May Harvest Tally

528 lbs produce
Eggs 124 (Duck) 76 (Chicken)

2011 Year to Date Tally

1,466 lbs produce
Eggs: 610 (Duck) 266 (Chicken)

Farming in the City

Typical morning at the farm

After chores, Friday is typically our biggest day for order.   Start picking & packing (from about 6 am – 11 am) for the Front Porch Farm Stand customers and our restaurant clients

Today, for instance,:

15 +lbs mixed salad
15+lbs of other greens (kale, chard, arugula, mustard and more)
Couple dozen boxes of nasturtiums
Few bunches of herbs (cilantro, mints, lemon verbena, etc)
Few dozen chicken and duck eggs
Honey, bread ( delivered from local artisan bread maker), preserves, herb butter and more

Living Off 1/10 Acre

Reducing food miles, growing food security right in our own backyard!

$75,000 in savings growing 99% of our produce  for family of four

~400 flora varieties in a growing season

$20,000 + in gross sales

Our living expenses are very low as we live quite simply - making do, wearing out and using up what we have.   Our out-of- pocket expenses include utilities,  federal/state tax,  CA FTB sales tax, business licenses fees,  annual property taxes, and insurance.

Here's a helpful "Money Tree" showing the aspects of our outreach & lifestyle

With only a few weeks left till spring, winter isn’t over with us just yet.

After pretty dry & rather warm start to 2011, February ended with a few cold snaps and storms blowing in.    The last storm dumped over 2 inches of rain and brought snow to some parts of LA!  We did get a bit of slushy, mushy "hail like" stuff for a minute.  The mountains that form the dramatic backdrop to the LA basin were covered in snow and that was a majestic sight to behold.

The last few nights have been cold (26 degrees at “Lettuce Level”)  but so far all the greens and vegetables under the row covers are doing just fine.    Since the stone fruits flowered so early we a bit worried that the recent rains and cold will have an affected on the crop this year.   Not only affecting the flowering but the pollination.

This years eats are at the mercy of the weather so we are hoping for a good year and bountiful harvest

February 2011 Harvest Totals

Produce: 118 lbs

Eggs:  38 Chicken    127 Duck

Year to Date Tally

Produce: 411 lbs

Eggs: 46 Chicken    185 Duck

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?

After a decade of keeping harvest records, this year even with historic weather records, plagues of bugs and dealing whatever mother nature threw at us we are amazed that we are going to break our record 6,200 lbs (  3 ton) harvest from our 1/10 acre garden [See 2001-2009 Harvest Chart]

We thought it would be fun to have our readers try and guess how much pounds we harvested this past year.

To help get you started, check out last month's tally thru November

The rules are simple, one entry per person

Winners will receive a Little Homestead in the City calendar

Contest ends Wednesday January 5 at midnight PST

Good luck!

Living in Southern California, there's not really much down time for us homesteaders-farmers.  Only one more month left in 2010 and already projects and plans are being hatched for 2011.

Jordanne & I are working on the middle bed room/turned craft room.  Trying to get a grip on organization and such (folks are always giving us fabrics and yarn... and books!).  Like to turn it into a music room too.

The other day we had another evening of music.  Sure wish I had taken pictures!  It was quite the quaint scene with two girls in the kitchen strumming away on banjo and guitar while apple butter bubbled on the stove top.  Oh, and not to mention chocolate cake!

Now that the whole backyard garden is protected in floating row cover the farming chores turn to pruning the fruit trees, finding places for some "homeless" edibles along with cleaning up dead underbrush and fallen leaves (turning that into next year's soil)

In the barnyard, we are looking forward to adding to our chicken flock next spring.   The hardest part is which heritage breed to choose.    Chooks are like cookies, you can't have just ONE!  We LIKE them all but, alas, can't happen.  Should we get more Belgian banties or cochins?  What about some Barred Rocks, Wyndottes or Orphington.   Jeez, we are going to have to pick - eeny, meeny, miney moe!

The feral bee hive we saved from the Arroyo Seco is thriving and feasting on the flowering perennial basil, avocado and citrus.

We are pretty excited about the harvest totals this year.   Goes to show you that small spaces can be productive (and beautiful) if you grow the soil first!  I'm even amazed that after 10 years of intensive growing efforts continues to put out such high yields.  Sorta reminds me of the widow and the olive oil Bible story.    The earth gives back blessings with faith and hard work.

Here's another round of snapshots from the urban homestead - enjoy!

Kumquats, can't wait till these babies ripen!

Micro greens

Broccoli

Watercress growing in hanging basket aquaponics system

Snow peas and blue skies

Estella who acts more like Charlie Chaplin

Can we join you up there?

Sleeping duck

Enjoying the morning sunshine

Rinsing clothes

Hung out to dry (yep, those be bloomers)

Nothing like the smell of sun dried laundry on a winter's day

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Honestly, there were times when we didn’t think our little place could ever produce 3 TONS of food. Mission, IMPOSSIBLE… or so we thought. (Many of the trees aren’t even mature and are only a few years old, so could it be possible that this little space of ours could reach close to 8,000 lbs in a couple years’ time????) Just imagine if everyone in urban, suburbanite areas in America grew a garden (any size), how much food there’d be! Never say never, dream big dreams, reach for the stars … it’s possible.

- Journal entry Jan 1, 2004

In 2003 our little garden produced what some folks would say impossible,  6,000 lbs ( 3 tons) from ONE TENTH of an acre.

This month, we are pretty excited to report (drum roll please!) that the record of 6,200 lbs harvested in year (2004) has been broken and we still have one month to go!

One would think we'd turn cartwheels, bang on a few drums and send out invitations to a huge harvest party at this news but rather we feel that pulling in so much produce under such conditions was in fact a miracle and truly a wonderful blessings.

2010 proved to be a mighty challenging year - hot spring, cold summer, record breaking heat in fall,  invasive bagrada (harlequin bugs) and now early winter.

We had good harvest this month of guavas, guavas and more guavas!  Also harvested a bunch more squash, the last of the tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers  and the extremely filling and highly nutritious lima beans.    However, some harvest just didn't pan out.  Take for instance the pomegranates.  We had averaged over 65 lbs every year but not this year:  we got a miserly and pathetic 6 lbs.

Ah the joys of farming, more like being on a roller coaster ride if you ask me.  This year it seemed we are riding the Mad Hatter.

November Harvest

492 lb Produce

Nada, zilch chicken or duck eggs

First time we've gone an ENTIRE month without eggs.  Jordanne tells me that we aren't the only ones in the So Cal area, she's heard from others that are reporting little to no eggs.  Jordanne will be writing about winter egg production at Barnyards and Backyards

2010 Year to Date Harvest Totals

6,396 lbs of Produce

131 lbs of Honey

293 Duck Eggs

706 Chicken Eggs

Home gardens could grow 50% of humanity’s food supply on less than 10% of the world’s arable farmland.  -- energybulletin.net

Urban Agriculture Promotes Food Safety And Security

• The United States Department of Agriculture reports that Victory Gardens produced an estimated nine to ten million tons of fruits and vegetables, more than 40% of the nation’s crop, through the nearly twenty million gardens planted in Americans’ backyards and instilled the art of canning into urban life.
• Approximately every $1 invested in a garden yields $6 worth of fruits and vegetables.

Here on the homestead, we've surpassed last years harvest tally!  Even with the wacky weather and a few bug infestations.

September Harvest Totals

638 lbs Produce

9 Duck Eggs

85 Chicken Eggs

2010 YEAR TO DATE TALLY

5,516 lbs Produce

131 lbs Honey

287 Duck Eggs

682 Chicken Eggs

Growing Your Own Groceries?

So who here’s a Tallier? Care to share y0ur garden harvest totals? Whether it’s just a handful or a couple hundred pounds – all helps towards reducing our food print!

After a week of hot & muggy temps, the weather's been absolutely incredible.  I have to pinch myself, doesn't feel like summer.  Definitely not complaining - it's perfect.

Almost too perfect.

Not quite sure what the cooler than normal temps will do to the summer crops but the weigh in for July stands in at

JULY HARVEST

Honey: 81 lbs

Produce: 1,110 lbs (this is NOT a typo)

Eggs:  45 Duck  / 63 Chickens

2010 YEAR TO DATE TALLY

3650 lbs  Produce

81 lbs Honey

250 Duck Eggs

503  Chicken Eggs

Keeping track of our harvest keeps on on track with our growing efforts.   Over the last decade we have show that small can be beautiful and productive.   Folks often wonder how it is that we grow so much on a 1/10 acre (if an acre is, say, $1.00, we are growing on a dime)   We don't take kindly to empty space,.  Every space is utilized whether it be the parking strip or growing vertically against a cinder block wall.   The smallness of the property has forced us to compact our thinking/growing efforts to make use of the space that is available to us.

Another part of our success has to do with succession plantings, crop rotation and the cultivation of the soil.   Not only are we growing food for substance and subsistence but we are improving our surroundings.    Folks often tell us that just as soon as they step foot on the property that "the air smells better."  Could it be that our little farm is also improving the air quality?  Could it be all these plants are helping to clean the air?  I would certainly thinks so and wouldn't be interesting if someone from Cal Tech or JPL would come and do a study and check up on what our noses are picking up.

It all comes down to quality of life and by growing something, anything you are improving your life one step at time.

How's does your garden grow?

Have you  joined the 100 Foot Diet Challenge?

How's everyone's garden growing?

I know it's a little early but are you sensing this will be a good year, harvest wise?   Are you keeping track of your growing efforts by tallying up the harvest?  If so, care to weigh in?

We had a good spring - green wise.  Also were pleasantly surprised with the wonderful heads of cabbage we were able to grow this year.  To get an early start on any signs of blight Farmer Justin's been spraying the tomatoes with our homemade nettle tea (note to self: brew some more!)

Right now more root crops are coming in (beets, turnips, carrots, garlic, onions) and this week, we harvested a bunch of beans.  Looking forward to pickling up a bunch this week.   A few green peppers are ripe - cucumbers, tomatoes are not far behind.  On the fruit front, blueberries are ripe and ready for picking and the apples are just about ready too.  The first flush of strawberries are over - they've been put up (canned and frozen).  This morning, I wandered about the garden taking stock of what will be coming in this week while preparing meals and planning preservation in my head and on paper.

The veggies and fruit couldn't have come at a better time as our pantry's been pillaged over the fall, winter and early spring.  We used our last can of tomatoes just a few weeks ago, not to mention we are plum out of dilly  beans, squash pickles, pickled garlic, cucumber relish, marinated peppers, apple butter and are running very low on fruit jams.

Tis the season for herbs!  They are filling in nicely so will have to start harvesting a bunch to dry.

May Harvest tally is in here at the urban homestead!

590 lbs of Produce

41 Duck   112 Chicken Eggs

Year to Date

1,810 lbs Produce

372 Chicken   173 Duck Eggs

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