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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
« NUMBERS | Main | CANNING DAYS »
May 13, 2009
Our summer Freedom Garden is taking shape complete with our collection of Freedom Seeds. We can proudly say that “Freedom Grows in Our Garden”
How’s your summer garden shaping up? Care to share?
The weather has been pleasant, even on the cool side. The day starts off overcast with slight to partial clearing around lunch. Looks like no more rain for the season. This year’s rainfall totals are definitely lower than normal. 2008-09 is the third dry year for our state and Pasadena is already proposing water rates increase.
A possible solution to LA’s water crisis went down the drain Back in the 1990’s I remember as a kid using the bucket greywater method - aka bucket brigade. We’d haul our bath water out in 5 gallon buckets to water the vegetables (corn and squash) that we had growing in the front yard at the time. Hmmm front yard farming, using greywater aren’t subversive acts anymore! So what we did as kids wasn’t weird, we were just ahead of our time!
By going “backwards,” you take steps forward!
Swiss chard lit by soft sunlight
Front yard farming - mixture of herbs, veggies and berries
Garden propaganda nestled among the chard, blueberries and apple trees
Tomato and clay pot irrigation beds- one planted and one (almost) ready to go
Turning under the spent green crops and “summerizing” the yard as Justin says
Gorgeous (and edible) nasturtiums add color throughout the yard
Soft salmon nasturtiums twine their way up the dwarf peach trees
Is it dinner time yet?
Pineapple guava blooms
Herbs and veggies in one of our many clay pot irrigation beds
Seeding swiss chard and lettuces
There’s green beans in the garden…. almost! French Provider seeds courtesy of FREEDOM SEEDS
Tomato trellis time
Our first tomato of the season
Tags:
Clay Pot Irrigation,
Garden,
green beans,
Herbs,
in the garden,
summer
Topics: Clay Pot Irrigation, Garden, Posts by Anais | Tags: Clay Pot Irrigation, Garden, green beans, Herbs, in the garden, summer
RELATED POSTS:
Comments
PATH TO FREEDOM
PEDDLER'S WAGON
FREEDOM GARDENS
"LITTLE HOMESTEAD"
DERVAES GARDENS
URBAN HOMESTEADING
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May 13th, 2009 at 6:43 am
lovely pics! i’m so jealous of all your growing things, we’re still having frost warnings in my neck of the woods. what are the deep red flowers in the second pic? i love the color, but have no idea what they are.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:09 am
We are behind in planting. The NE has been drenched in rain. Our garden is more of a clay soup than soil ready to receive crops. Hopefully the rest of the crops will be in by this weekend.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Lookin good!!
we are behind as well up in Montana…the new raised beds are in and filled, my plants are hardening off….soon I keep saying yet I still see some frost in the morning. Gives me time to get trellising built.
May 13th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Looks good as always. My lawn’s days are numbered…
May 13th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Gorgeous plants!
My nasturtiums are very very slow to come up. I’m hoping they take off soon!
The rest of the raised beds are coming along. Bob built me 4 more this past weekend. Pics are here: http://s22.photobucket.com/alb.....ns%202009/
I’d like to hear more about how you trellis your tomatoes.
May 13th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I’ve been singing Green Beans in the Garden since you posted it. ‘Cause I do have green beans in the garden, clean clothes on the line… no barefoot children yet but I do have a grape transplant to put in the ground.
Our garden plans are huge. Just biding out time until we get things actually set up. We’re approaching the little-to-no gardening summer time so I’m hoping to get things together before its time for the fall veggies to go in.
That pineapple guava is gorgeous.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Weather is just fascinating: you’re having less than usual rainfall, while in WV we’ve been inundated with rain and cold. The governor called out the National Guard in Southern West Virginia. Your garden is great!
May 13th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Hello Derveas! Love the website. I have been following you for about four years now! I tell people that you are my “cyber mentors!” ; ) Your garden is not only productive, but beautiful. I work in the corporate world and when I’m stressed, I open your website just so that I can be soothed by the photos. Oh, I also live in the desert but am a florida native, so it satisfies my desert weary eyes’ need for green.
anyway, you could offer some details on how you set up your tomatoes?!? I love your wall of tomatoes. I tried to emulate, but it didnt work. must have done something different. any advice would be much appreciated.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Love the pictures! So organized. =) If I may ask, how do you keep the goats fenced in? Looks like bamboo posts?
May 13th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I love the nasturtiums…I bet they look so beautiful with the peaches! I almost thought the green beans were a praying mantis!
And now I think I have to plant a pineapple guava…how pretty is that?!
May 13th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
It’s heating up around here, we’ll get a few more peas before they are kaput, but the spinach has already gone by the wayside. 90+ just does not agree with it, even in the shade. however the heat lovers are taking off, lima beans, okra, watermelons, malabar & NZ spinach, squash, et. Because I work 40 hrs, sometimes more, away from home + babysit grand kids that have ball games & such going on, I’ve been a wee bit behind keeping the seedlings coming along so I’m sure there will be some harvest gaps pretty soon, cool weather stuff done but hot weather stuff not ready yet, but I’m learning too, like how often, how much of something I need to keep planting to keep it going as long as possible. As always I love to see your garden
May 13th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Hi Anais and Co, our feijoas ( pineapple guava) are just ripening here in the southern hemisphere as yours are just beginning to flower.
Your garden looks gorgeous. I love your cottage garden mix of plants in the front garden.
May 13th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Impressive pics. I love the nasturtiums. I’ve planted my first of those ever this year along with marigolds as pest protection in my raised beds. It has taken forever for the nasturtiums to poke out of the ground but finally they are there.
May 13th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Looking good you guys as always. I love love love to see photos around the garden.
We just had our last frost (hopefully) here so everythin will be full swing here soon!
May 13th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Lovely pics! Where can I get some “propaganda” like yours?
May 13th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Hello! I have been following your blog since I discovered it in January. Let me tell you it has sure helped with the Pacific NW Blues! Particularly here in Eugene, OR. Down in Pasadena you are a few steps ahead of us- our nasturtiums have just sprouted, we are finally eating a few leaves of spinach now and then and I can see some green dots in the basil pots on the patio.
I just love the site- the photos collections, the weekly meal wrap-up and that you include great photos of your projects like soap-making and honey gathering so that all of us poor saps in temporary rentals can cheer you on and hold on to some inspiration until we get a chance to try it ourselves.
Thanks for sharing your inspiration! Lu Enman, OR
May 14th, 2009 at 5:14 am
The garden is progressing splendidly (as usual!). Glad to see the first tomato of the season - always a celebration in my garden!
May 14th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Our garden is still just plans. We moved into this home in November too late to even break up the old pasture. This spring has been so wet we don’t even dare to try, even in thick pasture grass we sink into the ground. Hopefully the weather will co-operate soon. At least the soil will be good & warm once everything dries out. Many of the spring seeds are now slated for the fall garden.
May 14th, 2009 at 7:49 am
It is all so beautiful! Thank-you for posting such inspiring pictures!