→ 2010-01-15 00:26:52 (17 Comments)
August 6, 2010
The latest episode of Critter Vision. Funny antics from our cast of characters here at the urban homestead. Wanna go for a ride?
June 18, 2010
Spanky and the camera share a special relationship. He loves it and it loves him right back… Seriously, the cat turns on the charm like a lightbulb and struts his ginger-striped self around like he’s on some sort of catwalk.
July 31, 2009
We have a pair of mockingbirds that have a nest in a nearby tree and they’ve taken to taunting Spanky on a daily, hourly basis. They are doing what they instinctively should do – defend their babies from predators However, you see Spanky, is not really a predator or cat he’s a a “wussy cat.” [...]
July 29, 2009
We interrupt our normal scheduled entries for some cute kitty photos!
One summer, four years ago, a neighbor rushed down a screaming baby kitty She handed us the terrified kitty, telling us the some folks were killing the litter and if we didn’t take him he’d be next. Horrified over the brutality and seeing this poor [...]
March 26, 2008
Simply.Belinda Asks:
Hi Mr Spanky,
I have a cat that lives next door that insists on making a mess all over my veggie patch. What can I do to stop this outrage?
Kind Regards
Belinda
Well, Belinda, Mr Spanky’s busy being cat (as you can see from the photo), so we apologize for his delaying in getting [...]
March 19, 2008
The other day the urban homestead and homesteaders were visited by a film crew from Brazilian TV. As if he doesn’t get enough attention already (daily smooches and tummy rubs), our orange tabby has to hog the spot light. He likes to be where the action is.
Here he is joining Farmer D. I could see [...]
March 12, 2008
Cassidy tip toes among the lovely antique shades of pansies
Cassidy (a.k.a Cassa-sweetie) sitting pretty in the pansy bed
Why so many flowers you ask – can’t eat them? Well, yes you can but we wouldn’t possibly need all these pansies for our family. You are right! Instead we sell the [...]
March 11, 2008
The 100+ year old house next door is being renovated which means that for the last six months or so, we have had lots of activity there. And, the presence of a lot of men. Latino workers, that is.
Generally, this affects us very little. …
Until, Fairlight gets into her once-every-23-days heat cycle [...]
January 25, 2008
THEN: Spanky arrives at the urban homestead NOW: all grown up into a handsome fella
Another baby pic …. and now. Boy, does he sure fill up the chair
Orange Tabby
An urban homestead’s not complete without its collection of cats. Over the years we’ve adopted our fair share of strays and abandon kittens. And our latest [...]
December 18, 2006
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 [...]
November 14, 2006
Hey Pasadena residents, write or call your local councilperson telling them to “SAY NO TO COAL.” We want Pasadena to remain a “Green City.” Mark your calendar for the Nov 20 City Council meeting!
BOOKMARKS
City may renew coal dealEnvironmentalists shun contract extension
PASADENA – Green-energy advocates are fuming over the possibility Pasadena might rush a [...]
November 2, 2006
Two posts in one day! What’s the world coming to? So without any further delay…. drum roll please.
PTF’s Peddler’s Wagon – – Sustainable and Practical Wares for the Urban Pioneer.
Rolling into a cyber town near you… We are pleased to announce the arrival of “The Peddler’s Wagon”
Please note: There are still LOTS of [...]
October 18, 2006
by Anais in Barnyard, Garden, Goats, Homestead, News, Pets, Posts by Anais, Rainwater Harvesting, Water, Water
Entrance of animal enclosure, side backyard garden, middle backyard, entrance
to garden
The likelihood of one individual being right increases in direct ratio tothe intensity with which others try to prove him wrong.
–Leonore Fleischer (Heaven Can Wait, the novelization. Originally written
by Elaine May and Warren Beatty in the movie of the same name)
Here’s a brief run [...]
September 1, 2006
On the Front Lines
There’s something wrong with our citrus trees (lemon, orange, lime, tangerine) this year. Not only is it affecting the dwarf citrus in wine barrels it’s also attacked our two 10 year old ones that are in the ground. Having never seen this type of disease before in all the many, many years [...]
May 18, 2006
by Anais in Barnyard, Community, Garden, Goats, Homestead, News, Pets, Posts by Anais, Updates, Weather
Ceolan as a baby
Baby Pics
Has it already been a week since our goat adventure? My, how time flies! And to think we are almost through 1/2 a year already!
Jordanne got these baby pics of Ceolan off the theCladdagh Farm website. Her pink nose is pretty cute (that sold Jordanne!) and not found very often in [...]
May 2, 2006
by Anais in Barnyard, Bicycle, Energy, Homebrew Biodiesel, Homestead, Pets, Posts by Anais, Solar Power, Transportation
Cat in the bunny’s home, Ringo sleeping on a carpet of thyme, & Cassidy being
naughty
Cat Stevens (the tabby) loves to go into the animal enclosure to hang out with the ducks, chickens and rabbit. Now, for some reason, he loves to climb into Sierra’s (our rabbit) hutch and sit in her bed. Silly cat in [...]
April 7, 2006
One step at a time….
No mention of rain today, I promise! Yesterday we visited anearby city college to participate in their Earth Day festival. Jules gave power point presentation:
Bringing the Eco Revolution Home
“Path to Freedom is an “urban homestead” in Pasadena. The Dervaes family has opened their home and hearts to sharing a lifetime of [...]
February 26, 2006
by Anais in Barnyard, Compost, Earthen (Cob) Oven, Garden, Greywater Reclamation, Homestead, Kitchen, News, Pets, Posts by Anais, Seeds, Skills & Crafts, Updates, Water, Weather
Part of front and back yard
Good news, more rain is on the way Monday, into Tuesday and more chance on Thursday! Around 6 am this morning we spotted geese flying North. A sure sign that winter is coming to a close.
This morning a noxious smell of gas hung heavy in the air. We checked [...]
December 13, 2005
Yesterday the guys spent the day taking shoveling out the old dirt from under the concrete and putting in a few new raised beds.
All this work has been taken place in the area surrounding the four kiwi plants that are growing on a pergola. Last evening, while we were eating dinner on the back porch, [...]
December 8, 2005
by Anais in Barnyard, Depaving, Garden, Greywater Reclamation, Homestead, Journey Reflections, Pets, Posts by Anais, Rainwater Harvesting, Stocking Up & Storing, Water
Designing a new backyard garden
Now that there’s more space since the concrete’s been removed, now what? Just kidding, there’s been some progress, we’ve added three new raised beds to finish off the raised bed garden area (shown in upper left corner of photos).
For the remaining newly open ground it will be more of a sunken [...]
October 16, 2005
by Anais in Barnyard, Community, Homestead, Outreach, Pets, Posts by Anais, Skills & Crafts, Weather
New kitty
This adorable male tabby was rescued from a horrific death up the street. A neighbor lady brought the wailing cat (barely two weeks old) to our home, saying that its mother and other siblings were being killed and if we didn’t take this one, this kitty, it too would likely face the same fate. [...]
June 25, 2004
RIP Cody
This is the hardest post I’ve ever had to write….
I have sad news….Cody died on Wednesday night of congestive heart failure — he had just turned 1 yo on June 1. We could tell something was wrong starting a little over a week ago, and his condition started to deteriorate rapidly over the [...]
June 14, 2004
by Anais in Barnyard, Community, Fertilizers, Garden, Highlights, Homebrew Biodiesel, Homestead, Kitchen, Menu Planning, News, Outreach, Pets, Posts by Anais, Skills & Crafts, Transportation, Updates, Waste, Water
BACK ONLINE
You can tell from the lack of postings here on the diary, that things weren’t normal. Our computer crashed on Tuesday (June 1st) or was Wednesday — whatever!????
Anyhow, the urban diary posts were silent for awhile but things around the homestead are just the opposite (as you will soon tell from this long posting).
What’s [...]
November 19, 2003
Part of November’s garden
Already dreaming of next year’s garden – drooling, thumbing through dog-eared seed catalogs. We’re making notes of which new things we’d like to try and which varieties failed, reminding ourselves that we’ll have to use self-control with heirloom tomato. Even though the descriptions and names sound so tempting, we need to stick [...]
October 2, 2003
Cassidy Ringo Cody
KALIFORNIA KITTIES…
otherwise known as the C.C.R gang! Yep, we are now a three cat household. The cats are: Cassidy, a stray, dumped off on our street as a kitty; Ringo another stray who was given to us; and now Cody who is one of Cassidy’s three kittens.
A week old A [...]
August 18, 2003
by Anais in Barnyard, Homestead, Kitchen, Pets, Pickling & Preservation, Posts by Anais, Stocking Up & Storing, Transportation
2 heads are better than 1
Finally got around to uploading somenew duck pics. They have certainly grown and are really sweet!
As we look into the possibilities of alternative fuels such asSVO (simple vegetable oil) andbiodiesel, I came across this site calledDrive 55 Conservation Project. Not only is driving fast dangerous but it also is more [...]
March 12, 2003
We are trying to track down some plastic food grade barrels for rainwater collection. We found a guy on CalMAX (California Materials Exchange: Classified Re-use Ads. This site offers some really neat stuff — sometimes wish we had a truck to go and pick it all up!) who sells used barrels for about $6. The [...]
December 5, 2002
Bottles up!
We have been trying to collect bottles when delivering to the restaurants and caterers to put in some of the garden beds for both useful and decorative functions. I really would like some blue bottles that they use for mineral water… but, they are hard to find.
We finally have a new, colorful brochure [...]
October 20, 2002
Yeah, I know this picture has nothing to do with our homesteading project, but I thought it was soooo cute, I had to put it up. Isn’t Cassidy (AKA “Pudy Tat”) so adorable?
OK, now down to business. We are continuing re-design the yard, trying to maximize and incorporate more edible fruits into the yard.
Weather [...]
