A journal of modern day pioneers forging a new frontier in the city through intensive agriculture and extreme sustainability in urban homesteading.

Reviving the old-fashioned "can-do" spirit of self-reliance and resourcefulness, they have faced many challenges. With faith and determination, these once-ordinary city dwellers are boldly reclaiming their lives and land. continue

Save Our Seeds rss

August 3, 2009

How can we survive perhaps the greatest danger we now face – climate change? Global Warming may be a contentious issue for many but there’s no argument – some areas of our planet that were once ‘food bowls’, abundant, fertile and productive land, are now dust bowls where people scratch a living from the dry [...]

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December 16, 2008

RAID on seeds (Life, itself) … by Monsanto
MONSANTO’S DESTRUCTION OF SEED CLEANERS AND THE IMMENSE THREAT TO HUMAN ACCESS TO SEEDS
Read full article
Fight back!  GYO (Grow Your Own) or SOS (Save our Seeds)
Join the modern food security movement and hook up with fellow freedom food fighters at Freedom Gardens.org
This is serious stuff folks — take [...]

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September 25, 2008

Monsanto Takeover Targets Fruits & Vegetables
Fact: 40% of seed varieties sold in the United States are owned by Monsanto.
Noted for its aggressive advocacy of genetically modified crops and its dominance in biotechnology, Monsanto will now have a major presence in the vegetable seed business for the first time.
We aren’t talking genetically modified seeds here were [...]

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July 9, 2008

A “volunteer” sunflower blooms in the garden
The cult of uniformity that has enveloped agriculture and our culture as a whole, is sweeping the globe, laying earth bare and denying diversity. – primal seeds
This year we’ve launched a few homegrown campaigns here at PTF headquarters.  From encouraging our readers to grow closer to home, then preserving [...]

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The Urban Homesteaders
Jules DervaesJustin DervaesAnais DervaesJordanne Dervaes
Cast of Characters
    
   
    
    
    
 
Blogging Since 2001
Got an hour or two or a couple of days?

Clear your schedule, kick back, and follow the Little Homestead in the City chronicles through the years. Please read responsibly and in moderation. Remember to feed your family and or pets and water your garden...

There's 2,568 posts so it might take awhile. Consider yourselves warned.

COMPLETE URBAN HOMESTEAD ARCHIVES:



LOCATION
Pasadena, CA
(Northwest Pasadena, one mile from downtown Pasadena 100 yards from 11 lane freeway)

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
~ 400 different vegetables, herbs, fruits, berries

FOOD PRODUCTION
~ 6,000 lbs annually / 99% of our produce $75,000 savings

URBAN HOMESTEAD SUPPORTS
4 full-time resident adults, a menagerie of animals, volunteers, and many clients

ENERGY USAGE
$12 a month / 6.0 kwh day

WATER USAGE
$600 / 175,000 gallons a year

SOLAR POWER PRODUCED
12,410 kwh as of 5/12/10

GALLONS OF BIODIESEL MADE
2,500 gallons as of 5/12/08

FACTS N FIGURES
Learn more about the Urban Homestead
Full Stats Summary