PEDDLER'S WAGON
PATH TO FREEDOM
FREEDOM GARDENS
"LITTLE HOMESTEAD"
DERVAES GARDENS
URBAN HOMESTEADING
Entries (RSS)
August 28, 2008
One pregnant Manti momma.
Another round of ‘maters
Lovely basil
Loads of ladybugs
Summer squash
Salad greens grow in the shade
Tromboncino squash hangs from a trellis
As we are nearing the end of summer, we are reflecting on what a summer it has been! Although we, being farmers, didn’t have the luxury to go on any vacations, it was a very meaningful and humbling summer.
I think not getting what you want all the time (or doing without) makes you a stronger person. Think of our pioneer counterparts who, but a hundred years ago, didn’t have the luxury of tramping to non local (within a day’s drive) destinations for fun and pleasure. One might even opt out of the “green trendy” culture, which, sadly, is masking the same treadmill in a green guise. True sustainability, pleasure, freedom and worth is found in the place one calls home. If we are always looking for a better place to be, then one never makes where you are a better place.
The weather continues to play havoc - we are back to cool, overcast mornings. Very unusual for this time of year. I don’t think in July and August we even went about 100 degrees. I know, August isn’t truly over just yet.
We are closely watching our last plantings of summer crops, hoping they will produce something before the even cooler weather descends.
The most disappointing crops this year were cucumbers and tomatoes - the others (eggplant, peppers, beans, etc.) didn’t seem as affected with our wacky summerless summer. If we had known now how the summer planting season would have turned out, we would have not sold so many tomatoes at the beginning of the season, opting instead to preserve them for fall and winter use. Why? Well, if we don’t get a second flush soon we are going to run out of preserved ‘maters really fast.
Free Your Mind
Someone called inquiring about FreedomGardens.org (now over 900 and growing strong!) and what was the purpose for this site since/if “people can’t grow a garden and produce as much as you - who have kids, jobs, etc.”
I was a little taken aback by this statement. FreedomGardens.org is growing beyond our Victory Garden counterparts, fueled by rising food prices and an uncertain climate. A homegrown revolution has taken root on balconies, backyard, front yards and community plots across the nation. Freedom Gardens is a 21st century gardening movement for the modern age, and the main mission is not to say one has to grow 6,000 lbs (be like us) but to grow outside the box. I answered, “That’s the problem, you’re already saying that it’s not possible when, in fact, that’s the exactly the kind of statement we muttered to ourselves years back.” I went on to say, “That sort of mentality/statement defeats. Look at where our family is now - there are always possibilities, there’s always hope” — and the fellow Freedom Gardeners are proof of that.
More preservation and planting efforts underway today.
Anxious
On the three year anniversary of Katrina, with news of hearing this month that our great Aunt finally was able to move back into her home, another deadly storm could head towards New Orleans. So our thoughts are wandering to everybody there.
Tune In
Jules Dervaes will be a guest on Buisness Matters Radio Talk show airing tomorrow on (Chicago) WLUW 88.7 FM at 10am CT, on Thursday September 4th at noon CT on WBIG 1280 AM, and podcast businessmatters.net which will be up tomorrow.
(2 votes)
Loading ...
Filed under: Homestead Life, In the Garden, Posts by Anais |
Tags: in the garden, summer, Weather
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!
August 28, 2008
I was aiming at a pleasant, natural way of farming which results in making the work easier instead of harder. “How about not doing this?” “How about not doing that?” — that was my way of thinking.
I ultimately reached the conclusion that there was no need to plow, no need to apply fertilizer, no need to make compost, no need to use insecticide. When you get right down to it, there are few agricultural practices that are necessary.
The reason that man’s improved techniques seem necessary is that the natural balance has been so badly upset beforehand by those same techniques that the land has become dependent on them.
– Masanobu Fukuoka
Passing of a Pioneer
Though there are literally thousands of books that have been written on sustainability and agriculture, here at the urban homestead we’ve opted to have only a few and the best at that. On our bookshelf contains only a few (handful) basic books that we’ve needed for growing food -many of the titles sitting on our shelves were written decades ago. These “heavy weight” classics are still relevant today despite the overwhelming surge of “light” green and sustainable books.
Farmer D having read Masanobu Fukuoka book, One Straw Revolution, back in the 80’s encouraged us as teenagers to also read it. I found it fascinating that the modern mentality of farming (gardening) being hard and laborious work was in fact such a fatal misconception. The book’s philosophy showed that natural farming was very simple - working with nature not against.
Masanobu Fukuoka, 1913-2008
Long live ‘do-nothing farming’….Many conventional scientists (such as the one now shaping our nation’s foreign policy with regard to ag development) exude arrogance about humanity’s ability to control “nature”; Fukuoka preached humility
……In our time, small-scale farmers operate under brutal economic pressure — and the resources needed to develop a truly sustainable agriculture too often lie beyond their grasp. So we slog on, doing our best, often falling short.
Fukuoka’s vision offers a beacon, a goal, an ideal to strive for. Making predictions is arrogant, but I’ll venture one anyway: As long as humans are still scratching their sustenance out of the earth, Fukuoka’s work will remain an inspiration.
Read full article
(4 votes)
Loading ...
Filed under: Posts by Anais, Urban Farming |
Tags: Masanobu Fukuoka, natural farming, nature, one straw revolution
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!
August 28, 2008
Currently the term homesteading applies to anyone who is a part of the back-to-the-land movement and who chooses to live a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading remains as a way of life. A new movement, called “urban homesteading,” can be viewed as a simple living lifestyle, incorporating small-scale agriculture, sustainable and permaculture gardening, and home food production and storage into suburban or city living. - Answers.com
What our definition of urban homesteading would be is a sustainable movement of 21st century eco-pioneers who are striving to create a better world for themselves and others. In the vast metropolitan wilderness of modern cities, eco-pioneers are ones who are taking steps backwards to learn skills and gain valuable knowledge of growing their own food, raising farm animals, implementing appropriate and alternative technologies and transportation, and building a more homegrown community.
A family, a journey and revolution
Since 2001 Path to Freedom has been a leading proponent of the modern urban homesteading movement. Just in the last year, thanks to rising gas and food prices, we’ve seen an up swell in city folks turning towards urban homesteading as a social, environmental and political statement.
Though we have yet to write a book, as one person so rightly put it, “Your book is your website - you put your life online (in writings and photos) for the whole world to see.”
Having urban homesteaded for over 20 years (and before that, 15 years of rural homesteading) and now that urban homesteading has an official definition online, we’ve come to realize that even though now this movement may be “official” and even “trendy,” there’s something deeper to the urban homesteading lifestyle and meaning.
And I think this spirit is what resonates with our journal title ‘Little Homestead in the City.’ It’s about living a principled and purposeful life. Sharing that life with family and friends and making a difference and having positive impact where you are.
So call it what you like, urban homesteading, urban sustainability, self-sufficiency, there is a deeper meaning that lies behind and beyond such physical actions.
The spirit of the Ingalls family lingers in each one of us - to create home and to provide for family and to be good stewards is our only hope for survival.
:: Field Hand Appreciation ::
FG $25 AC $25 for the generous donation. If all goes well, there are a new, improved PTF website and journal in the works. Not to mention improvements to FreedomGardens.org and another urban homesteading and backyard farm animal social network site. Stay tuned!
(2 votes)
Loading ...
Filed under: Homestead Life, Posts by Anais |
Tags: Urban Homestead, urban homesteading
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!
August 27, 2008
In the garden
We are back to normal - weather wise that is. Hopefully with the slightly warmer temps we’ll be able to wrangle out another summer harvest.
As fall nears, preservation efforts continue here on the urban homestead. I can safely say this has been the best canning year’s yet - the pantry’s packed (Ma Ingalls and Laura Ingalls would be proud)! This week we are trying a new fig preservation recipe - sweet fig pickles! After all, with all these figs, one starts looking for different ways to preserve them and this one sounds yummy. Also we are putting up enough fig preserves to enjoy fig jam grilled cheese and arugula sandwiches come fall and winter - delicious!
Another round of preservation today - freezing eggplant, canning peppers and more figs!
How have you come up with different ways, recipes to preserve your harvest this year?
Home economy
We’ve been getting a lot of call for produce and eggs. Unfortunately with the recent publicity of our main source of income,DerVaes Gardens, demand exceeds supply - feeding us first, clients second and whatever’s leftover goes to individuals (oh and don’t forget the animals!) So, actually the publicity doesn’t really help - monetarily that is. In fact it has a slightly opposite effect. Though this reality is slightly frustrating, I guess it could be said that we are “selling an idea-way of life” instead — which in the end is priceless. But we are living in a world where one does have to make a living and more so that we’ve decided to share our journey with the world. Like I said to somebody the other day who really likes what we’ve accomplished and wants us to do even more “if you want me (us, PTF) to be around in 10 or 20 years then we have to find a way this outreach/work can support itself.”
The summer salad crop which was decimated by the harlequin bugs is slowly coming back. In a few weeks, we will be able to go back to supplying and satisfying our clients. So that’s some good news.
In the barnyard
We are dealing with a abnormality amongst our duckies - a broody duck! Yeah, I know, Khaki Campbells really don’t “go broody” - their breed is not known for being good “sitters.” But turns out that we have the odd one out in the flock that’s reverted back. Since these ducks are exceptional layers (over 320 eggs a year) seems that she’s got a broody gene that’s normally been bred out of Khaki Campbells but that’s what happens sometimes with heirloom breeds. She get’s into a dither when you approach the nest and she’s fluffs about. Such a silly girl, and silly sight.
Goings on
We experience some website difficulties over the weekend - our sustainable hosting company needed to move our site onto another server. Now, that the dust has cleared hopefully things are back to normal.
There are some stuff in the works (goings on behind the scenes) here at the urban homestead. Hopefully we’ll have news soon.
In the meantime, it’s all about working, planting, harvesting and striving towards a more sustainable, self reliant life.
Field Hand Appreciation
CM $100 donation. Your support and donation is greatly appreciated.
Have you supported this site lately? If every LHITC reader donated just $1.00 a month we’d be able to pay for our webhosting fees and continue to bring you projects like Freedom Gardens and more. So for just $1 (sofa change) you can help yourself and keep this site growing.
(4 votes)
Loading ...
Filed under: Homestead Life, In the Garden, Posts by Anais, Weather |
Tags: canning, Preservation, summer, summer harvest, Urban Homestead, Weather
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!
August 26, 2008
Watch California Heartland Video (5 mins)
Jules Dervaes and his three adult children all live and work together on their family farm in Pasadena, CA. They call themselves, “eco-pioneers.” They say it’s a homegrown revolution that’s taking place, a way for them to get back to a more natural, organic and better way of life. Their mission? To change the world one urban backyard at a time.
California Heartland’s Jennifer Quinonez visits the Dervaes’ home where at the helm is Jules, a man whose vision wasn’t so clear 23 years ago when he bought the 1917 California bungalow for his family. All he knew was that the cost of keeping of a green, but barely usable front yard, was a waste of money and resources. He began taking action and made a shift in the way he lives in an urban city. By clearing out the grass and planting an edible garden, the change began.
In 1991, Jules discovered a way to profit from his garden. Area teahouses were in need for his edible flowers, and that’s when he realized he could make money out of his hobby. But biggest change in his life happened in 2001. When buying organic food became too expensive and difficult to find, and genetically altered food started hitting the market, Jules took matters into his own hands and began “Path to Freedom.”
At this little urban homestead in the big city, the family produces 6,000 pounds of organic produce a year. It’s amazing that their home is on a 1/5 acre and their garden is only on 1/10 acre! The front yard is 95% edible and the rest of the main planters are in the backyard. Every corner is used to grow food. Jules says he doesn’t need more space; he just needs to be a smarter gardener. He looks to the Japanese and Europeans for guidance, those who for thousands of years have had to grow food in a small space. In his garden, or “micro-farm” as he prefers, you’ll find more than 350 different vegetables, herbs, fruits, and berries.
In addition to planning crops, the family is truly living an eco friendly lifestyle. They are proud that their energy usage is only 6.5 kilowatt hours a day, and continues to decrease. They make their own biodiesel for their one truck and they also have an outdoor shower for summertime use.
This is now a full-time job for Jules and his three children, who sell their produce to area restaurants. They’ve also expanded into education outreach, started an online store to sell garden & eco-friendly materials and are making it their goal to get people to change their attitude about food. They say, “Food is power, the more we grow ourselves, the better.”
Read episode transcript
(7 votes)
Loading ...
Filed under: Mixed Greens (News), Posts by Anais, Urban Farming, Video Logs |
Tags: california heartland, urban farming, Urban Homestead
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!