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Urban Homestead Facts
LOCATION
Pasadena, CA
(Northwest Pasadena, one mile from downtown Pasadena)
PROPERTY SIZE
1/5 acre (66' x 132' / 8,712 sq.ft.)
GARDEN SIZE
~ 1/10 acre (3,900 sq.ft. / ~ 66' x 66')
GARDEN DIVERSITY
Over 350 different vegetables, herbs, fruits, berries
FOOD PRODUCED
6,000 lbs annually
challenging for 10,000 lbs in 2008 (read more)
URBAN HOMESTEAD SUPPORTS
4 full-time adults, volunteers, and many clients
ENERGY USAGE
6.5 kwh day (and going down!)
SOLAR POWER PRODUCED
8000 kwh ( as of 5/31/08)
GALLONS OF BIODIESEL MADE (since 2003)
1,000 gallons (as of 2/12/08)
"EARTH IMPACT FOOTPRINT" 5.2 acres per person
Tally Ho 2008
PRODUCE
2,100 lbs (6/31)
EGGS
Chicken 518 & Duck 640 (6/22)
HONEY
53 oz (5/19)
Steps Taken
Everyday Steps
Growing 99 % of produce
- 6,000lbs on 1/10 acre
Food Preservation/Storage:
- canning
- drying
- freezing
In the Kitchen:
- baking/cooking from
scratch
- yogurtmaking
- breadmaking
- cheesemaking
- sprouting
- cast iron cookware
- no dishwasher or
microwave
Food Choices:
- buying in bulk
- organic
- local
- eating seasonaly
- reducing "food miles"
- fair trade
- vegetarian(over 17 years)
Raising Small Farmstock:
- chickens (eggs/manure)
- ducks (eggs/manure)
- dwarf rabbits (manure)
- dwarf/pygmy goats
(milk/manure)
Composting Methods:
- making/using EM Bokashi
- vermicomposting
- composting food, garden
and green waste
Fuel:
- homebrewing biodiesel
- running diesel car on
biodiesel(~4,000 miles a yr)
Energy Conservation:
- "powering down"
- cut daily energy use in 1/2
12 kwh to 6 kwh a day
- 12 solar panels
- "green" power
- rechargeable batteries
- line drying clothes
Energy Efficient Appliances:
- washing machine
- refridgerator
- water heater(gas)
Energy Efficient Electronics:
- computer/printer/copier
- TV(no cable)/VCR/ DVD
Energy Efficient Lighting:
- compact fluorescent bulbs
- olive oil lamps
- oil lamps filled with
biodiesel
- homemade soy & beeswax
candles
- daylighting
- solar tube
Non-electrical Appliances /
Hand-powered
- blender
- toaster
- grinder(s)
- popcorn popper
- solar oven(s)
- hand washer/wringer
- pedal powered grain mill
- straight razor
- handcranked radio
- mortar & pestle
Natural beauty/no makeup
Homemade Non-toxic
Beauty Care Products
- toothpaste
- deoderant
Biodegrable/Non-toxic
Cleaning Products:
- vinegar
- baking soda
- lemon juice
Natural Health Practices:
- homeopathy
- herbal remedies
- prevention
Water Conservation Efforts:
- low flush toilets
- toilet lid sink
- reusing laundry water
- limit toilet flushings
- limit baths/showers
- mulching
- handwatering
- clay pot irrigation
- solar outdoor shower
- front load washer
- food not lawns
Hand powered garden tools:
- push mower
- broom, rake
- trowel, shovel
- hand clippers
Self-employed
Working at home:
- honey business
- produce/flower business
- craft business
Crafts & Skills:
- winemaking
- survival skills
- edible landscaping
- sewing
- leatherwork
- fiber arts
- animal husbandry
- holistic care
- tinctures
- carpentry
- plumbing
- building
- haircutting
- bicycle repairs
- soapmaking
- candlemaking
- herbs
- urban farming
- website design
- photography
- self publishing
- video & graphics
Living Simply:
- making use or do without
- bartering
- monthly shopping trips
- reduce, reuse & recycle
- second hand clothes
- salvage/thrift store
- consume less
Passive Cooling:
- no AC
- wood floors
- blinds
- windows
- screen doors
- edible forest
- "living" screens
- solar attic fan
Heating:
- no central heat
- woodstove that uses
scrap wood
- dress in layers
Walking the old paths:
- tithing
- day of rest
- stewardship
Saving seeds
Unschooling
Beekeeping
DIY Projects:
- solar oven
- cob oven
- solar outdoor shower
- depaved driveway/patio
- installed solar panels
- roofing
- sheds, etc
- animal enclosure, etc
- this website
- urban homesteading
Using canvas bags on
shopping trips / no plastic
Transportation:
- biodiesel "veggie" vehicle
- 4 "car free" days a week
- walk
- bike
- carpool
- mass transit
- cross country train trips
- 2 airplane trips in 25 years
"Green" Home Upgrades:
- metal roof
Outreach/helping others
along the path
CURRENT TRAILS
Growing 10k on 1/10
Rainwater
Waste water recovery
Support
We Support
« SPANKY RESPONDS | Main | CHEF VISITS THE URBAN FARM »
March 27, 2008
Food was a national concern in the United States during Second World War years.”Make Food Fight for Freedom by Eating Wisely” was the title of a booklet prepared by the War Ad Council around 1944. Citizens were encouraged to cooperate with rationing efforts and to grow Victory Gardens . The bounty produced from a plot of land was too valuable to waste. Not to grow a garden or care for fruiting shrubs and trees was considered unpatriotic. To fail to preserve its bounty was downright un-American. One 1946, Department of Agriculture poster carried the message, “Am I Proud — I’m fighting famine . . . by canning food at home.” - Courtesy FruitfromWashington.com
To preserve the bounty of your Freedom Garden this year — after you eaten all that you can, can what you can to extend the harvest.
In our kitchen cupboards here on the urban homestead you’ll find an assortment of colorful jars from fruit jams/butters made with homegrown fruits (fig, orange, peach, apple, elderberry, guava), sliced homegrown peaches, salsa made with homegrown tomatoes and onions, basic tomato sauce made with homegrown tomatoes and herbs, marinated homegrown peppers, homegrown grapes leaves in brine and more.
Every year, as the harvest from the garden increases so does our canning efforts. This year I hope to even do a better job at preserving the harvest using new recipes which I hope to share with our readers.
There’s something empowering (especially for us women!) when canned goods surpass store bought canned goods 10 to 1 (well in our case here at the urban homestead) - you know you are the path to self sufficiency. It’s also a link to the past. A past where folks didn’t rely on frozen foods or store bought items to feed their families. Home food preservation is a necessary skill for for these modern times and offers us a solution to the ensuing food crisis.
Canning is a safe and easy way to preserve the bounty of your garden. We use a simple water bath method to seal our canned goods.
:: Resources ::
Here some some helpful resources I’ve gleaned from “Grandma Google” that have helped me in my canning adventures.
Home Food Preservation
National Center for Food Preservation
Fresh Preserving
All About Canning
:: Books ::
The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest
Keeping the Harvest
How to Store Your Garden Produce
more home preservation titles
:: Home Canning Kit ::
Complete BALL Home Canning Kit
Tags:
canning,
home preservation,
preserving the harvest
Topics: Back to Basics, Posts by Anais, Storage & Preservation, Victory Garden | Tags: canning, home preservation, preserving the harvest
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March 27th, 2008 at 7:39 am
This is our first year canning other than we have canned jams, etc. We are really excited and enjoy all the help your site provides.
Namaste,
The Quinces
March 27th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Thank-you so much for all of the information you post on your site! You are such an inspiration, blessing, and an incredible example! This is a great post! Jars full of home canned food are one of the most beautiful sights in the world! Do you preserve food via drying it in your solar dryer as well? Also, how do you use your chickens for pest control without their damaging (destroying) your plants by scratching in the dirt? Thank-you again for all that you are doing, and for sharing it with us! Anne
March 27th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Great post Anais.
We are really looking forward to not only maximizing our production this year, but preserving that harvest for the winter. I really like the pickling information site. Very useful.
P~
March 28th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Yes, I totally agree! Not only is home canned more delcious, but now commercially canned foods have increased in price seemingly 50%! This year I will focus even more than usual on foods to store, and will grow dry beans, wheat, cabbage and root crops. My family also will can tomatoes, green beans, corn, salsa, fruit, jelly, and jam. We make nice wines too…which is sort of canning, yes? We like kimchee too - a tasty way to preserve vegies.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am
“Especially for us women” - why?
March 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
We decided to plant a vegetable garden for the first time this year and we are starting slow so I doubt we will have much of our own to can but we do plan on canning some of the produce etc that we get from the farmer’s market as a way to start getting away from storebought canned food.
N.
http://badhuman.wordpress.com
March 30th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Glad you found this entry helpful!
I love canning and to answer Olivia’s query when I wrote “especially for us women.” I was referring to us women her on the urban homestead! It’s our job to preserve the harvest and we take that job seriously! Not only do we find pleasure in “sticking it to the man’ but the joy one gets to know that you taking food matters in your own hands is priceless. Our food is fighting!
It’s empowering to preserve the harvest - knowing that you are taking steps and contributing with your own hard work towards a more sustainable food system.
Grow for victory, grow for freedom!
Anais
March 30th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Laurie
You are right! Any/all food preservation methods apply - pickling, fermenting, etc.
We, too, make homemade, homegrown wines too!
Thanks for pointing that out.
Viva la HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION!
Anais