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.
[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!
“.. I was wondering if you could just point me in the right direction towards organic duck feed? I am not finding ANY sources that carry organic feed for them–especially not for the baby ducklings.”
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
A Homegrown Revolution Roots In Pasadena (PASADENA NOW)
By TRICIA AREND
Published: Monday, July 13, 2009 | 5:36 PM
Gardener and urban homesteader Jules Dervaes is growing a revolution in his Pasadena home. Dervaes’ little urban garden plot that could has led him to found the Path To Freedom and Little Homestead in the City, a sustainable resource [...]
Via THE FILM YAP.com
“HomeGrown” is a documentary about a family running an urban organic farm that holds a twofold fascination: The amazing process by which the Dervaes clan reaps such a bountiful harvest from a miniscule piece of land, and the way living in tune with nature binds them together as a family.
Jules is the [...]
As I suspected our harvest total for June is slightly down from previous years thanks to a cooler than normal June which delayed the ripening of quite a bit of our crops here on the urban homestead.
July is, well, looking like normal July so we should easily get back on track with our average harvest [...]
Dawn (of “Dixie & Dawn” pair of Khaki Campbell ducklings who were our first forays into raising ducks back in 2003) has gone, well how can I put it, absolutely broody.
Dixie, her companion, quietly passed away (in Jordanne’s arms) right before we got four new ducklings in 2007 (all named after Louisa May Alcott Little [...]
It’s that time again to empty out the simple cinder block compost bin that we dumped most of our green/yard and animal bedding waste in. It stands 5 bricks high and 5 wide. We use the lazy method of composting – dump, leave & empty. Yeah, we aren’t too big on the intricacies of composting – [...]
Summertime garden
IN SEASON
By Deborah Geering
For the Journal-Constitution
Thursday, April 02, 2009
When I walked into the Urban Homesteading workshop at the Georgia Organics annual conference a couple of weeks ago, I was expecting a speaker who was —- well —- a little nutty. After all, what kind of person does it take to turn a 1/5-acre suburban [...]
Sorry for the lack of postings recently. Two weeks ago our family feel victim to a nasty flu bug that has been going around. Though we took considerable measures like herbs to combat the sickness the virus just had to take its natural course (though the symptoms were considerably less, thanks to mega [...]
(please note post was written yesterday – Wednesday )
Amen and pass the pitchfork. It’s a clear and sunny day! Honestly, the rain was getting a little much – too wet all at once.
No more soggy clothes and mucking boots for awhile at least.
It’s been so dreary and wet that we had to rig up a [...]
First off, thank you all for the wonderful anniversary wishes. We really appreciate them and we are glad to be on the path with so many kindred spirits.
After I posted the entry I got to thinking “you know that post is sort of incomplete” It just mentioned when our internet activism began and it failed [...]
Another busy week. Sheesh, when was the last time I’ve considered any week to be a regular ol’ “slow” one. I should just accept the fact that every week from now on is just going to be insane.
Rainy Day
It’s been raining practically ALL day. Good for the garden! What a blessings. It’s not often that [...]
Rain is making everyone giddy and jumping for joy. Rain, rain come & stay is our ditty. Or we can sing the phrase that Jordanne likes to say when she’s thrilled about something — “happy, happy, joy, joy”
It was pouring last night and showers still lingered throughout the day and well into this evening with an [...]
Plots of opportunity on urban eco-farms (The Natural Food Merchandiser)
by Vicky Uhland
The Dervaes family’s 1,500-square-foot vintage Craftsman bungalow, set on a standard city lot a mile from downtown Pasadena, Calif., is an unlikely homestead for a working farm. And yet Jules Dervaes and three of his children manage to grow 350 varieties of plants and [...]
click here for more videos like this
Part Four: Elizabeth Chambers interviews Jordanne Dervaes about the care of the chickens and ducks and tours the chicken coop.
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Part Three: Elizabeth Chambers interviews Jordanne Dervaes about the care taking of the farm animals on the urban homestead.
“Heirloom,” “heritage,” “antique,” and “rare” are all names for animal breeds that have been around for a while and may now be in danger of extinction.
These breeds are threatened because agriculture [...]
Left to right: Jordanne, Blackberry (goat) & Jules, solar oven, backyard garden with earthen oven, outdoor solar shower
PROMISING RETURN TO THE PAST
A farm based in the middle of urban LA
August 9, 2008 La Opinion
Lourdes López
View Original Article
[English Translation]
The ordinary Dervaes house shines like any other one in the Pasadena area, located on the side of [...]
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Host Elizabeth Chambers chats with Jordanne about the benefits of citified farm animals.
Since 2002, Jordanne and her family have shared their urban homestead with a menagerie of animals — chickens, ducks, two rescued cats, red wiggler worms (which compost garbage) and two goats (Nigerian Dwarf and a Pygmy goat. [...]
The duckies were a little jealous over all the attention of their fellow mates. They are right, we really haven’t posted many duck photos lately!
Our little quackers – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy
Whatcha looking at?
Ah, there’s Old Clem again. Has to check out everything!
Our citified farm animals, bringing smiles to so many people
As oldest living chicken here on the urban homestead (over 6 years and still clucking away), Miss Clementine has been featured in by quite a few media outlets that have been done about our urban homesteading project. She’s our little star and she knows it. And [...]
A fellow Pasadena blogger commented about using our duck eggs for the first time. It’s really neat to read other’s experience using fresh, homeraised eggs.
Read what she had to say (thanks Jill for the nod!)
A side note about our ducks, since folks are asking. We have Khaki Campbell (or just Campbell) [...]
Our fellow farmsteaders in South Pasadena have loads of duck eggs courtesy of their flock of over a dozen ducks. Jordanne takes full responsibility for turning them into urban quackers a couple years back when they dropped by our urban homestead one afternoon right after our first batch of baby ducks arrived back in [...]
Some Bold Steps to Make Your Carbon Footprint Smaller
Help us help others. Spread the word about PathtoFreedom.com urban sustainability mission and the urban homesteading lifestyle (unforunately, NY Times failed to mention the website). Share this video with your all friends, family and anyone interested in making the world a better place to live. Together we can make [...]
Chicken and duck eggs from our gals (like these green egg baskets, you can get some yourself here)
Our girlies are certainly popping out lots of eggs thanks to the longer days and warmer weather. We’ve been enjoying egg salad sandwiches with homegrown chives, green onions and celery.
Now I really should do something more [...]
