Caretakers of creation

Celebrating Creation & Holy Week with all sorts of outreach!

Although we couldn't attend all the events we were invited to (sorry, folks, perhaps next year!)  due to conflict of schedules with Holy Week, we still did have a jam packed week!!!

In Pasadena, there was a  "Harvest Homesteaders" canning class, now going on three years in a row.    Jordanne and  I agreed that these girls were the best yet.   All the jam made that morning will be donated to a local food bank.  Great job girls!

Next, Jordanne and Farmer D headed off to another school where they were guests at a school assembly (where our two bantie chickens made appearances).

After watching our film Homegrown Revolution,  all the kids were chanting "Blackberry, Blackberry, Blackberry!"   Farmer D spoke to the kids about the importance of "food miles."  The students  were all eyes and ears!

Then we were  off on a small road trip where our family was the  special honorary guest, once again, of the wonderful community of Palm Springs.   We had to leave Justin behind.  Well, actually, he REALLY wanted to stay home because, just as we were about to leave, I spotted a pretty decent swarm going into one of Justin’s traps (more about the free-bees later!)

After the screening of our award winning film and Q & A session, a local organic dinner was served - pretty neat to see a dish of nopales (cactus).    A BIG thank you to Leslie, Ward,Geraldine & Yolanda for their extraordinary hard work and warm hospitality in Palm Springs and to local teacher Lauren and administrator Jill for some great interaction with kids.

The weather was pretty wild in Palm Springs - it WAS REALLY windy!   "White caps" were spotted in the pool of the spa where we stayed.

The drive was LOVELY.  Usually on road trips, I dose off; but Southern California is gorgeous this time of year, the hills green and gold with wild mustard.  And, last, but not least, on the way home we stopped  in Corona to see our favorite farm and farmer to pick up some wonderful farm bounty.

I sure wished I could have enjoyed the trip and outings more.  But earlier  that day, I reached up and something "popped" (shudder) and I had back/shoulder pain the whole time.  Man,  it hurt so badly I could hardly lift my arm to give out HUGS (they ended more like awkward chest bumps!)

Once home, I put a hot water bottle on my back and after a good night's sleep, my shoulder is MUCH better.  Ahhhh.   Sure glad it’s better. I was worried there for a bit,  knowing I had a arms length of “heavy duty” chores waiting when I got back.

Hope everyone had a blessed and meaningful Holy Week.

Cutting up local organic strawberries purchased from farmer's market

Mashing!

Filling up the jars

Putting on the tops

Morning assembly

Educating about food miles

What's in the box?

A BIG squash!

Estella shows off

Desert Hot Springs

Introducing the film to eco particpants

This guy had a pretty cool wind mill - I want one!

Ahhh, paradise.

Welcoming the kids

Kicking off spring with our first school tour of the season.

The tour started off by explaining what an urban homestead is and how it can reduce our dependency on outside sources.

"From the things we have to do before we can learn them; we learn by doing them." -- Aristotle

As we went through our front yard, we explained that not only is the yard our “grocery store" but it is also our "pharmacy”  as we pointed out all the edible plants and herbs.

Upon entering the backyard, the kids began to “oooh and aaah” as a whole new world opened up right before their very eyes.    We asked the students if they knew how many miles their food traveled and gave them tips how to eat more locally.

As we gathered into the main patio and the students took their seats, the fun began!   First,  it’s “Smell 'n Tell”  as we  handed  out fragrant herbs from the garden to test their olfactory senses.

It’s not only about smell but taste, too.  So,  I whipped up some fresh chard wraps stuffed with hummus and tabouli (made with homegrown mints, green onions , parsley and canned tomatoes).   Jordanne pedaled the bike blender to mix up some vanilla yogurt & berry smoothies.   Both were tasty treats for everyone.

Last, but not least,  the "Backyard Barnyard" circus got  paraded out over squeals of delight, as everyone wanted to pet the chickens, ducks and goats.   They were  fascinated how soft the chickens' feathers were and the way the black feathers shone with a tint of green.  The ducks never fail to get laughs as they waddled out. Blackberry, the pygmy goat, as always, was the star of the show and she loved every minute of it.

We wrapped up the educational tour with a Q & A, discussing what small changes they could implement in their daily lives to become a more responsible consumer and caretaker of the planet.

Take a tour along with us...

Pointing out all the edibles in the front yard

Explaining about where our food comes from

Handing out the herbs

Handful of herbs

Smell n tell test

Slurping down pedal powered smoothies

Showing off the fish

and goats

Passing goodies to eat

Rainbow chard

Homemade tabouli

Chard leaf, hummus and tabouli

Makes for a yummy and healthful snack

Eating the chard wraps

- William Wordsworth rewritten for our times

In winter, when surplus greens are scarce, we supplement our backyard poultry's diet with wheatgrass. Justin sows a few dozen trays and each morning the feather menagerie get a flat of "grass" to nibble on.  Boy, do they go to town on the grass flat!

Not only does their health benefit when the chickens/ducks has the opportunity to graze on “grass” but the people's health also benefits from eating their eggs with increased egg nutrition  (high in Omega 3-s and vitamin D)

The old saying "You are what you eat"  comes to mind,  but also what your critters eat too.

Our new batch of ducks have taken to finding their way on top of the goat house and hanging with goatsies.

I think that's rather "odd" behavior since ducks aren't the "roosting" type. During the day our chickens like to perch, hang on a couple old picnic chairs we've placed throughout the animal compound and our older ducks like to nestle UNDER the chairs.

But these new batch of girls they like doing things THEIR way. Now ALL the ducks are too hanging on top of the goat house!

After a bit of a ruckus start introducing them to the older ducks, they are all getting along nicely. In fact, these batch of gals are the friendlies and most gentle ducks we've ever raised!   Instead of scattering when I walk into the compound to feed them, they all come to me, chattering - all excited to see "mummy."  We have a bit of a causal conversation, darned if I know what we are talking about but we do and they seem pleased.

Thank you for coming up and making our first (of hopefully many) "Homestand’s" a positive and successful event (estimated nearly 200 dropped in throughout the day).    Also a big thank you to those who came bearing homemade gifts and complimentary comments.   We appreciate your support!

Like to acknowledge all those who came as far as Redlands, Temecula, Palos Verdes and other surrounding cities!

Justin demos on how to make soil blocks

We know at times it got pretty hectic and swamped to where we couldn’t personally attend to everyone and your lists of questions.  We were so busy, we even didn’t around to doing some of the demo’s/skill share we had planned (canning, chickens, etc)!  Thank you for your understanding & patience as we know many of you wanted to hang around for longer.

Unfortunately, we were so busy (& frazzled at times, running to and fro) we didn't get a chance to snap photos of the even nor did we get around to bringing out the rose petal lemonade - ack!   Jordanne's Chocolate Cake made with ducks eggs sold by the slice was a big hit!   So was the bread, salad and preserves.

Should we do it again NEXT month?  What can we do better?   In fact, we are already working on a list of improvements!  I for one would like to see more foods - perhaps next time we could put a couple tables out with chair?   Ideas, ideas, ideas.

Remember our "Front Porch Farm Stand" is open daily Sun-Fri (10 am - 6 pm) so you can pick up that salad or bread you didn’t get a chance to buy at the stand yesterday.

Thank you for supporting local foods and farms.

:: Resources ::

Soil Block Maker

After an extremely wet December, January's been relatively dry and mild.  For the most part we've been able to have both doors wide open during the day and even venturing outside bare foot.

Seeing and talking with friends back East, seems there's still a LOT of snow and more to come.  Tis' one extreme to another I suppose.

On Sunday we did a major clean up of the urban homestead.   Still to be done is the animal compound - taking out a foot or two of compacted compost that will be this year's new garden soil.   Jordanne's been putting it off because of an old shoulder injury (she got hit while riding a bike by a SUV - the person driving was in the wrong) that flares up in winter.

Much of the back yard garden is under wraps, "floating row covers" that is.  So there's really no purty pictures to be had - though underneath these white clothes are lush carpets of assorted greens and things.  We've even had to cover the snow peas because there's these little birds that pick at the leaves.  Since pea shoots are  such a hot seller at the Front Porch Farm Stand we've had to protect the young pea shoot leaves from being decimated.

The new duckies are laying so there's egg to finally tally.   A few chickens are laying and the others are getting more "talkative" so I suspect they'll be laying any day now.

Here we are again, a new year and a new tally.   After last years record breaking harvest of over 3  1/2 tons ( 7,000 pounds ) of produce, will be interesting to see what this year will bring.  And as any farmer knows it all depends on the weather and keeping the plants healthy to ward off disease and bag bugs.

January Tally

Produce: 293 lbs

Eggs:  Duck 58 / Chicken 8

Like to know if you, readers, or fellow bloggers are Keep Track of your harvest this year?

We are eggstastic (sorry, just had to put that pun in!) that our chooks and ducks are back in the egg business (sorry no extras).  For some reason, this winter (could be because of old age or extreme weather conditions) we weren’t getting any eggs - nadda, zippo, zilch!   Jordanne had to curtail her baking (no chocolate brownies - sniff) and just to have “spare” eggs on hand we picked up a dozen from the South Pasadena farmers market.   Sorta felt weird buying eggs, but at least they were from a local source.

The older (four plus year old) ducks & chickens are passed their prime laying years and the new batch of ducks should be laying  -- any day now, ladies!  We’ll be bringing in a new batch of chicks come Spring so that we can maintain a decent egg production flow here on the urban homestead.

Jordanne’s collected a few local folks who’d like to get in our chick order.    Boy, I can still recall the time (a few years back) that sis and I raised over 150 baby chicks.  Whew, that was some operation!   Backyard chickens were hot, and folks were clamoring on the backyard chicken bandwagon and wanted a local source of naturally raised pullets.   Going to keep things much simpler and smaller this time around – for our sanity!

We still meet people who have said that Jordanne's chickens were the healthiest (and friendliest) they've ever had.  And now that she's put together her super amazing Natural Poultry Formula - you can get your Spring chicks off to a healthy start.

Received a positive phone testimony yesterday. Lady said that Jordanne's selected poultry supplements drastically improved her two sick chickens!!!

Check out Urban Homestead Supply Store for Jordanne's Animal Care Products

Can’t leave the critter compound without snapping a least a few dozen photos of their sometimes crazy antics.

Noon is nap time

zzzzzzz

Crazy Sairey Gamp

Chickens settle down for a nap too

Looking for bugs

Checking out the helicopter that buzzed over the homestead

Sure doesn't look like any bird we know of

With the front porch farm stand’s customers numbers growing on a daily basis, one thing I’ve learned that there’s still much to be done in educating the public about seasonal produce and eggs. Our modern, convenient eating habits are no longer defined by season and place.    Food routes and patterns are forgotten, thanks to the advent of supermarkets.

Local eggs are in such high demand these days thanks to the recent salmonella scare but raising such a small flock here in the city one, unfortunately,  can’t supply the demand.    And it’s dealing with the demand that really tests your commitment to stewardship and sustainability.    It's so easy to slip into "if only we had more land/acreage - more animals."   True, that would help the situation to have a bigger farm; however,  "how big" is too big is the question - one that leads to very lively (sometimes heated) discussions around the dinner table.

Egg production slows down in fall-winter due to molting and less day light hours.   We believe in the humane raising of animals.  Therefore, to supply the demand, would we install "lights" in the coop to "force" our girls to lay in winter?   Or just, like sis (head writer over at Barnyards and Backyards ) says, "Let nature be."  With our 24-7 food culture, there’s a point when some things just aren’t available and it's pointless to "force" even if the method is "harmless."   Our chickens and ducks are happy and our customers should appreciate that fact.

This month I’ve had to tell customers, "Sorry, no eggs, the chickens are moulting."    With a quizzical look they ask, "Moulting?"  "Yeah, that’s right" I answer back ""They are shedding their feathers which stresses them out and so no eggs."    I try to make them feel better and say that we are desperate for fresh eggs too!  The other day Jordanne wanted to bake something only to go to the poultry house and come back with one egg when she needed three.  So guess what?  She had to find another dessert recipe.

Food sustainability is, by far, a great and complicated balancing act and sometimes you just have to let our modern concept of food go.  By raising and growing your own food, you connect with season and place.   Nature is the best teacher, and you learn that you can’t have all food all the time.

:: Resources ::

During autumn, many household poultry keepers, particularly people keeping poultry for the first time, are puzzled because egg production markedly declines or ceases despite their laying birds appearing healthy. This seasonal decline in egg production occurs when birds go into a condition known as the 'moult'.

Moulting is the process of shedding and renewing feathers. During the moult, the reproductive physiology of the bird has a complete rest from laying and the bird builds up its body reserves of nutrients.

The provision of new feathers or a coat (a feature inherent in most animals) is a natural process, designed by nature to maintain a bird's ability to escape enemies by flight and better protect against cold winter conditions.  -- Moulting - how, when and why chickens moult

Scrambled Eggs: Report Spotlights “Systemic” Abuses in Organic Egg Production

Who Owns Organic

Free Range Fiasco

Barnyards and Backyards

For the past 3 days, there's been wet stuff falling from the sky! Yep, 'tis raining!  Quite a dramatic change in that it's 40 degrees COOLER than it was just last week!

Today the rain's coming down nice n'heavy at times.   The rain gauge reads at a little more than 3/4" of an inch.  What a blessing the rain is for the garden and the salad greens.  I'm hoping the harlequin bugs drown in the deluge.

After months without any rain, the cats have already gone stir crazy and giving us humans that  "make it stop so we can go outside" look.  The goats and chickens who hate rain are hiding out; the ducks, on the other hand, are lovin' the wet stuff.

Yeah rain!

Definitely more ideal weather for canning!  Still putting up some amazing homegrown goodies.  Made a bunch of pumpkin butter from our gorgeous heirloom pumpkins.   I kinda hated to cut the beauties up but it was time to put 'em up.  And, then, just when I thought I had the canning under control, Farmer Sergio brought us a truck full of pears and some tomatoes!

With those juicy tomatoes and this lovely basil (below) that's growing in our garden, I am  going to be putting up some more tomato sauce for those long winter months.

Fall crop of basil

Mashing pumpkins

Pears!

Can-a-thon

Is the rain over yet?

]]> http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2010/10/06/falling-from-october-sky/feed/ 9 http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2010/09/14/future-fear-sbs-dateline-2/ http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2010/09/14/future-fear-sbs-dateline-2/#comments Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:36:08 +0000 Anais Dervaes http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/?p=22807

FUTURE FEAR SBS DATELINE (watch video)

Others are approaching the future differently, believing the biggest threats we’re facing are problems that we’ve caused ourselves. Richard Heinberg is one of the world's foremost peak oil experts, who warns that we’re addicted to fossil fuels and must adapt before they run out. David takes us to a Los Angeles suburb to meet the Dervaes family of so-called ‘urban homesteaders’. They've already adapted and are living self-sufficiently and almost entirely off-grid.But are they all being over cautious, or will the rest of us be under prepared?

Heinberg thinks that if we're going to survive, we need to change the way we live.

RICHARD HEINBERG: We've got to work together on this because individual survivalism just isn't going to cut it. You know, if I've got my vegetable garden and my neighbour is starving, then the only way I'm going to be able to continue eating is to stay up all night with my shotgun to make sure no-one goes over the fence. What kind of life is that? We're creating out of this paradise, Earth, we're creating a hell for our descendents. I think it's our duty, not just to somehow try to survive this but to change what we're doing and to create a survivable planet for everyone, for our communities and for our descendants.

I met a family that's doing just that.

JULES DERVAES: Some more tomatoes here, we're about 90% self-sufficient in the summertime because this is all our bounty.

Jules Dervaes lives in Los Angeles, right next to a major highway, but he's turned his backyard garden into a farm.

JULES DERVAES: These are heirloom squash from Italy, and they hang from the trellis here. Just watch your head.

He's got two daughters and a son.

REPORTER: How do you like this yourself?

JUSTIN DERVAES: I love what I do, so I can't complain. I've got a green thumb.

They grow 350 different fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries. They all survive on what's grown here.

JULES DERVAES: This is our barnyard. It's in the city, so we've got a nice little animal enclosure here. We've got five ducks, eight chickens and two goats.

And while I'm there looking at these goats and chickens, I can hear the traffic next door, whoof whoof up and down the highway, but you could be in the middle of the countryside.

JULES DERVAES: We're looking at a planet that has run amok. So you have to be sensitive about which direction you're going. If it's going the wrong direction, it's either you're going to turn around early or you turn around at the edge of the cliff.

Come up here to our store on the front porch - Nice to meet you.

They obviously had a fear for the future too of what's going to happen. But they're going around it in a different way.

JULES DERVAES: This is a completely different dream, we're talking about self-sufficiency, we're talking about neighbourliness, we're talking about a community of helping one another.

ANAIS DERVAES: It has the herbs from the garden. And we've already made some ice-cream. Yeah we have a hand-cranked...

JORDANNE DERVAES: It's cool, yes, it works for us. But it's a little scary because out there, it's no. It's, you know - you could actually forget about the bad things out there.

There seems to be this common strand running through America right now - A fear of the future, and a sense of doom. But I saw people responding in very different ways - from preparing to hide from change, to preparing to make change happen.

JULES DERVAES: So we figure we're preparing ourselves to live simply. I mean this here is riches, but people don't understand. If you look around, you'll see riches here but it's in the form of tomatoes and peppers and animals. So we're going backwards, and I say a step backwards is progress.

Afterthoughts

Though Mr Brill was here for well over four hours, tis a shame that the piece didn't capture the entire workings of the urban homestead - we'd need a whole show or two, there! A seasoned and well traveled journalist, was really taken with the place and after the filming as the sun set we sat down to a homegrown meal (which he enjoyed) there in the garden while Blackberry and Fairlight looked on.

We received an email from one of the SBS staff which said:

"We had so much wonderful footage and it was such a such a shame that we couldn't have included much much more of the Dervaes' in our piece (especially for me as a Researcher who sets up stories and then hands over the reigns to a producer and editor)."

Perhaps if enough folks write in?

The debate continues, what happens when the times turn bad? Escape or take a stand? There are the extreme preppers and practical preppers - what's the future going to be? Is sure is a scary thought, especially for us in the city who have, as urban homesteaders, taken practical steps towards positive change. Of course, it's not just an American problem like it sounded in the piece, we are all are on the same train - though some countries may be slightly behind we are all traveling the same track. One day we are going to have to deal with the future because it's happening now.

So what are you doing to prepare for an uncertain time? Which side are you on?