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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
9000 kwh ( as of 10/20/08)
GALLONS OF BIODIESEL MADE (since 2003)
1,500 gallons (as of 2/12/08)
"EARTH IMPACT FOOTPRINT" 5.2 acres per person
Tally Ho 2008
PRODUCE
4,340 lbs (9/31/08)
EGGS
Chicken 921 & Duck 1028 (10/22/08)
HONEY
25 lbs (10/20/08)
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
« WEEKLY MEAL WRAP UP | Main | CHANGE BEGINS AT HOME »
January 1, 2009
Here on the urban homestead you never know what unusual fruit of vegetable will pop up. The resident farmers here love to try out new varieties. Some work and some don’t.
Last weeks cold spell hint touched a few of the remaining summer vegetables. One that had to come down this week was the the cassabanana melon. Even though it was loaded with unripe fruit the cold temperatures weren’t ideal for this tropical heat loving fruit.
So down came the massive vine which practically overran one of our many trellises in the backyard. Now we have over 100lbs of unripe melons and we are scratching our heads about what we can do with them. If they are inedible for human consumption what about our animals?
I searched online ‘are green cassabanana’s edible and came up this this page which said that the green fruits are treated like a vegetable. Hmmm, which kind of vegetable? More like squash I would guess. I figure I am going to have to open one to find out.
Like I said you never know what surprises will pop up around here. Always learning, always experimenting leaves for an interesting life.
Cassabanana Melons
Cassabanana Melons grow on a perennial vine up to 50 feet (15 metres) long, that can be started from seeds or cuttings. Some grow the vine as an ornamental. It will climb trees or can be trained on trellises, and can adhere to smooth surfaces.
The vine has leaves up to 1 foot (30 cm) wide, and male and female flowers.
The fruit is 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) long. The thick, hard rind can be orange, yellow, purple, or black. It will be smooth and glossy when ripe.
Inside, the tender, sweet flesh is orange or yellow. At the centre, there is a soft pulp with oval, flat brown seeds about 1/2 inch (1 cm) long and half as wide. The seeds grow in rows the length of the melon.
The fruit has a sweet aroma. It is very fragrant in the house. Some people think it repels moths.
Cooking Tips
Cassabanana Melon can be eaten raw in slices. Some say it is better with a little sugar.
It can also be cooked and made into preserves such as jam.
When unripe, it is treated as a vegetable.
The most popular use is jam.
Courtesy of
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/cassabanana.html
Tags:
Unusual Edibles
Topics: Posts by Anais, Unusual Edibles | Tags: Unusual Edibles
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January 1st, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Hey!!!!
I just happened to notice that the article you found was from Purdue University…..15 minutes from me. Ha! Small world,…well..especially online!
Good luck with the Casabannana!
Craig
January 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
What about pickling them like watermelon rind? I’ve never done it personally, but I hear it mentioned often enough I figure it must be a feasible way to make relatively inedible gourds/squash fairly edible.
January 1st, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I just read where a similar melon can be baked in the oven like a squash when it is picked unripe. Why not try throwing one in the solar oven and see what it tastes like?
The gardeners might experiment, but so can the cooks!!
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:16 am
I wonder whether they might substitute for green papaya as the basis for the Thai salad som tum? It’s a delicious salad, and in SoCal you’re likely to have the heat-loving ingredients still available to you (tomatoes, lime, peanut, can’t remember what else goes in there).
-Kate
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 am
How funny, I just bought cassabanana (melacoton) seeds for next summer!
Good to see it was productive for ya’ll.
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I would’ve thought pickling too…maybe making a savory chutney with it cut up and mixed with other ingredients, then canned?