Headlines like “So Cal braces for winter storm“ have been teasing us for the past few days leave us wondering where this phantom storm is. We haven’t had a lick of rain only dreary and cold temperatures instead.
A chance of rain was predicted Fri, Sat, Sun now they are changing the weather forecast to chance of rain [...]
“During World War II many consumer goods were rationed for civilians in order to supply more goods for both American and Allied troops. Among the items rationed were sugar, red meat, gas, oil, coffee, and rubber. In October 1942 fuel oil was rationed. During the especially cold winter of 1942-43 this brought numerous protests from [...]
Salvaged wood & heat
Here on the urban homestead we don’t have central heat, instead we heat our home (well, only three out of the nine rooms) using a small compact (EPA certified) Jotul wood stove. I’ve written many a times before about how we combat the cold by dressing in layers and well, just getting used to a [...]
Newflash: Storm Watch!!!
It’s the storm of the century! Ok, a bit too dramatic… Trying again, it’s the storm of the year, well, how about the month? actually that’s more like it and it’s the truth. The first measurable rain in over 7 weeks rolled in on Friday. The local news station sent reporters to [...]
Glowing wood stove
Wood Stove = Family Togetherness
We really like our little wood Jotul stove, one of the best investments we’ve made. For its small size it puts out some serious heat. What’s even better is that we can use scrap [non native eucalyptus] wood that would have otherwise gone to the dump.
The stove does a [...]
It’s a Cat’s Life: Best seat in the house
Sunday was a perfect day to break in the new wood stove. Since new stoves emit a smell we figured on taking advantage of the beautiful afternoon (crisp, sunny and cool) to break in the Jotul. The first break in procedure is to heat the stove up [...]
A local tree trimmer, and friend of ours, brought over some dry eucalyptus (a non native tree) firewood on Friday so we can crank up the new wood stove soon. In lieu of payment we bartered a few homemade preserves and item from the Peddler’s Wagon. Not a bad trade, especially when a cord of [...]
‘The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.’ – Luther Standing Bear
Mixed edible flower boxes, meyer lemons
Winter Garden
With the holiday’s approaching our orders for mixed edible flower boxes pick [...]
De-Cluttering
There are so many draft journal postings it’s becoming a cluttered, disorganized mess. So, before the year is out I am going to try to a bit of “cyber cleaning.” Anyhow, feeling a bit posting fatigue at the moment so, the less said/written, the better.
Here are a few new posts with some exciting developments (did [...]
Gals and Goats
Hike
We took the goats on a short hike to the Upper Arroyo. The afternoon was quite warm (for the goats) so we stopped at shady “Teddy’s Outpost” and let the goats climb the hillsides, rocks and Jordanne even gave them a lesson in crossing streams. Fairlight didn’t have a problem crossing the stream; [...]
Jordanne & Lady Fairlight, Anais & Blackberry / Goats at Latino Festival
Goats in LA
The above photo was taken byDiego Chamorro at the recentC.I.C.L.E event ‘Life Can Be So Car Free’ on September 30th (which we rode our bikes to). Realizing that I had forgotten to check the batteries on my camera, I approached this man [...]
Waterfall, natural pool. Justin, Anais relax.
Sabbath-Rosh Hashanah Hike
Yesterday was an absolutely lovely day for a hike – blue skies and nice breeze. We, along, with a friend hiked the upper Arroyo Seco to the dam (about 6 miles round trip)
What a great (free and natural) way to relax and de-stress after a hard weeks work [...]
In the News
Path to Freedom and Pasadena spotlighted in the newHope Dance magazine pg 28.
Issue #58 ~ How Cities are Preparing for Global Warming & Peak Oil
Walking the Talk on the Path to Freedom {Hope Dance}
by Brian von Dedenroth
Inching along the 210 freeway in Pasadena,I can’t help notice other drivers carry the same vapid [...]
Kitty & heater
We purchased another Perfection Oil Heater ($50) and received it the other day. Checking it over, we found a few dents here and there, but otherwise in good working condition. We immediately filled it with biodiesel (that was washed and dried) and waited for temperatures to drop. Fortunately, we didn’t have to [...]
Guess what? Socks went on the feet for the first time in over 6 months yesterday. Temps overnight hovered around 32 degrees meaning winter has finally arrived in this part of the country.
We were so enjoying the unusually warm temps, but know that we couldn’t expect it to last any longer. Even though the [...]
Thanks for the warm ‘welcome home.’ It’s good to be back.
The story and many pics of our New Orleans trip are coming, it may take awhile since there’s a lot to tell (stay tuned).
In the meantime newsbytes from the homestead:
Veggie/fruit tales
Lots to do! Loads of veggies needed to be harvested, Justin harvested 18 pounds of [...]
Last post for October — long winded as it may be!
BATTLE OF THE MITES
There’s a serious battle going on right now in the garden, a battle against the spider mites. This year we experienced the worst infestation we have ever seen since we began gardening (due to the unusual wet winter). We are not [...]
Hmm, that sounds to me like the theme song from the Pink Panther series….The four old garage doors that JD picked up the other day will be used to build a tool shed and a new cellar door. We first thought about using them to replace our ugly old garage door, but one of them [...]
JC and I finished sifting, sorting and packing the last of the seeds… it was quite a sniff, achoo, er job. The fine particles and dust make your nose a bit, sniff, uncomfortable.
JR harvested over 5 pounds of tomatoes the other day and they were surpassingly sweet and very juicy and were a welcomed addition [...]
Another gorgeous day here in So. Cal!
Thankfully, even though the temps do get a bit cold, we are able to fend off the chill with a space heater (but it’s not really needed until sometime in January). Unfortunately, it only warms our tootsies in the room that it’s in. So, to keep warm in other [...]
