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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
« AWARD WINNING HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION | Main | A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: URBAN HOMESTEADING »
November 23, 2009
U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry - Yahoo! News
… the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Read full article
I like the quote from this recent article which references our website and states:
Urban Homesteaders Are Nice People
Community connections are an important part of this lifestyle: one of the rules of being an urban homesteader is being a good neighbour. — courtesy of Matadorlife ‘Urban Homesteading - Turning your city home into country living
With the urban homesteading trend gaining more and more in popularity there’s conflicts (and sometimes resolutions) that come with such a trend. From keeping poultry or smallstock within city limits to drying clothes using the oldest, most environmentally friendly way - a clothes line.
People often ask us how we are able to do all that we do. Lucky for us Pasadena codes allow poultry and even some small stock (within regulations of course) and as for line drying - we live in a low income, working class neighborhood where line drying is the norm for these folks. So we, in our simple, farming ways, really don’t conflict with that of our neighbors. Well, except for growing food in our front yard. But we did the lawn to food transformation twenty years ago so our yard’s not so strange anymore!
So, readers, are you in a battle with neighbors or city over your urban homesteading ways?
Our retro TV “urban homesteading” counterparts in GOOD NEIGHBORS had their run ins with their prissy neighbor, Margo, over their self sufficient ways.
Care to share your creative or neighborly ways you’ve gone about resolving such issues. Have you had luck changing or working on changing city codes that involve such issues.
Image Note: GOOD NEIGHBORS is a hilarious look at a couple going “back to the land” in the middle of suburban London ( BBC TV The Good Life circa 1975)
Tags:
drying,
growing food,
homesteading,
the urban homestead,
Urban Homestead,
urban homesteading
Topics: Homestead, Posts by Anais | Tags: drying, growing food, homesteading, the urban homestead, Urban Homestead, urban homesteading
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November 23rd, 2009 at 8:53 am
I love your idea, big fan of the Urban Homestead. The show you mention was called “The Good Life” in the UK, just to clear up any confusion.
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:13 am
We love the show Good Neighbors/The Good Life. We discovered it on Netflix and have watched each episode at least twice. I don’t know what I’d do without our clothesline- we live in the county, so it’s not an issue, thank goodness. Hanging wash is so peaceful for me and it reminds me of my mother:-).
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:41 am
I enjoyed these shows so much! My whole family laughed and laughed–and also felt inspired.
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:46 am
I love Good Neighbors, such a great show!
I have a clothesline but don’t use it all the time.
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
This is funny I just started watching this the other week. I love this show!!!
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Our neighbor’s kids love to hang out in our backyard plot in Oakland CA. It has entertainment/educational value as well as some respite for parenting neighbors who want their kids to let them alone just for a while. Should I start charging sitting fees?! It’s interesting, if you really dig into Oakland’s municipal codes, they tend to have very little in the way of restrictions. Oakland is also proactively pursuing a goal to grow 1/5 of it’s own produce.
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
We found Good Neighbors on Netflix a year or so ago, absolutely by accident (love the Instant Download feature). But after the first episode we were absolutely hooked! And after watching all of it, we felt very inspired to at least try growing some herbs in our yard. We also became very interested in the self-sufficiency and wanted to research it more. And that’s how we found your website!
November 24th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I remember when Good Neighbors was on PBS. It was a hoot! And certainly way ahead of its time! How wonderful that urban homesteading is now becoming acceptable (thanks to you all!) and that so many folks are aspiring to that way of life. You remain an inspiration as I toil away at my 8 or 9 hour a day job!
November 25th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Thanks for mentioning the Good Neighbors/The Good Life. I’ve been watching it, one-by-one on YouTube. Fantastic. Wonderful. So far ahead of their time.