Now that fall is just around the corner I can honestly say this was the COOLEST summer (ever), well, that I can remember. From June-August there were only two or three “really hot” weeks. So Cal gardeners, how did the cool summer affect your garden? Did you find it an easier or harder growing season?
The baby ducky episode is quickly coming to a close. Pretty soon these “quacker doodles” won’t want to be seen in public and there’ll be less and less pics of them here at LHITC.
Here’s some really cute photos that Justin took of the now 2+ week old duckies – they certainly are growing fast! Just to point out as it seems some folks are confused — this is our THIRD time raising ducklings (started our first flock 8 years ago)
The little peepers are sure growing fast! They graduated from the kiddie pool to the big one last week and are eating greens.
“Momma duck” took the little peepers swimming today (under close supervision of course)! I know, you are saying, “but they are only 3-4 days all and that goes against all the stuff in books!” We are pretty radical in our approach to raising poultry
Khaki Campbell (a heritage breed) babies have arrived on the urban homestead. Khaki Campbell’s are an excellent duck breed for the urban homestead. Medium size, they are relatively quite, good layers (they don’t go broody) and are consider land ducks so all the need is a shallow tray of water to be happy.
Raising chickens naturally and holistically has been a passion for Jordanne these last nine years. During those years she’s acquired a lot of knowledge and know how which is now available to help you naturally boost your backyard flock.
[the] Dervaes Gardens sits practically on top of a Pasadena, California, freeway and is only blocks away from the famous Rose Bowl. Outside are all the trappings of twenty-first-century life: automobiles, satellite dishes, supermarkets, car washes, and stores…
June is the tipping point month were things can either go up hill or downhill … and fast! So far, we are holding steady. Some things are growing well, while others not so much.
Beekeeping is slightly more involved than say keeping ducks or chickens. Sure the bees do most of the work, but you have to stay on top of your hive maintenance – no slacking. Besides, bees are independent – they don’t listen to nobody!
The harvest weigh-in is in for the month of April
Produce (veg, fruit, herbs) – 555 lbs
Eggs (chicken) 83 (duck) 51
2010 Year to Date Tally
Total: 1,220 lbs
Eggs (chicken) 260 (duck) 132
Coming up!
Reckon ya’ll are ready for another pictorial post?
Giving her warm baths during the egg binding crisis
We’ve dealt with our fair share of problems & pain – having more animal increases the chance of one running into some illness, injury and even death. That’s a farm life – nature gives and nature takes away.
Dawn had a leg injury awhile back – with a [...]
“Earth is crammed with heaven
And every bush aflame with God
But only those who see take off their shoes.”
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet
April just on whooshed by and brrr is it ccccold.
Spring just up and left, it feels like December – we got over 5/8 of inch or rain and can you believe there’s snow on [...]
Good little article but there are some slight misstatements. 1.) We grow 99 percent of our PRODUCE not diet 2) We do buy supplement animal feed (grains pellets) oh, and our goal is “ZERO” food miles!
Path to Freedom conserves water while cutting ‘food miles’ from Dervaes family’s carbon footprint
By Carolyn Neuhausen PASADENA WEEKLY
On a quiet [...]
It’s been awhile since we’ve posted how Amy’s doing these days.
She’s doing well. Slowly, oh so slowly, improving. Thanks to concern and feedback from one of our readers after I wrote her describing Amy’s present symptoms, we’ve both come to the conclusion that she could be very well suffering from a very, very bad pinched/pulled [...]
Sorry, a little tardy on posting our harvest totals for February.
Here they are
Produce (fruits, veggies, herbs) 138 lb 13 oz
Eggs Chicken 63 Duck 19
Psst, join our growing (free) social network for gardeners
Now to the biggest, best farming conference in the West!
Monterey Bay/Asilomar, EcoFarm Conference Jan 20-23
Before the conference started, we needed a place to stay for night or two before we were given our designated rooms on the conference grounds and were blessed with a place to stay beachside. (A big thanks to the Bakke family [...]
Meadow Vista Jan 17-18
Saying our goodbyes to all the wonderful folks at Nevada City Wild & Scenic Festival (read all about it in case you missed it!), it was time to mosey down the mountain to a little one stoplight town nestled amongst the pines, Meadow Vista, where we were to meet up with a [...]
We are back after a wet (cold) and wonderful trip to Northern California. Arriving home late last night after a long but gorgeous drive down the coast!
Details and photos of our trip coming soon (have to remember everything that happened – certainly crammed in a lot in such a short time) Have tons of photos [...]
Amy (in the middle)
Amy (middle center) walking better (more centered in her alignment)
It’s been awhile since I wrote about Amy and I know many of you readers who are interested in Amy’s progress from her (lower neck/wing/back – whatever) injury (read about it here).
Why the guessing? We couldn’t afford to pay for an x-ray [...]
Here at LHITC we’ve dedicated lots of entries to the crazy antics of our chickens and goats — even our cats. The ducks have quacked their objection, informing me they are just as cute and would like equal coverage.
They are right (sorry) and I’ve obliged them their request.
Because of the rain, we turned over the [...]
Looking to the right…..
To the left. The garden is all tucked in under covers
20, 26, 28 It’s not, um. shall we say “measurements” but what the thermometer’s read these past three nights. BRRRRR
Homesteading, urban homesteading for the matter, in the city – especially in Southern California– one really has it “easy” when it [...]
“The Freedom Garden Harvest challenge was started to get more people growing food and also adding up what they grow and harvest, instead of going to the store. Many are surprised by the amount of food that they can actually grow in a small space.”
From our 1/10 acre plot, our November harvest weighs in at
Produce [...]
Amy walks to the drinking bowl after her daily water bath
For those of you who have been following the saga of Amy here’s an update.
If you are just new to the blog read about her story here, here and here
She molted well and is eating like horse and gaining weight – all good signs. Her [...]
For those of you who have been following our injured duckies saga – here’s an update.
She’s been doing well but still has a slightly crunched/crooked neck. Within the first three weeks we saw a drastic (incredible) improvement giving her ligament/vitamin supplements, massage and water treatments. But now there’s been sort of a standstill (not that [...]
Anaïs and Jordanne Dervaes give a video tour of the Pasadena homestead where they keep chickens, ducks, and goats (VIEW ONLINE VIDEO FEATURE running time 4:00 minutes)
LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE ONLINE EXTRA
By Wendy Witherspoon LAmag.com, October 19, 2009
If you’ve ever looked at your pet dog (especially after “cleaning up” the lawn) and wondered when he was [...]
I know many of our readers would like to know how our duckie is doing (read about her injury). Like I mentioned she has good days and bad but we are seeing improvements.
This last week we’ve penned off an area in the animal enclosure so she can hang out during the day with her buddies [...]
A “getting caught up” posting with a little bit of this, that and this thrown in for good measure!
Though we are a few day’s into fall the temperatures are more like summer and thanks to a mild santa anna wind it’s not only turned up the heat but as if someone’s turned on a blow [...]
Last week and a half was a rough one, really rough – still is.
I know many of you who have been following the duckie saga on our Facebook accounts – thanks for your concern and prayers.
One of our duckies sustained a bad neck injury. It happened when the duckies were rough housing – seems to have [...]
