PATH TO FREEDOM
PEDDLER'S WAGON
FREEDOM GARDENS
"LITTLE HOMESTEAD"
DERVAES GARDENS
URBAN HOMESTEADING
Entries (RSS)
February 8, 2010
Nothing says ‘I love you’ better than homegrown veggies
There’s a slew of photos from last weeks work and happenings here on the urban homestead (from cheese making to brewing a spring garden tonic with weeds) in queue but first I liked to take some time remind folks that spring is just around the corner and you know what that means!
Seeds, Goods & Supplies
Over 90% of the vegetables we grow here at our little farm in the city are featured and sold on our online store FreedomSeeds.org (it’s our first year so are aware that the variates are limited but, hey, it’s a start!)
In addition our other online store PeddlersWagon.com carries goods and supplies for the modern day urban homesteader featuring items that we actually own and use around our urban homestead.
Some of the best selling items this year are the handy dandy Soil Blocks, 2010 Growing by the Moon Calendars, the sturdy Wire Vegetable Basket and Ollas - clay pottery that drips!
Though it’s just a wee wagon full of goods I am sure there’s something useful that you could use.
Purchases made through these stores goes directly into the non profit to continue to keep this site online and our outreach growing.
Show your “lovin”” appreciation by supporting this site (count the ways)
Thank you all.
Upcoming Engagement
This Tues, Feb 9 (7:30 PM) Jules Dervaes will be giving a presentation at the OC Fair Grounds.
Check our online calendar for details.
Hope to see you there!
(1 votes)
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Filed under: Out & About, Peddler's Wagonload, Posts by Anais |
Tags: homestead, outreach, Seeds, spring, the urban homestead, Urban Homestead, urban homesteader, Vegetables
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February 7, 2010
Actually I’ve come to dread going into the animal yard with a camera. Why? Because I end up with like a bazillion photos. These guys, er gals, are just too fun to be around.
So this time around Jordanne took the camera into her possession and snapped a few photos
You just saw synchronized preening and here’s another sport our hens love to do in the afternoons - dust bathing. It’s all about beauty and bliss. Why do critters have it so easy! Darned if I know.
What’s all the commotion?
It’s dust bath time! Of course, Lucie is the first to start the mid afternoon ritual.
Frontside, now the backside - ahhh that feels good.
Sairey joins in. Get that dust under those long and purty feathers of yours.
Rolling over, got to get the back.
Sissy’s turn.
and Biddy.
Ah, pure bliss.
Blackberry watches the bathing beauties and their cleaning routine.
Watching the animals taking care of themselves, got me thinking. Then talking it over with sis, saying we got to be back into our “taking care of ourselves” routine that went out the window these last two years because we were just too darn busy or tired. I know, I know no excuses, but - but! This year gonna steal some time and do some stretching/yoga or whatever you call it. Either that or will be sleeping with Mr Hotwater bottle for a very long time.
(2 votes)
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Filed under: Chickens, Citified Farm Animals, Posts by Anais |
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February 5, 2010
Here’s a two week worth rundown of meals we enjoyed here on the urban homestead
SATURDAY
Breakfast - homemade buttermilk pancakes with homepreserved strawberry sauce
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, homemade spanish rice with organic black beans
SUNDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homemade vegetable soup (homegrown lima beans, broccoli, greens)
Dinner - homemade vegetable soup (homegrown lima beans, broccoli, greens) with organic CA grown brown rice
MONDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homemade vegetable soup (homegrown lima beans, broccoli, greens) with organic CA grown brown rice
Dinner - homegrown broccoli, pasta cheese casserole with homegrown salad topped with homegrown tomatoes
TUESDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homemade lentil loaf with homegrown salad
Dinner - homemade lentil loaf with homegrown salad
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - out
Dinner - homemade lentil loaf with homegrown salad
THURSDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - out
Dinner - homegrown broccoli, pasta cheese casserole with homegrown salad topped with homegrown tomatoes
FRIDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - raw cheese grilled cheese sandwich with homegrown/canned jalepeno jelly and homegrown/canned squash pickles
Dinner - homemade no knead bread, homegrown/canned tomato sauce and pasta
Before leaving on our trip, I didn’t have much time to make any “decent” meals.
Thankfully we were still getting homegrown, fresh tomatoes, crunchy lettuce and Farmer Sergio brought us some avocados for quick n easy sandwiches. Add a can of homegrown/canned pickled beans and you got yourself a meal!
SATURDAY
Breakfast - homemade buttermilk pancakes with homepreserved strawberry sauce
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, spanish rice with organic black beans
SUNDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - leftovers
Dinner - local avocados, homegrown tomatoes, homegrown lettuce, raw cheese sandwich
MONDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown lima beans and organic CA grown brown rice
Dinner - local avocados, homegrown tomatoes, homegrown lettuce, raw cheese sandwich
TUESDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - local avocados, homegrown tomatoes, homegrown lettuce, raw cheese sandwich with homegrown/canned pickled beans
Dinner - local avocados, homegrown tomatoes, homegrown lettuce, raw cheese sandwich with homegrown/canned pickled beans
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - out
Dinner - homemade lentil loaf with homegrown salad
THURSDAY
Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - lentil loaf sandwich with homegrown lettuce, homegrown tomatoes
Dinner - lentil loaf sandwich with homegrown lettuce, homegrown tomatoes
FRIDAY
left to Nor Cal
Do Things Different
There’s changes coming. Seeing we have loads of fig jam and guava jam, going to start changing the breakfast menu and using up what we have in our pantry.
It’s going to be a challenge because everyone (these days) is getting up at a different times. That’s why homemade granola was so handy and just a habit. Make it the day/night before and whenever you wake up you could just pour yourself a bowl and top with whatever homegrown fruit that’s on the counter.
But with the new year, we resolved to do better and break out of old habits. There’s (better) changes on the way.
What changes are you making so far this new year? Care to share.
(4 votes)
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Filed under: Homegrown Diet, Kitchen, Posts by Anais |
Tags: homestead, meals, the urban homestead, Urban Homestead, weekly meal wrap up
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February 4, 2010
A major tv media outlet is looking to:
” profile someone who is in the LA area (from San Diego to Santa Barbara) that is in process of transforming his/her life as a combined result of the economic conditions and who is taking the Dervaes’ message as the inspiration for that transformation. The more radical the shift the better.
Eg. The investment banker who is becoming an urban farmer would be an ideal candidate.
Of course I realize that something like that would be a real long shot…but you get the idea. Someone who is making a gradual shift from one life style to another will work, as long as the long range vision is to end up somewhere very different from where they are today…and the shift is very visibly underway.”
Is this you, or know someone who is?
Contact us at info@urbanhomestead.org
(3 votes)
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Filed under: PTF Spotlights, Posts by Anais |
Tags: homestead, inspiration, shift, urban farm, urban farmer, Urban Homestead, urban homesteader, urban homesteaders
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!
February 4, 2010
Still a boat load of work that welcomed us on arrival home - the dreaded T word loomed. Justin was burning the midnight oil often this week. Occasionally one would hear verbal outburst - geez what’s going on in there? Can you guess? The tax man cometh!
With winter fleeting fast and spring ready to, well, spring. There’s lots of outside work to be had. Time to fix and spruce up the place like we do after a long winter.
Duckies enjoying the sunshine
Growing vertical! Cleaning up some metal panels Farmer D is recycling into trellises.
Justin working on the car - this job is taking a couple days and a couple of beers (well, no beer but he could use one). Old cars need lots of TLC and patience.
Justin captures a hummingbird “dancing” in the sprinkler that he set on top of the compost heap
Cob oven needs some TLC too and coat of boiled linseed oil
It’s an oily job!
Visiting a local salvage yard, Justin checks out some interesting objects
Score! Salvage yard has pavers. We borrow Struan’s truck and extra set of hands to haul the pavers back to the urban homestead
Struan and Farmer D unload the pavers
Handy woman, Jordanne, helps put the pavers in place
Brick by brick
A pattern forms
Amy update. Now that we are home, I am back to giving Amy her daily massage. I am noticing that she gets slightly worse after each massage but the next morning she almost, almost looks normal (progress!). The inflammation seems to be in right wing socket near her neck. I am noticing that there’s a knot of some sort and though she winces at first she then relaxes and likes the massage and acupressure that I apply.
So guess just have to continue what we are doing. It’s gotten us this far so, so far so good.
Oh mother! I killed my mother. OK that sounded gruesome.
Actually my “mother mushroom” aka “scooby” died. Or at least I think it did. That’s what happens when you go away - you leave instructions about feeding the critters, taking care of the plants but the scooby - well, got overlooked. I left it in a homebrewed batch of kombucha in the fridge but this time not enough. By the time I got back the mushroom (or evaporation) had dried up the liquid.
I am going to see if I can revive it - not sure if it’s alive. We’ll have to see.
Just to be safe I am growing another one. It will take awhile and gonna to miss our kombucha buzz.
We are still doing pretty well on stock of our home canned goods. Not sure if the tomato sauce will last until our first crop of ripe tomatoes but we’ll see. We may start our canning earlier this year because we have a load of fruit frozen in the freezer. Either that or make some desserts!
New Olympic sport: synchronized preening.
Note: I actually had a pretty bland caption for this cute photo; however, I left this post on the computer for awhile, came back and Jordanne added a WAY better caption instead. Thanks sis.
:: Field Hand Appreciation :: LM $5.00 Thank you for your donation.
(5 votes)
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Filed under: Back to Basics, Citified Farm Animals, Garden, Homestead, Kitchen, Posts by Anais |
Tags: homestead, spring, the urban homestead, 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!