mouseover for names
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
« JOURNEY REFLECTIONS | Main | WEEKLY MEAL WRAP UP »
July 3, 2008
Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.
Mohandas Gandhi
Here at PTF’s urban homestead we gear to celebrate our 5th annual ‘Interdependence Day’ with a gathering of friends, local (even homegrown) foods and fellowship. We strive to set an example for fellow pathfinders - finding place and growing where we are planted.
How will you be celebrating the 4th? What homegrown, re-localizing efforts are will be you be starting at your home or in your community?
And what steps are you making towards your own independence and freedom from corporate control. How are you daily fighting for freedom as eco pioneers forging a sustainable path towards the future.
Be creative & resourceful in your efforts! Perhaps you’ll start a new tradition.
Tags:
community,
Urban Homestead
Topics: Events & Outreach, Posts by Anais | Tags: community, Urban Homestead
RELATED POSTS:
Comments
PATH TO FREEDOM
PEDDLER'S WAGON
FREEDOM GARDENS
"LITTLE HOMESTEAD"
DERVAES GARDENS
URBAN HOMESTEADING
Entries (RSS)
Loading ...
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Awesome Strawberries & Sunflowers !! I think we just got a local cake from the local store and a baloon for my little one to celebrate America’s BDay ! We plan to stay home and enjoy it as a family. We will spend time in the garden tending to the gladiolus we planted and are flowering. Tending to the watermelon and pumpkin plants which we water each day as a mom and daughter thing. I think moments like these celebrating the 4th will be cool! Sharing the tradition. Also awaiting for the baby chicks that will arrive @ our home soon. Sharing the experience of raising little baby chicks with my toddler.
July 4th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Since it’s a beautiful sunny day, I’ll be hanging laundry & weeding. I also need to clean out the chicken/duck/goose coops. We may take some time tonight to watch fireworks depending on how tired I am.
July 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
We went and watched the local parade (for the first time in a decade) and plan to head to the local fireworks show tonight benefitting the high school. I may make another batch of jam while the afternoon wears on…
July 4th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
My elderly neighbors are both recovering from out-pateint surgeries. I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie using strawberries from my garden and rhubarb that was given to me from a friend’s garden and put in my freezer. The crust was mostly local using locally milled flour, local butter and local cream. I also took them some lunch, including produce from our garden.
In the evening, we enjoyed some of the fun in our “resort” town, including the local fireworks.
Staying home all day and sharing with our neighbors and then, staying in our home-town this evening was really nice, and I hope it will be our “new” family tradition.
July 5th, 2008 at 7:08 am
We rarely go anywhere on the major holidays because of the traffic, stress, and expense of it all, not to mention, how a lot of holidays are just excuses for idiots to get drunk and zoom around in their gas hogs playing really bad music! We tended to some chores, got the backyard ready to host some friends to bbq, most of the food prepared coming from our prolific garden (potato salad, bbq onion and yellow squash, topped with homemade walnut pesto) I also needed to water the neighborhood garden and do some tending there…which is hopfully a new and lasting tradition for this neglected empty lot. It’s got great soil and many possibilities for winter crops, grains, food security, etc…
Happy independance/interdependance dayszzzzzzzz…
July 5th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Inter Dependance days. I love that! I spent the afternoon in my garden, helped a neighbor fix her sewing machine then harvested 10 lbs of fresh food from the garden to help with the 100 foot diet. My biggest declaration of Independance is growing in my yard. It’s a Freedom garden!! Grow on!
P~