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

Recipe Box rss

June 11, 2010

The loquat is a delectable but much neglected member of the pome family, which includes apples, pears, and quinces. Most look like a small apricot-colored pear, although they’re a bit more oval in shape. They range from one- to two-and-a-half inches long and have several glossy brown seeds in the center. The thin skin is [...]

keep reading

May 10, 2010

For those of you who would like to try out Chef Brian’s and Chef Manouschka food dishes from the show (watch it online here)
Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Rosemary Muffins with Candied Pansies
Mini Vegetable Casserole Topped with a Fried Duck Egg and Apple Butter
OvenRoasted Winter Squash Soup with Goat Milk
Vegetarian Cuban Black Beans with Fail-Proof Brown [...]

keep reading

May 5, 2010

It’s spring!  Well actually, this week it feels more like SUMMER!
And that means lots of fun culinary delights coming out of the urban homestead’s kitchen.
Combining edible flower, herbs and butter for a delightful treat to slather on biscuits or smother veggies.
Here’s a recipe for HERB BUTTER
Fresh From Our Garden to Your Table
Our front porch farm [...]

keep reading

April 26, 2010

Recipe will make eight 16oz bottles
INGREDIENTS:
3 ounces of fresh ginger root (You can add more if you like strong ginger taste.)
6 tablespoons of citrus juice (Lemon &/ or orange)
3/4 cup of sugar (Natural cane is best. Light brown sugar gives an extra richness to the flavor.)
4 1/2 quarts of water
Some yeast from the supermarket. Bread [...]

keep reading

April 23, 2010

One of the fun things about urban homesteading is growing your own herbs.  Not only are you growing your own spice rack but tasty drinks, medicine chest and beauty products.
From teas to tinctures from herbal butters to brews herbs are one of the most useful things you can grow on your urban homestead.
Going Herbal on [...]

keep reading

March 24, 2010

Food is the center of our lives here on the urban homestead – we grow it, cook it and preserve it.  Our lives center on the change of seasons, good harvests and bad.  The fruits of our labor is reflected by what’s on our plates.
Talking with a friend the other day, he mentioned what if [...]

keep reading

March 23, 2010

It’s been really busy here on the urban homestead.  With daylight savings and first day of spring, the flurry of activity and projects have increased a hundredfold.
Back when we were teenagers, we read Euell Gibbon’s classic Stalking the Wild Asparagus.
Since then, we’ve self-taught ourselves to identify wild edibles and their uses – both edible and medicinal.  [...]

keep reading

September 17, 2009

With all the hard work goings on at the urban homestead these days (shed building, animal enclosure improvements, raising up the raised beds, etc, etc) – water just doesn’t cut it.  I mean one needs a good thirst quencher and we don’t mean that colored stuff in the markets.
So in addition to the lemon verbena [...]

keep reading

June 30, 2009

In ancient Rome, roses were often added to celebratory cuisine, and Middle Eastern fare still includes roses in numerous desserts. In America, candied rose petals were a favorite during the Victorian era.
It’s been a good year for roses.   Not only are the fragrant flowers useful (we like to make rose petal syrup to flavor lemonade [...]

keep reading

June 26, 2009

Here on the urban homestead we grow some quite odd/unusual fruit.  This year our tropical cherry bushes (aka surinam cherry) bushes are loaded with a decent harvest.
A decent harvest is when we get more than a (one) handful so that means asking “grandma google”  (ask Jordanne has so rightfully dubbed this search engine) for advice on using [...]

keep reading

May 7, 2009

With temperatures skyrocketing into the 90’s and strawberries ripening faster than we can eat ‘em.  Guess what? It was jamming time.
My favorite foodie Alice Waters has this simple sun dried strawberry preserve recipe.
I modified her technique a bit.  Instead of slicing I used my hand cranked food processor to chop the strawberries into small chunks.  [...]

keep reading

April 28, 2009

With two baskets full of loquats and a bag of extra raisins leftover from the potluck on Sunday, I whipped up this very simple yet tasty loquat dessert. 
Everyone enjoyed it so I was glad I made enough for breakfast tomorrow.
Read more about growing and using highly nutritious loquats.

keep reading

December 16, 2008

I’ve had a few inquiries about the stovetop, aka, skillet granola.  It’s a little like eating toasted museli, which is supposedly better for you anyway.   I’m one for not cooking food too much – almost raw if we can. 
With Justin getting a wee bit bored with oatmeal and me with so little time in the [...]

keep reading

July 14, 2008

Our family are big water drinkers.  That’s basically what we drink everyday 24/7, except for homemade wine on Friday nights.   Water is necessary for good health and it’s cheap!  But sometimes on hot days water just doesn’t “hit the spot.”  One needs a serious thirst quencher, especially after working in the garden.
With the neighbors lemon [...]

keep reading

November 29, 2007

Q.I’ve been catching up on your posts and would love to know what is in the swiss chard salad. I have chard in my garden right now and would love another way to use it. Thanks!!
A. Thanks Mia for your wanting the recipe.  Having cooked from scratch with homegrown ingredients ever since I was 13, [...]

keep reading

October 21, 2007

Homegrown Diet – Fall Edition
Summer veggies are still holding out and growing here on the urban homestead. Salad days are here again and pretty soon broccoli and snow peas will be ready. Onions, potatoes, turnips, radishes, and other root crops are going into the garden.   Need to plant fava beans and garlic.
Saturday
B – homemade, [...]

keep reading

July 13, 2007

Chris Kimball, left, and Harry Smith discuss solar cookers on The Early Show
Monday (CBS/The Early Show)
Q. …we’d like to do some solar cooking and are unsure of how/what to do. – Tia
A. Cooking with the sun is fun, easy and environmentally friendly. We made our first sun oven out of cardboard and aluminum foil over [...]

keep reading

April 10, 2007

Grape leaves
Grape Leaves
With the longer days and warmer weather the garden’s finally taking off and that means busy days on in urban homestead’s kitchen.
The grapes vines are full of light green leaves, perfect for preserving in anticipation of a summertime filled with platters of stuffed grape leaves.  
Ingredients :
1 qt Whole grape leaves
2 tsp Salt in: [...]

keep reading

February 20, 2007

Urban homestead cheese
The Worlds Easiest Cheese (Vinegar Cheese)
1. With frequent stirring, heat one gallon of milk to 185 degrees F.
2. Add 1/4 cup vinegar, stir briefly.
3. After 10 minutes, strain through a cheesecloth-lined colander.
4. Hang to drain. VOILA!! One and 1/2 pounds of cheese in about two hours!
Courtesy: Saanendoah (thanks for sharingFern)
Jordanne showed me this [...]

keep reading

February 8, 2007

Passion Fruit Sauce
Thanks to an increase in our passion fruit production this month we were able to make a huge batch of “tropical sauce.” To add a bit of a citrus/berry twist I added some blood orange juice (still working on using the 400 lbs of blood orange harvest!)
4 cups passion fruit pulp (seeds and [...]

keep reading

January 19, 2007

Homemade bread
We tried out a new bread recipe this week and it turned out really yummy. Besides that fact that it’s a “no-knead” recipe (leave it rise overnight and put in oven the next morning – that’s it!) I like that this method gives the hard outer texture and holey inner lightness of an artisan [...]

keep reading

August 18, 2006

Bike trailer
We are inspired by folks we know who use bikes as their only form of transportation. So, continuing towards our goal to lessen the use of our biodiesel car, which we use on average of 3 days a week (less than 4,000 miles a year), we decided to get atrailer for our bike(s).
One of [...]

keep reading

August 13, 2006

Figs for lunch
It’s another cool and overcast morning, quite unusual for August. Everyone’s wearing a light jacket/sweater.   Poor plants are just as confused as we are.
We recently we tried a delicious new fig recipe since we’ve been inundated with figs (the fruit trees are finally maturing!) –Fresh Fig Quesadillas, along with some steamed freshly [...]

keep reading

August 28, 2005

Good ol summertime
The heat is on!!!! The past few days have been unbearably hot.   The mercury will continue to reach well into the 100s for a few more days.  
On Thursday morning a huge flock of geese passed over the house heading South.   Wonder if it was the same flock we saw pass over the [...]

keep reading

August 15, 2005

Harvested the last of the peaches and pretty soon the apples will be finished.
The fall tomatoes have been planted, along with sweet potatoes, carrots, radishes and green crops. Pretty soon, JC will start snow peas and broccoli.
Aug is vacation time for many of our restaurant clients — a few are off this week and the [...]

keep reading

June 20, 2004

The past couple days, JM and I have made two yummy desserts for a dear friend of ours.   The first on this “dessert marathon” was a chocolate cake made with duck eggs and topped with our luscious strawberries and cheery pansies.
JM wanted to try a three layer cake, moving op from our normal two layer.   [...]

keep reading

April 19, 2004

CATCHING UP
We’vebeen a bit absent in posting these past few days as it was a busy-busy week here on the homestead… yep, heard all this before?  Life on the”urban homestead” is busy, but we always have timefor a little sharing & socializing as we did over the weekend.  
Here’s some of the latest happenings:
ECO-PRINTING
On Wednesday, [...]

keep reading

June 15, 2003

Corn almost as high as an elephant’s eye?     Tomato jungle … machete anyone?   
What’s this!?! Could it be?  There’s something bright and yellow in the sky…. Yes, the sun finally has come out and decided to stay! Hmmmm, I wonder if this sudden occurrence had anything to do with Melissa’s (akaPioneer Woman) sun dance?
Now [...]

keep reading

March 28, 2003

 If thou canst but thither, There grows the flower of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress and thy ease. ~ Henry Vaughn ~
After a long absence of new photos, I finally had the time to upload some to ourPHOTO GALLERY. There are quite a lot ofNEW PICTURES, so please be patient while the [...]

keep reading

February 6, 2003

… it’s grrrrr-eat!
Had a request for our granola recipe, so here it is folks.
Enjoy!
2 cups regular rolled oats
1/2 cup flake coconut
1/2 cup slivered almonds, peanuts, or pecans (I personally like the pecans)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sesame seed
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1/3 cup oil
1 tbl vanilla
1 cup raisins
1. Combine the oats, coconut, nuts, and [...]

keep reading


Popular posts filed under »Recipe Box«

HERB BUTTER
→  2010-05-05 05:50:26 (3 Comments)   

RSS
Twitter
YouTube
Facebook
Look, Ma! No Ads!
"To whom much is given..."
We believe in sharing our blessings and remain committed to keeping this site free of outside commercial advertisements or sponsors. However, that means we need you to support our growing efforts that benefit not only you but others who are on the same path.

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