to see you in the path.

~ E Sioson ~

You guys rule! You have created a whole new urban reality for people to follow. I intend to do in the UK what you have done in the US.

Namaste,

~ Al~

Your website has been a constant source of inspiration that I read daily. It is the most interesting and exciting thing since I discovered Mother Earth News and the Nearings... Your website gives me the inspiration to go bigger and better (and cheaper). I cant tell you how you have helped me. Thanks so much..... and be proud of yourself......you guys are WONDERFUL!

~Tia ~

I stumbled upon your website as I was looking around and all I can say is WOW!! What a blessing it was to find it! I have sat here now for a few hours, just looking and reading the many wonderful things you have shared here. I am definitely book marking this site and will be a regular viewer!

Thanks again and keep up the wonderful work! Our planet thanks you and so do grateful visitors like myself.

~ Shirley ~

Mr. Jules Dervaes and Your team,

After years of searching, Eureka, finally I found your unbelievable great site, I have been, at a much smaller scale practising your philosophy.

A committee should be elaborated to propose You as a holy men or even become a saint, for the great way of living, you have been working on, and putting all your energy. Such as living a simplier life and still enjoying life without all the unnecessary material gadgets.

~Philippe~

Mr. Dervaes

I came across your website today in a search on sustainable living -- what an inspiration.

We are taking baby steps toward a goal of living a more sustainable, purposeful life here in Sudbury, MA, where beautiful conservation areas share boundry lines with extensive McMansion developments. We are beginning to plan our square foot garden for next season to maximize our harvest given the very short New England growing season, and I'm sure that your site will provide a lot of great information.

I just wanted to thank you for helping us to define our (Sub)Urban Homestead -- and here we thought we were just a couple of odd ducks! Thanks again, I will visit often!

~ Deborah ~

I'm grateful for this website. I come here everyday and read more and more stuff, I just love it! I love reading the journal, it feels so special to be able to share in someone elses daily life and such a priviledge. Thank you.

I also love to look through all these messages, it makes me feel "normal", I only wish I had a real life support network like this one. I love to read the articles as well. So basically THANK YOU each and everyone of you. My dream is that one day people of our mindset will be the majority and it will be easy to find like minded souls out there.

~ Cheers Lenny ~

Great site! Very organized, great pictures, lots of information and links....I really like the daily diary, it's like having a friend in California :-) You make this kind of life look obtainable. Truly Motivational!

Thanks

~ Alikat ~

Excellent website. I have just found it and I am like a kid with a new toy. Very informative and inspirational, keep it up.

~ Andrew ~

Hi, Dervaes family!

I read the Natural Home & Garden article on your place, then visited your website. You are extremely inspirational! I've always been interested in sustainable living, but never had the guts to really go for it, given that purchasing 20 acres wasn't in the budget and keeping a milk cow isn't something I'm ready to do right now. I love the fact that you're doing it on an urban lot, which shatters so many assumptions.

.... I can't say enough how thrilled I am to have found out about you and how excited I am to see if I can get 6,000 pounds of produce out of just one of our three acres here in Montana. My oldest son (almost 8) and I had a great math lesson this morning calculating just how much food we could grow on an acre given your rates.

Congratulations on all of your achievements! I'll be checking in to your website often!

~ Cherilyn ~

THIS is what we've been dreaming about! I'm so glad I found you. I hope you're new site comes along rapidly b/c there is so much I can learn from you. KUDOS to you for the hard work and dedication and for being a HUGE INSPIRATION!

~Asta~

Dervaes family,

Thank you again for sharing your family lifestyle and your vast knowledge about living the simpler and self-sufficient life. You are such an inspiration to so many.

~ Eilenn & Eitan ~

I wanted to share some thoughts I had this morning. I visit your site almost everyday, looking for inspiration and ideas to further my own path. A consequence to that is that I think and pray for you often.

This morning I was musing on the book Atlas Shrugged (don't know if you've read it but its a favorite of mine). The movers in the story eventually leave civilization and create their own community high in the mountains. These movers are the ones with knowledge, determination and self assurance to make things work. I think of you guys that way. That you are movers of earth and information and self assurance. My ultimate thought is that you have found the balance that Dagny Taggart and her friends could not find in the story. They felt they had to leave and make their own place. You all have made your own place right where you are! I so respect and admire that you have taken what can be, in the future, a desperate situation and given yourselves the oppotunity to succeed. The balance is that you are striving to be independant of the world but still be in it and affect an influence. I don't think it will do much good for those who have the "guts" to work out their substance to disappear and leave those behind who don't know. In each of our corners, I hope we all can make a change, one step at a time.

Thanks

~ Mimi ~

Hi guys,

Congratulations on the amazing progress you've made along the Path so far - you're an inspiration!

... you've got one of the most attractive(and USEFUL) sites I've been to in ages. Keep up the good work, it is a constant boost (particularly on days when the pigeons get in under the netting and take my pea seedlings, or I have to go to work on a beautiful day) that there are people out there like you who are making it work. With every article, how-to, and update you are spreading the courage to try as well.

~ Stephen ~

How awesome it is to know that it’s possible to live a more free and healthy life. Your work is an inspiration! Turning my home into an independent homestead is something that I’ve dreamed about, but I never knew where to find good information and more importantly, where to see a living example. I will visit your website often. Thank you for the work you do and for sharing your experiences.

~ Kat ~

I just thought I should tell you, you have changed our lives. I bought eight chickens on a whim at fleet farm, had to find out how to build a chicken coup, found your web site and we have since sold our home, moved North to the country and have been striving for as sustainable living as possible. Every year just keeps getting better and better. Thank you.

~Julie~

...my partner just forwarded this link to me and i'm in total AWE!!! i haven't had enough time yet to peruse all of it but, i will! i'm so excited. your site has inspired me to take the final step in attaining something similar up here north of the border. so good luck, keep up the excellent effort and i look very forward to enjoying all of your tribulations and discoveries.

~ John ~

Howdy Dervaes family, I've been absolutely drinking in your site since discovering it just two days ago. Thank you so awfully much for sharing your journey and your lives.

My wife and I live in Palm Springs and, like you, thought we'd start our own journey off the grid "in a couple years" once we move out of the desert. But you've offered such a wonderful wealth of both knowledge and inspiration (and a gentle metaphoric kick in the pants) that today I took a few of my own first steps away from consumption and toward sustainability.

I have no idea how to really plan and coordinate such a grand scheme, but your experience has shown me that it's really just a matter of doing one thing at a time. Every day taking another step. That's it! (Oh, and enjoying the walk while I'm at it) I love your approach and am so grateful for the inspiration.

Thank you!

~ Michelle ~

I was absolutely thrilled to find your website! It's great to know that there are more people out there that share this view on life. Kudos to all of you! You are doing the exact same thing I have been trying to implement in my family's life. I just wanted to say THANK YOU because the thought of vertical growing never entered my mind. Brilliant concept! Now we are having lots of fun trying to figure out what can go where and when. Anyways, I know you are all very busy so thats all I wanted to say. Blessed be and again thanks for the wonderful ingenious thought- you made my year!

~ Judy ~

... I also really admire the fact that even though your family has a lot to educate the public about, you don't rant. It's so common in this country where so many things are going wrong and so many of us are frustrated with the state of our present and future. Thanks for showing us another path.

~ Cherilyn ~

My husband and I just wanted to let you know that you've inspired us. We had been looking at moving to the country to be able to farm and have animals. Through reading your site and a lot of soul searching, we've decided to stay in our current house in town and do what we can with OUR quarter acre homestead! We are an easy bike ride from a grocery store (with an awesome organic foods section), our kids school, and several parks. We will be expanding our garden to include about half our yard this fall and we have just added a pet rabbit to the family. When our roof needs replacing in the next 3 or so years, we will be putting up a metal roof for rainwater catchment and installing solar panels. There are a hundred other projects we have planned now (I know you understand) that will one day add up to our own version of freedom.

You have proven that you don't have to have a lot of land to be self sufficient. As we started looking at our place from that perspective, we realized there was very little we couldn't do. Thank you for opening our eyes to the real potential of our city lot and giving us hope that what we dream of can be accomplished. Consider there to be a few more on the path out here.

~ Amber ~

Hello! I want to thank you for opening your home to strangers and neighbors alike by having your now famous "100 Mile Potluck" and movie screenings. My husband and I attended for the first time last Sunday and enjoyed ourselves beyond our expectations: we made new friends, learned about the dangers of PVC and cool, new toilet/sink inventions, and of course, ate good food! We were particularly struck, however, by how approachable and kind your family seems to be - you all obviously have a real passion for what you do, without a holier-than-thou air, and that's both inspiring and humbling. As of this week, we are selling our gas-run vehicles and converting an old diesel to run on reclaimed vegetable oil!

Thank you again, for opening your home and heart to us.

~ Mitch ~