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

Laundry rss

March 19, 2010

We wrap up another busy week with a pictorial dispatch – highlighting our new grey water project and more!
Goat Walk & Talk

Student working on an profiling some local eco heroes for a NPR radio piece comes along on one of our goat walks.  Jordanne shows her some wild edibles that are popping up all over [...]

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November 2, 2006

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 [...]

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July 25, 2006

Nitty gritty
Another sweaty, dirty, dusty, filthy day for the guys. This awful humidity makes an already dirty job even worse – the dust just sticks to the skin and becomes muddy.    We are all certainly thankful for the sun shower – we are certainly using it a lot these days. As for me, last [...]

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April 18, 2005

Line drying
We received our James Hand Washer with Wringer today! Even though we have a low water and Energy Saving washing machine, collect the wash water to water certain plants and have no dryer, we feel less wasteful with this non electric appliance. One thing less to plug into the little sockets in the wall!  
We [...]

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March 19, 2003

In my last post I forgot to mention where we got our TWILIGHT LAUNDRY APPLIANCE .
Here’s an excerpt from my email to one of our reader’s question regarding where one can purchase it:
We purchased ours from Global-light-network.com They are doing some changes on their site, so you’ll have to call them and talk to David [...]

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March 17, 2003

Baby apricots
“We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order togrow.” ~ Anonymous ~
We got some (two) new composters from the city on Friday, they are offering them at reduced prices ($27 compared to $80 in some garden catalog). We are trying to faze out using the large compost pile [...]

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January 30, 2003

In our attempts to try to conserve water this year {See WATER CHART}, the guys are installing a drip system that will allow us to water each of the raised beds in the backyard. This should help us reduce our water bill, not to forget to mention that we are getting a energy and water [...]

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December 8, 2002

Toothache Plant
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF HERBS
The other day, I had pain from wisdom teeth coming in and since we are growing new herb calledTOOTHACHE PLANT in the yard I gave it a try.  And to, my surprise– wait a second here, in fact I shouldn’t be surprised as I am a believer of the power [...]

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August 22, 2002

Here are two cool sites that I have come across in my surfing the web: Clothes Pins for the Revolution: Scouring the web for anti-consumerist and ant-exploitation information.Project Laundry List : Organization focusing on sustainable forms of energy, through art, advocacy, action and education.

Weather Report: Overcast in the morning but clearing to be quite [...]

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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