Setting the table

Lemon slices

Fruit n flowers centerpiece

Hand cranking cream

Tea sandwiches

Tea isn't just for Girls! Guys (with cowboy hats and plaids) are invited too!

Lemon scones

Cake and "Bollywood" movie!

With the cost of gas and food going up, it’s  becoming more economical to throw your own parties at home.

Once again, it was time for "Laura Ingalls to meet Jane Austen" and pull out our grandma’s tea set and china.  (Jordanne’s motto is “What good are pretty things if they collect dust?”)

This time the tea party came with twist.  We topped off the afternoon of English tea with a lighthearted Bollywood movie/musical which everyone enjoyed.

With much of the food coming from the garden and pantry and nothing spent on decorations, we turned our dining room  into a tea parlor.   (It is still a bit cool/dreary for an outside tea party.)   The total cost amounted to what it would cost for one person to go out to a local tea room for tea.  Talk about savings!

Living simply doesn’t mean you have to be austere; actually, you gain imagination, learn a new skill(s) and save money, too! Too often these days, we let even party planning get into the hands of “experts.” There’s a concept in our society that we have to spend more to have more fun. Or that we have to “go out” to find excitement when you can bring all that home.

Tips From Our Tea Party

Thrifty: make do, use what you have or do without - decorations cost us NILL, nothing!
Upcycle: give something a second life , wrap presents in something old like fabric, skirt, pillow cases.
Garden & Citystock: grow your groceries, especially herbs!  Keep a small flock of chickens for eggs.
Kitchen: cook, bake from scratch, take a step further and learn to preserve the harvest.
Crafty & Handy: re-skill, do things yourself.  Invite friends over to help!
Home: bring the revolution home and have fun...at home

On the menu at this Tea Party were  sandwiches, homemade Meyer lemon scones (See Recipe) with home-grown/canned blueberry jam.

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

"Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things." ~Elise Boulding

had to borrow this wonderful quote from Mia

We So Cal folks aren't used to weather.  Yep, word is that we are spoiled and we haven't a clue what to do when weather happens.   But for us weather is good, weather forces us to change routines, get creative and perhaps tackle projects that have been on the "to do list" for ages.

Jammin in the kitchen

Blood orange marmalade

Sunshine in a jar

Fixer up. Tackling the middle bedroom / craft room

Thrift store score Two cute little cabinets

Free, "found on the side of the road shutters." Jordanne's using them to build a "closet" in our bedroom

Keeping the house tidy

Enjoying home life

As the year comes to a close, it's a good time to reflect on steps taken and look forward to future journey's that are just around the bend.

I am hoping during this down town between holidays to FINALLY post pics of our family's trip to New Zealand back in early summer of this year.  We traveled to "Middle Earth"  to attend a film festival for a showing of Homegrown Revolution and while there took a road trip back to see the old homestead were I was born!

Oh, for those of you who are visiting relatives in the area and are emailing and calling inquiring about stopping by.  Yes, the front porch stand is open Sun-Fri (close Sat) from 10 am - 5 pm.

We love meeting new people and we do personally see to each and every customer.

Thank you to our readers who sent us cards, email and a box of chocolates.  It's so nice to receive letters and gifts, they really make our day.

Blessings and happy holidays to you all.

Can't believe last week went by and I only took one, ONLY one, photo of our meals last week.  Sorry to disappoint but I have a list of excuses people! Guess that shows you how busy I am. Going to have to tie that camera around my neck. I'll try to do better next time.

On the food front...

The figs are finally ripe so we devoured our first fig quesadilla of the season. I know, sounds odd but it's soooo delicious!

Harvested another 50 lbs of honey yesterday bringing the harvest honey totals to 130+lbs. There's probably one more honey harvest and then we'll leave the rest to the bees for winter.

In the kitchen, we are putting up peaches, apples, tomatoes, grapes, beans, carrots and more!

In the garden, time to get a jump on fall plantings.  Not too early to kick start the fall garden.

On the web front, Jordanne is working on a program that will allow us to publish our recipes online so stay tuned for that. Not only that but she is working on some other stuff, but for now that's under wraps!

Busy, busy, busy!

Summer's nearly over... my how time flies!

Finally, figs!

Fig quesadillas

WEEK OF EATS AT THE URBAN HOMESTEAD

All food items are homemade/homegrown/home preserved unless otherwise specified

Our Food Pledge

If not from backyard, then locally produced
If not locally produced, then organic.
If not organic, then family farm.
If not family farm, then local business.
If not local business, then fair trade.

SATURDAY

Breakfast - blueberry pancakes with strawberries
Dinner - flour tortillas with spanish rice, topped with sauteed green peppers and red onions

SUNDAY

Breakfast - french toast and honey
Lunch - Saturday dinner leftovers
Dinner - cream of tomato soup with tabbouleh

MONDAY

Breakfast - french toast and honey
Lunch - veggie patty with cucumber and tomato, basil salad
Dinner - leftover tomato soup with homemade bread

TUESDAY

Breakfast - apple crumble
Lunch - veggie patty sandwich with cucumber, tomato and basil salad
Dinner - summer veggie pasta - pickled peppers, tomatoes, peppers and basil

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast -apple crumble
Lunch - veggie patty with rice and cucumber, tomato and basil salad
Dinner - fig quesadillas

THURSDAY

Breakfast - french toast and honey
Lunch - summer veggie pasta - pickled peppers, tomatoes, peppers and basil
Dinner - herb pizza dough topped with tomatoes, basil, peppers, garlic with carrot, raisin citrus dressing salad

FRIDAY

Breakfast - french toast and honey
Lunch - tomato, avocado sandwich with cucumber, tomato and basil salad
Dinner - no knead bread, fresh tomato sauce (tomatoes, onions, peppers, parsley, basil) over spaghetti with salad

What summer time treats/feasts are you enjoying in your neck of the woods? Are you "Eating Closer to Home?"  Then join our food challenge to reduce your FOOD PRINT

Though we haven't posted much in the way of the ongoing impact our little film has had, we are happy to report that our homemade film is still growing strong.

Our short film, Homegrown Revolution (you can buy the DVD here) will be screening at home and abroad.

International Christian Film Festival – UK (Aug 3 – 7)
The Heart of England International Film Festival (Aug 10 – 15)
International Film Festival Ireland (Sept 4 -11)
37th International Fest of Sustainable Development - EKOTop Film, Bratislava, Slovakia (Oct 10 – 15)
International Film Festival USA – Ohio (Oct 12 – 16)
Southern Appalachian International Film Festival (Oct 27 - Nov 14)
International Film Festival South Africa (Nov 1 – 5)

As urban homestead ambassadors, we are hoping to perhaps follow our film. Can't be at all the venues, but it's quite POSSIBLE there's chance we could attend the Appalachian Film Festival in Erwin, Tennessee.

Arrangements/plans are in the works.

Sowing the Revolution

Over the years, we have received lots of invites, and we'd love to go and meet other people and share knowledge, but we have to cover expenses. We accept trips that people have helped with travel expenses, etc... even an extra room for us to crash in or a place to camp.

If we can link several people together and have some paid presentations, the expenses and room and board (meals) can be spread out between multiple groups so no one person has to foot all the bill.

On the JulesDervaes.com website (here's an OVERVIEW), there is a form for people to fill out who want us to travel to their area. If we can group a lot of people together who are willing to do the "leg-work" and all the arrangements, it makes it easier for us to leave the farm for a short time. It's not that we prefer the places we have visited over other places; it those trips were arranged by the hosting groups, and we didn't go into debt to travel there.

In New Zealand, the people who invited us expected only about 50-80 people to attend the presentation...nearly 220 people came and the organizers made more money than they expected.

"The New Brighton Project was lucky enough to have the opportunity to host Jules Dervaes and his family when they recently visited New Zealand. While here, Jules Dervaes presented the workshop Urban Self-Sufficiency- Eating and Living the Sustainable Way in one of our community centres.

His film, Homegrown Revolution, and presentation was very well received. Highly professional, the format was also simple enough that even a novice could 'take something home'.

The power of community was really seen on the day. Such was the popularity of the Dervaes family and the success of modern social networking!

We thoroughly enjoyed having the Dervaes family be a part of our community for a day and would recommend anyone who had the chance to do the same."

-- Rebecca

That reminds me, got to write and share pics from our New Zealand trip!

Last, but not least, there are TWO upcoming TV pieces. One is supposed to air on the Australian SBS TV program DATELINE and the other on MY GENERATION (PBS) produce by KCET's own Val Zavala. We'll keep you posted on both air dates.

Well, there you have it! That's the most recent news from the homefront.

Don't forget to leave us a comment if you are in any of these areas ya hear!

Veggie pot pie filling

Veggie pot pie warm out of the oven

Pasta cooked in the solar oven

Slice of veggie pot pie and salad

Vegetable casserole version one

Version one casserole with salad

Veggie soup

Vegetable casserole version two

Version two with salad

Whew doggie!  It's been a busy week here at the urban homestead   Busy with bees (getting ready to harvest some honey!), battling bad bugs, moving the tender greens to cooler spot in the yard and getting things ready for a major can-a-thon.  I might as well admit to the fact that it'll be awhile before we come up for breath!

The summer produce has been, for the last few weeks, lapping at the dam.  This week it finally topped and now the fun begins.

When the trickle becomes a tidal wave.  you gotta be prepared for the onslaught.  It can come at you fast and, if you aren't prepared, can bowl you over, leaving you buried under a load of veggies and fruit.   For me, this time of year,  there are just too many darn veggies to choose from!  Should I make this dish, or that, or how about this one?   Heck, there are only three meals in a day; but, with the baskets of fruits and veggies, I feel like a kid in a candy store!  I want to eat them all.

This week with so much work, we opted to "keep it simple" and stick with "one pot" meal for lunch which we then can re-heat in the solar oven for dinner.   Saves time and uses a LOT of veggies at once - not to mention it's filling!

The trusted ol' casserole ruled the week as we tried out two versions.

WEEK OF EATS AT THE URBAN HOMESTEAD

All food items are homemade/homegrown/home preserved  unless otherwise specified

and ...

If not from backyard, then locally produced
If not locally produced, then organic.
If not organic, then family farm.
If not family farm, then local business.
If not local business, then fair trade.

SATURDAY

Breakfast - blueberry pancakes with strawberries
Dinner - flour tortillas with spanish rice, topped with sauteed green peppers and red onions

SUNDAY

Breakfast - grapefruit from Farmer Sergio
Lunch - garden tea party!

MONDAY

Breakfast - skillet granola (organic oats, sugar and oil) with strawberries and yogurt
Lunch - vegetable soup (onions, green peppers, turnips, carrots, winter squash and greens)
Dinner - leftover veggie soup that was warmed up in the sun oven

TUESDAY

Breakfast - french toast with honey
Lunch - veggie pot pie (green beans, carrots, turnips, winter squash, herbs) with salad
Dinner - leftover veggie pot pie that was warmed up in the sun oven with salad

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast -skillet granola with strawberries and yogurt
Lunch - veggie medley "Casserole I"  (green beans, carrots, turnips, winter & summer squash and greens) with shredded carrot and lettuce salad
Dinner - leftover veggie soup that was warmed up in the sun oven with sun cooked pasta

THURSDAY

Breakfast - french toast and honey
Lunch - veggie medley "Casserole II"  (green beans, carrots, turnips, winter & summer squash and greens) with salad
Dinner -herb pizza dough topped with tomatoes, basil, peppers, garlic with salad

FRIDAY

Breakfast - grapefruit
Lunch - leftover veggie "Casserole II" with salad
Dinner - no knead bread, fresh tomato sauce over spaghetti

Care to share what you've been enjoying, eating recently? Are you making more meals from scratch or homegrown ingredients. What new dishes have you tried and liked?

Growing community

Check out our updated calendar of events for May-June that include screenings of our homemade film - Homegrown Revolution (buy the DVD) at various venues across the globe (UK, Seoul, New Zealand and here locally!)

The Dawn of Smart

On June 7 at the Reel Earth Film Festival in New Zealand,Homegrown Revolution (buy the DVD) will be screened before  the featured film The Age of Stupid.

In the last two years, our little film is having a huge impact!  Sowing hope for the future.

How has this film impacted/changed your life?  Care to share?

Recipe will make eight 16oz bottles

INGREDIENTS:

3 ounces of fresh ginger root (You can add more if you like strong ginger taste.)
6 tablespoons of citrus juice (Lemon &/ or orange)
3/4 cup of sugar (Natural cane is best. Light brown sugar gives an extra richness to the flavor.)
4 1/2 quarts of water
Some yeast from the supermarket. Bread yeast will work, but wine yeast is best.
To create extra zing, simmer the ginger mixture with 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom, or a few cloves. A 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cooking will give a subtle earthy flavor. If you really want a bite to your pop - or for a cold / fever remedy, add a teeny pinch of cayenne pepper.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Grate ginger root and put in a large, heavy bottomed soup pot.
2. Simmer the ginger, juices, and sugar in 1 1/2 quarts of water for 30 minutes to an hour. The longer it simmers, the stronger the brew will be. You can add a pinch of dry ginger spice for extra "bite."
3. Remove from heat and strain. Make sure you squeeze out all the juice. The leftover ginger root pulp can be composted.
4. Mix the brew with the other 3 quarts of water.
5. Let it all cool till lukewarm.
6. Ladle out a bit of the lukewarm mixture into a jar and stir in 1/8 teaspoon of yeast.
7. After 15 minutes the mixture will foam. Add the yeast solution back to your lukewarm brew.
8. Let the brew sit for 10 minutes

Now it's time to bottle up your soda! We use glass carboys and bailtop beer bottles (available at any homebrew store). But you have to have experience and be extra careful with these because the buildup of carbonation gasses can explode glass, and all jars have to be opened carefully. Glass bottles should be stored in a safe, out of the way place just in case of explosion. They should also be put in the fridge after one day to stop the carbonation (and stop the risk of exploding glass).
We recommend that you use empty plastic soda bottles instead. Make sure you CLEAN your bottles with a bleach solution. Make a mixture of 2 tablespoons of bleach in a gallon of water and clean your bottles with this -- inside and out. Make sure to use a bottle brush to get in all the "corners" and then rinse thoroughly with hot water and air dry.

When the bottles are ready, pour in the brew and twist the caps on tight. Don't fill bottles to the top. Leave about 3-4 inches of headspace. Squeeze the bottles and notice how they give. Leave on the kitchen counter and, every few hours, squeeze them to monitor the buildup of the carbonation. They will get harder to squeeze as the carbonation builds up. When they no longer give any more and seem ready to explode, put them in the fridge. This will stop the carbonation.

Drink cold and enjoy! Homemade ginger ale is best used up within a week or two of brewing.

FOR A SIMPLER, QUICKER HOME MADE GINGER ALE:
If the whole carbonation thing is too complicated or you don't want to wait very long, then just use carbonated water, like club soda or seltzer water, in place of that extra 3 quarts of water.

For those of you who are internet savvy you can follow happenings on the urban homestead on FACEBOOK and TWITTER!

Weeks are going by so fast, by the time I turn around I am already behind in posting our week's worth of meals.   Oh well, better late than never I suppose.

A reader had a suggestion (a good one) so will take his advice.  He suggested have a disclaimer on each weekly meal wrap up that says something to the effect:

"All food items are homemade/homegrown/home preserved unless otherwise specified"

Will save some time and repetitiveness - a good thing, so thanks for the tip Cody!

Oh and once again I did a rather pathetic job at photographing the meals (too busy taking critter and garden photos!)  I'll do better next time (I hope)

I know many of you will be shocked that we changed breakfast eats.  Yep, I told you change was coming - gotta use up all those jars in the cupboards.

Guess you can tell by the menu what was in season, surplus this week - broccoli!!!!

SATURDAY

All food items are homemade/homegrown/home preserved unless otherwise specified

Breakfast - pancakes with strawberry sauce
Dinner - flour tortillas, spanish rice with organic black beans

SUNDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - leftovers from Sat dinner
Dinner - broccoli, green onion soup

MONDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - broccoli, green onion soup
Dinner - broccoli with herb butter with CA grown, organic rice

TUESDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - broccoli, green onion soup
Dinner -broccoli cheese casserole with salad

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - broccoli with herb butter with CA grown, organic rice
Dinner - broccoli cheese casserole with salad

THURSDAY

Breakfast - skillet granola
Lunch - baked squash with salad
Dinner -herb pizza dough topped with tomato sauce, pickled garlic, peppers and broccoli

FRIDAY

Breakfast - skillet granola
Lunch - broccoli with herb butter with CA grown, organic rice
Dinner -  no knead bread, tomato sauce and pasta with salad

-----------------------------------------------------------

All food items are homemade/homegrown/home preserved unless otherwise specified

Thanks to a recent gather we had loads of extra organic split pea soup (thanks Harold!)  and guess what was for dinner?  Yep, you guessed it - soup!

SATURDAY

Breakfast - pancakes with strawberry sauce
Dinner -potluck

SUNDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - leftovers from potluck
Dinner - leftovers from potluck

MONDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - leftovers from potluck
Dinner - leftovers from potluck

TUESDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - leftovers from potluck
Dinner - leftovers from potluck

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - broccoli with herb butter with CA grown, organic rice
Dinner - avocado, lettuce, squash pickle raw cheese sandwich

THURSDAY

Breakfast - fruit preserves & organic peanut butter on bread
Lunch - broccoli with herb butter with CA grown, organic rice
Dinner -herb pizza dough topped with tomato sauce, pickled garlic, peppers and broccoli with salad

FRIDAY

Breakfast - skillet granola
Lunch - broccoli cheese casserole
Dinner -  no knead bread, tomato sauce and pasta with salad

Where does the time go? One week, turns into two and I am already behind in putting up our weekly meals. Father time is going to need to slow down a bit.

Given that we are smack dab in the middle of winter and enjoying fresh tomatoes is truly a blessing what the good earth does provide.

This week,  Farmer Sergio brought over avocados and with our being days from leaving to Northern California and so much work, we've been surviving on fresh, yes FRESH, homegrown tomato, avocado and homegrown lettuce sandwiches.  Served with homegrown/preserved pickle beans and even homegrown/preserved pickled squash.  DELISH!

Now without further delay here's the wrap up from last week's and the week before meals.

SATURDAY

Breakfast - homemade buttermilk pancakes with homepreserved strawberry sauce
Dinner - friends over for potluck

SUNDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown green (kale, cabbage, collards) herbs and potato soup
Dinner - homemade lentil loaf topped with homemade ketchup with homegrown winter squash, homegrown salad with homegrown blood oranges

MONDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown green (kale, cabbage, collards) herbs and potato soup
Dinner - homemade/canned tomato sauce with pasta and parmesan cheese and homemade no knead bread

TUESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homemade chili (homegrown frozen peppers, tomatoes) topped with cheese and homegrown (fresh) tomatoes
Dinner -leftovers

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - leftover lentil loaf sandwich topped with homegrown (FRESH) tomatoes, homegrown lettuce
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, black beans, raw cheese, homegrown tomatoes, cilantro and homegrown/canned marinated green peppers

THURSDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - raw grilled cheese sandwich with homegrown/made jalapeno jelly, homegrown tomatoes/homemade-grown zucchini pickles
Dinner - homemade/homegrown herb pizza crust topped with homegrown tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and mozzarella cheese

FRIDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown salad with macaroni & cheese casserole
Dinner - homemade/canned tomato sauce with pasta and parmesan cheese and homemade no knead bread

SATURDAY

Breakfast - homemade buttermilk pancakes
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, homemade spanish rice with black beans and raw cheese

SUNDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - leftovers from Saturday dinner
Dinner - homegrown green (kale, cabbage, collards) herbs and potato soup

MONDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown green (kale, cabbage, collards) herbs and potato soup
Dinner - homegrown lima beans with homegrown herb/local meyer lemon butter with CA organic rice

TUESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown lima beans with homegrown herb/local meyer lemon butter and homemade cornbread
Dinner -homegrown lima beans with homegrown herb/local meyer lemon butter and homemade cornbread

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch -  homegrown (fresh) tomato, lettuce, squash pickle and raw cheese sandwich
Dinner - homegrown (fresh) tomato, lettuce, squash pickle and raw cheese sandwich

THURSDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown salad with macaroni & cheese casserole
Dinner - homemade/homegrown herb pizza crust topped with homegrown tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and mozzarella cheese

FRIDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - raw grilled cheese sandwich with homegrown/homemade jalapeno jelly, homegrown tomatoes/homemade-grown zucchini pickles
Dinner - homemade/canned tomato sauce with pasta and parmesan cheese and homemade no knead bread

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