As folks around the nation celebrate with friends and family, how about we all take this opportunity to share with one another what baby steps (or giant ones) that we have taken to become more independent from mass consuming culture and the corporate controls of our food, energy, fuel, water and our lives.
Urban Homesteading not just about bringing food, goods, services closer to home but making the home center your life. One of the steps backwards we have taken is bringing “socializing” home.
Whew, we did it! Took us longer than we expected but it was well worth the wait and as about as close as an Amish barn raising experience we city folks get!
One of the fun things about urban homesteading is growing your own herbs. Not only are you growing your own spice rack but tasty drinks, medicine chest and beauty products.
From teas to tinctures from herbal butters to brews herbs are one of the most useful things you can grow on your urban homestead.
Going Herbal on [...]
On newsstand today – TWO articles in the Daily News featuring the urban homestead.
Photos courtesy the Daily News John McCoy/Staff Photographer
Farm living in the city with the Dervaes
By Natalie Haughton, Food Editor
It’s trendy to go green, grow some vegetables in your back yard, have a few solar panels on the roof and drive a hybrid [...]
Our rural homesteading friends, ladies in Tennessee are back! Sharing their homespun homesteading skills with another collection of how to videos.
With warmth, hospitality, and southern charm, the West ladies offer great insight, encouragement, and a joyful picture of family unity. Their unique and creative DVDs are sure to provide fun skills that will inspire families [...]
I just wanted to let you know how much I love the calendar! It is exactly the inspiration I hoped it would be. Beautiful photographs and printed on that nice thick paper, really great quality. Thank you
-Elizabeth
LITTLE HOMESTEAD IN THE CITY 2010 CALENDAR
(11″ x 17″)
Looking for something to inspire you (and others) throughout 2010?
Buy [...]
WHEN: February 9, 2010 / 7:30 PM
WHERE: Orange County Garden Club Silo Building at Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa, CA
88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626-6598
Jules Dervaes will show his award winning short film “Homegrown Revolution”-(BUY the DVD) and a presentation on the 10 Elements of Urban Homesteading
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 [...]
Whoosh. That’s the sound of time flying by!
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 [...]
My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there. ~Indira Gandhi
Deselected Because of Principles
Unfortunately, we won’t be traveling to Sonoma Film Festival due the fact that the [...]
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
The Year of the Urban Homestead
My sis and I were talking about “the good ol’ days.” And one thing she brought up that I had forgotten was how we were constantly asked, [...]
Celebrating 10 Years Online 1999-2009
To commemorate our decade long online presence we’ve put together a pictorial urban homesteading calendar highlighting our favorite photos of the garden, animals, flowers, butterflies and more!
Don’t pass up this opportunity….
Support our growing online presence and outreach to the next level.
LITTLE HOMESTEAD IN THE CITY 2010 CALENDAR (11″ x 17″)
BUY [...]
Happy Birthday!
This weekend Path to Freedom Urban Homestead celebrates 10 years online! Can you believe it, we are older than BLOGSPOT, YOUTUBE, TWITTER and FACEBOOK. What a milestone marker in our journey!
For over a decade now we’ve been sharing our triumphs, struggles and growth along with you. Over the course of the journey our project [...]
An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. Mohandas Gandhi
URBAN HOMESTEADING: The Dervaes family’s sustainable path to freedom (via Union Weekly)
Interview and photos by Chelsea Rosenthal
Jules Dervaes, the pioneer of the homesteading movement in downtown Pasadena, believes there are two types of hard. There is a meaningful hard and a meaningless hard,” [...]
Just a stone’s throw from an 11 lane freeway, A birds eye view of our 1/5 acre urban homestead ( 66 ft x 132 ft)
The large building that runs behind and alongside our home is a school
A closer look. You can see the 12 solar panels on the garage. On our house, the metal [...]
A reader commented recently that she was inspired by LHITC to purchase her first apron – that’s great!
An urban homesteaders wardrobe is not complete without aprons (ok, I am speaking for us females!)
There’s something about aprons that really evoke a true pioneer urban homesteading spirit.
Aprons are very “eco conscious” if you think about it. In [...]
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 [...]
We interrupt our regular posting schedule for some important news…..
Path to Freedom Urban Homestead needs your support. As the year comes to an end, please consider donating to help sustain our ever-expanding outreach and help us grow to the next level.
Our nonprofit is looking to raise some “grass roots” funds to help keep our webmistresses [...]
Heading north in mid January so get out those calendars and mark these dates!
Jan 15 – 17 Wild & Scenic Film Festival, Nevada City CA for the screening of Robert McFalls film HOMEGROWN on Saturday and Sunday (Time TBD)
Jan 20-23 Eco Farm Conference, Asilomar CA holding an Urban Homesteading “Big Rewards from Small Spaces” workshop [...]
Tradition here on the urban homestead if for our family to get together on holidays and work on new projects. Thursday was a gorgeous day – sunny and warm. Perfect for working outside.
We look forward to such holidays. It’s like the regular routine around the urban homestead takes a new turn.
One year we spent Thanksgiving [...]
an interview by Ronny Bagdadi of HEALING OUR WORLD magazine (volume 29 issue 4)
Path to Freedom is a grassroots family-operated urban homestead located in the heart of Pasadena CA. Surrounded by urban sprawl and just a short distance from a major freeway, the Dervaes family has steadily transformed an ordinary 66′ x 132′ city lot [...]
U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry – Yahoo! News
… the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Read full article
I like the quote from this recent article which references [...]
Q & A with Farmer D
1. Where do you think the immediate opportunities lie for making progress in localizing the US food system?
For over 20 years, I’ve been gardening in the city; but, since 1999 I’ve been growing food “for real” in my own backyard. The most immediate opportunities for making progress always lie right [...]
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2009
10:30 A.M. TO 3:30 P.M.
WHITE PARK, 3901 MARKET STREET, RIVERSIDE, CA. 92501
THE GREATER RIVERSIDE CONFERENCE OF SENIORS GIVING THE GIFT OF GREEN TO OUR GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT GRANDCHILDREN
THE CRISIS: Scientists have determined that civilization is not sustainable if carbon dioxide remains above 350 parts per million. It’s now at 387 ppm and [...]
View more photos of the day’s festivities here
On Sunday we packed up early and headed to “the beach” for the Blue Planet Film Festival. Sunday was day three of a four day film fest over the Labor Day holiday.
On tap for “Land Day” were gardening films (that included the inspiring Homegrown Revolution), clay pot irrigation [...]
BLUE PLANET FILM FEST, INVITES YOU TO ATTEND A V.I.P. PRE GALA RECEPTION WITH ACTOR, MUSICIAN, COMEDIAN, HAL SPARKS AND OTHER SPECIAL GUESTS
TONIGHT, SEPTEMBER 3 @ 6:00 P.M.
Tickets $12.00
SANTA MONICA BAY WOMEN’S CLUB
1210 4th Street
(to protect the floor, no stiletto heels permitted by the club)
Note changes to schedule on Sunday
Jules Dervaes’ urban homesteading presentation [...]
In between canning peach jam, apple butter, gardening and rubbing our goat’s bellies, we hit the launched button as planned at 4 pm yesterday afternoon. It was “go flight” even though parts of the site still are in development not to mention content to edit, add and some sections of the site still need to [...]
As we celebrate our 8th anniversary of blogging online and 36 years of a simple, homesteading (24 of which in the city) life, it’s amazing to see the growth of the urban homesteading movement this last year.
Excerpts from BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH HOMESTEADING courtesy of Babygooroo.com
Yes, that’s right. Homesteading. Does that word conjure images [...]
Screening this Saturday at
Rhode Island International Film Festival
Sat. Aug 8 @ 3:00 pm
Columbus Theatre Arts Center
Providence , RI
HOMEGROWN a FILM BY ROBERT MCFALLS
By dawn, the interchange of the 134 Freeway and Interstate 210 is already starting to thrum with traffic. But only a hundred feet away, the Dervaes family has been up for hours. Their [...]
Blow out another candle!
Today will be just another day here on the urban homestead with chores, gardening tasks, preserving and harvesting to do.
But it’s not just a regular ol day. Today is a special, slightly sentimental, day here on the urban homestead. Though momentous in a way I am going to keep this entry short [...]
This summer the season is ripe for more and more folks joining the modern urban homesteading movement. We are seeing more and more articles/books flooding the print and airwaves on the subject from growing your own food, raising backyard chickens even bees not to mention the preservation efforts that come with an abundant harvest.
Certianly a dramatic [...]
On the weather front, the sun finally came out yesterday which was very, very nice. We enjoyed it while it lasted because today is grey again and there is a chance of rain which is a miracle so late in the year!
Yesterday Justin sprayed the entire yard with garlic to prevent any mildew, blight, etc. [...]
Orange County Rare Fruit Growers special presentation ‘Homesteading in the City’ with Jules Dervaes
WHEN: Tuesday, May 26 ( 7:30 PM – 9 PM)
WHERE: Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa
COST: Admission is FREE
Memorial Gardens Bldg. Parking in the Festival Field Lot (SEE MAP)
It’s been awhile but I am finally getting back to all those good ol’ homesteading skills that were suspended.
Since we are awash in radishes, I am wanting to make another batch of kimchi but waiting on some cabbage from a local Freedom Farmer
In the meantime, there’s lots of other projects to do – building another [...]
Sunday we had a busy day on tap. First we were off to Claremont to table and give a short urban homesteading presentation during their downtown Earth Day festivities. Thanks to Sorrel and Sustainable Claremont for the invite! Also thank you the lovely couple who offered us scrumptious baked chocolate muffins and lemonade from their [...]
In the day. We have one more busy week to go with Earth Week and then everything should (hopefully) go back to normal.
I have two weeks of meals sitting here on my desk (um that didn’t come out right – the menu list NOT the actual food), loads of photos from this weekend’s events and [...]
Well, it’s the end of the week (almost) and I just got through publishing three journal entries – one about the “ugly side” of urban homesteading, compost and urban bees.
There’s more where that came from so hopefully will have some more time tomorrow to get you all caught up – especially one about the meeting [...]
side of urban homesteading
As we meet more people, we hear things like “I am going to quit my job and start urban homesteading” (hearing that I was like “um, first ask your wife because we aren’t going to be responsible for a divorce”). Then there are those who , at the spur of the moment, get some [...]
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 [...]
I said before April is shaping up to be an incredibly busy month. Although I promised to get back to musing from the urban homestead (have some really neat posting in the queue!) we have a few important happenings that we’d like to highlight.
I will be sending out a newsletter later today (hopefully) but in [...]
Saturday was our monthly social night here on the urban homestead with nearly 30 of our friends and supporters. We have been hosting these shindigs for nearly 5 years now!
With Saturday being V-Day, the table spread was a little heavy on the chocolates and wine but, nonetheless, filled with incredible food. There was even a [...]
On Saturday, January 31st, 2009 from 10 am to 4 pm Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church, will be hosting the first annual Neighborhood Green Fair in Pasadena California.
Path to Freedom’s innovative urban homesteaders will be on hand tabling and there to answer questions during this community event.
Free Guest Admission!
Showcasing Green Products, Services and Non-Profit Organizations
Connecting People [...]
An Amazing and Prolific Urban Homestead
How our family of four has created food and energy self-sufficiency on a fifth of acre.
by Jules Dervaes
Looking back at 1965, the year I entered college, I hardly recognize myself! At 18 I was headed — like everyone I knew — for life in the professional world. My dad was [...]
Winter sunflowers. That’s right we have a huge patch of self sown sunflowers that are in full bloom in January no less!
Garden in winter – assorted greens, garlic, broccoli, peas and onions.
A gorgeous head of broccoli.
Kumquats almost ripe. Though semi ripe, I just can’t wait and have been nibbling on them already! Enjoying the [...]
