In the meantime we have made the switch from processed foods to whole, natural foods and have started going to farmers markets to support local farmers as well. We're losing weight, getting healthier, and feeling better as a result, so your family (even just through this blog) has already made a significant positive impact in our lives.

I would LOVE a "Little Homestead" cookbook, we're always looking for new ways to cook meals in a good, wholesome way. If it were organized seasonally to take advantage of the season's harvest it would be even better. Sometimes those of us who are just starting out have a hard time understanding what food is harvested during what seasons and how to incorporate that into our cooking... I know that ya'll are extremely busy with other projects but it's an idea for the future.

THANK YOU for all that you do.

I love what your family has taught me, not only about gardening but about myself. I am able to do more then ever, by my self , and also my husband is on board now. AGAIN THANK YOU FOR BEING A GREAT INSPRATION.

I'm excited about your "down in Dixie event". I can't wait to hear details. Gardening is really taking off here in the New Orleans area since Katrina and thanks to you and your family for all of your help to the area.

This year I have planted numerous fruit trees, built a fairly large raised bed garden with plans to add, eliminated much of my front yard with a huge perennial bed, cut our grass less and built chicken tractors to allow our new chickens to graze.

We have three acres and I am very interested in the "food forest" concept. I really would love to know Farmer D's opinion on "food forests".

Thank you so much.
Kristi

Regarding the seed store, perhaps you could leverage the FG network to create seed savers...you could be the store-front (like Bountiful Gardens).

Keep encouraging everyone just to start growing something. That gets the ball rolling and pretty soon you’re like me…laying awake at night thinking about the sunshine requirements for the new seeds they just got and when to plant them.

I would love to get more information on how the fresh ingredients all come together to make the amazing dishes that you cook. OK, the salads I can figure out but things like sauces are harder. I keep waiting for the “kitchen” tab on FG to come alive. I keep looking for that missing link between the raised bed and the dinner table.

I would also love more specifics on so many different subjects... organic pest control, crop rotation, planning, recipes for cooking the garden harvest.... I know that all of these requests take time and I really don't know how you have time to accomplish everything that you are already doing! And here I am asking for more.... I do want you and your family to know how grateful I am for the information that you do share.

You mentioned something before about having a PayPal donation button and if all the readers committed to donating even $1 per month, how much that would help your family's outreach efforts. Now would be a good time to let readers sign up and commit to donating $1 or $5 per month (or whatever they could).... I for one would definitely commit to a monthly donation. The information that you provide is invaluable!

I am very excited about Freedom Seeds! A couple of us has been talking about just this same topic... We would love a seed company that could guarantee us Non- Monsanto seed! That is awesome! As Sinfonian said, even if you ask about a variety of seed, sometimes it's hard to really get an answer. And there are so many varieties that many of us are confused if they are Monsanto seeds or not.

Keep up the great work Dervaes! And here's to an awesome 2009!

I have loved your site for years. You inspire me all the time, tho I am jealous of those Dec tomatoes.....I'm working on how much can I harvest this coming year too, maybe a few hundred pounds, maybe more, we'll see. Please keep going forward, your work is awesome.

While your upcoming seed venture would seem logical, it may be limited,
as Sinfonian eluded to. I buy mostly from Northeast seed suppliers and would be unsure about buying seeds centered from Pasadina California (major differences in Upstate New York climate and then there are the shipping costs).

Your following is wide and diverse (in fact, worldwide). You have a message to send in our troubled times and you need to send it NOW (to include making a solid living
for the Dervaes family). When you referenced the Victory Gardens of World War II, you are offering the exact advice what this nation needs to return to. From small backyards to apartment balconies, you need to show us how!

Soon to be appearing in Mother Earth News (I have the first edition safely tucked away)
WOW - You're my kind of folks!

My advice is this:

1) Be the new hosts of PBS's Victory Garden ( the new(er) shows are a joke). Go back
to the times of James Underwood Crockett and show us how instead of this fancy
groomed gardens of the rich. We need food!

2) Again television, do an American version of "It's Not Easy Being Green" which is
currently running on the Sundance Channel.
See here: http://www.sundancechannel.com.....reen_inebg
They even have their own great book. Your turn.

3) It is all possible. Look at the up and coming Patty Moreno - The Garden Girl
Here: http://www.gardengirltv.com/
It can be done, in fact you're already there.

4) Now is the time to strike while the iron is hot:
Sundance Channel - The Green
Discovery Channel - Planet Green TV (a whole channel dedicated to green living)
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/
FitTV - Get Fresh with Sara Snow for example

Let HOMEGROWN be the pilot movie for a television series that follows the Dervaes family:

HOMEGROWN follows the Dervaes family who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. While "living off the grid", they harvest over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, make their own bio diesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a website that gets 4,000 hits a day. The film is an intimate human portrait of what it's like to live like "Little House on the Prairie" in the 21st Century.

I'll tune in!

Best for 2009

Ron