After two years of being screened at many film festivals and community viewings throughout the world, we have published (in its entirety) our award winning short film Homegrown Revolution for free viewing on YouTube.

It has been a crazy ride and exciting to have an award winning film and we sincerely thank those of you who supported this film in many ways.  A big THANK YOU goes out from our hearts to those  who supported us, purchased this video, screened it, shared it or simply let the film's message lead you to a new way of looking at your yard. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! We really appreciate it.

Our unlikely little film was a surprise success story.  For those of you who don't know the history, I'll recap briefly.  For those of you already know it, go ahead and skip to the end of this post to watch Homegrown Revolution.

Homegrown Revolution was made in a whirlwind three days after a last-minute invite for Dad to speak at Peter Sellars' UCLA class in 2007.  Jules Dervaes was to be the lead-in and local authority on sustainable food to Michael Pollan's presentation.

By now, we had given so many presentations, the explaining of our project and "Urban Homesteading" was becoming a tad redundant - there are only so many clever ways we could explain what we have been doing the last 16+ years.  Plus, the fact that this was a night class had many of us expecting a room of yawning and under-caffeinated students blinking sleepily at their laptop screens and surfing Facebook, content to get class credit simply for being a body in the seat.  Short of handing Red Bull out to everyone, we seriously thought NO ONE would wake up for this Urban Homesteading and sustainable food presentation.

Looking back at the time, I realize how far the movement has come to the point it is today.   It wasn't long ago at all, but in 2007  the movement was just blooming and I was finding out that most students didn't care or know about Urban Homesteading -- or even anything environmental or sustainable.   There's always the usual small but core group of students who were into changing the world and activism but we knew we had to reach to the others in the class that might not even have a first thought about the food they ate or about gardening.

At the family meeting / lunch following the invite, Dad turned to me (since I have unofficially become the tech geek / "electronic gadget whisperer" of the family ) and inquired about a video slideshow we had put together for a virtual tour of the Urban Homestead called "One Step at a Time."  This video brochure had been published on our website at the time  since it was first uploaded in 2004 (soon to be uploaded to YouTube for kicks).

As I am not a video editor and had no training at all, my foray into  messing about with video clips had been a sink or swim experience.   After mucking about in Adobe Premier, I had managed to put together some footage that resulted in One Step at a Time and that short film seemed pretty cool when it was made; but I was now slightly embarrassed about it and wanted to give Dad something newer and peppier for the students.

Anais and I got to work in those three days before the presentation.   We had multiple tapes of footage of the garden, animals and various projects throughout the yard but very little of ourselves.  So, I spliced those with some of the news media interviews for a  narrative effect.

I really wanted to do little interviews on our  own footage; but given the short amount of time and our aversion to being filmed by one another, it just wasn't happening. (NOTE: Seriously, I did try.  I approached Justin with a camera as he did his biodiesel brewing and asked him in  my best TV reporter voice to explain what was doing.   I received an  "are you kidding me?" stare for my troubles.  Turns out, it's hard for  us to be enthusiastic about giving each other interviews.  Try explaining to someone who already knows what you are doing, what you are doing.  It isn't easy. )

For fun and to appeal to the college kids who were my own age, Anais and I added in some well known musical favorites to create a edgy  mash-up type music video.

Turns out, as R.E.M's moody guitar in "Drive" snapped up the students' attention at  the first minute to the final frame of the fist-in-the-sky rallying  image and the drumming strains of "Revolution Cry", we had gained this class' full focus and subsequent and  enthusiastic ovation and shouts.   Yes, even the too-cool-for-school jocks of UCLA's NCAA basketball team were into it.

Later that week, we decided to publish Homegrown Revolution on YouTube (cut to 10 minutes since YouTube wouldn't allow videos of  longer lengths at that time) and it kind of went viral for a time and gained over 500,000 views.

We started to use Homegrown Revolution for an intro to Jules Dervaes' workshops and presentations and considered it a type of "video brochure" or "infomercial" to Urban  Homesteading.  Fast forward to late 2008 and we received a phone call from the awesome  folks at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival asking if we wanted to  submit our film for consideration.

I seriously had no idea what they were talking about!   Film?  What film? We don't have a film, I thought.

They soon convinced us that they were really asking for Homegrown Revolution which one of their members had seen on YouTube.  This touched off a flurry of more video editing.  Since the original version contained a lot that was not our footage, we began to re-shoot a lot of scenes and I soon had Homegrown Revolution up to over 25 minutes long.  But because Wild & Scenic had accepted Homegrown  Revolution into their program as it appeared on YouTube, we knew we  had to keep it to 10 minutes.

In the end, the final product came out  at 15 minutes after we all refused to cut out anything more.  There was also concern from some of Film Festival folks about remaking  Homegrown Revolution so much that it would no longer feel like the  original version so we felt a little restricted in our creativity.     I did try to obtain the rights to some of the footage / interviews that appeared in the original version but with so little time to  remake the film, it turned out easier to just re-speak most of it  instead of dealing with all the paperwork.    Again, all this had to  be done in a short amount of time - definitely not enough time to be at one's full creativity.

Unfortunately, although most of our words as they appear in the 2009  version of Homegrown Revolution had been spoken to interviewers  previously, it was hard getting family members to say the same lines  with enthusiasm and with the same passion as they had when speaking to  someone "new" and curious to what we were doing.  Looking at the film today,  I can see all the mistakes and where it could all have been better.

But this was a collaborative project done by all of us -- with each family member taking part in the filming, editing and structure of the film.  Neither of us had any previous film editing / filming experience but we hope the passion and enthusiasm show through any technical flaws and other problems.

It's also important to note that the film was made entirely in-house on computers powered by solar/green sources.  All transportation was done in a biodiesel-fueled car and all camera/mic batteries were rechargeable and charged with solar energy.  Waste was kept to a minimum – paper composted or recycled and all publicizing materials printed  on post consumer paper.

We are humbled by the impressive impact Homegrown Revolution had in  the film festivals both nationally and internationally. It  was never created for a film festival circuit but has a true homegrown, homemade story behind its creation. Today,  whenever I am frustrated by learning something new or seeing where I fail in trying to get something perfect, I just need to look at where our little film that could has taken us.

I am compiling a  tally of the festivals and known public screenings to be published at HomegrownRevolution.com but here are the AWARDS and HONORS Homegrown Revolution has gained so far:

WINNER

Best Environment & Ecology Film North America,
Swansea International Film Festival, UNITED KINGDOM

Prize of the Mayor of the Capitol City of Slovakia
Ekotop Film Festival of Sustainable Development, SLOVAKIA

Best Short Documentary
Southern Appalachian International Film Festival, TENNESSEE

El Capitan Film Award
Yosemite International Film Festival, CALIFORNIA

Best Sustainability Film
Green Screen Environmental Film Festival, CALIFORNIA

Robert T. Nanninga Award for Excellence,
Cottonwood Creek Film Festival, CALIFORNIA

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

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Westpac Award Best Short Film Runner Up
Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, NEW ZEALAND

NOMINATED - Best Film, Climate Change & Sustainable Technology
CMS Vatavaran Environmental & Wildlife Film Fest, INDIA

FINALIST
European Spiritual Film Fest, FRANCE

Footage aired on Oprah's 2009 Earth Day show

You can still purchase the DVD here for community screenings or to just own a copy. We're still sending the film out to festivals who request it, so if you know of any film festivals or other opportunities, continue to send them our way. Thanks!

Pssst...!

Sharp eyed or observant readers might notice we now have a new YouTube address:  http://www.youtube.com/urbanhomestead

We'll still have the http://www.youtube.com/dervaes one but we might FINALLY be getting into sharing how-to videos.  We are launching this new channel for video clips showing snippets of life from the Urban Homestead as well as some how-to videos.

So be sure to subscribe to this new channel to get all the latest videos - thanks!

Wacky weather whiplash pattern continues.  Last week it was a scorching 95 degrees; then quicker than you can say  "summer's here?" a  few days later it's cold, overcast and raining (what a BLESSING!).

The poor plants are totally confused and so are we - sweater on, sweater off, on, off?

In the garden, the elephant garlic is just about ready to harvest and we've been digging up pounds and pounds of tasty potatoes!  Just today made a potato salad with home canned pickled carrots and homegrown celery - so yummy!  Can't beat the flavor and texture of homegrown potatoes!

The summer crops are slowly replacing the spring greens and brassicas. Justin informed me that they already spotted the hated (invasive) bagrada bug due to the heat. Bugger!

As head manager of the front porch farm stand, my duties include not only managing the operation, taking orders and such but also  filling them. Think that's my favorite part: to be out in the garden early in the morning harvesting the lovely bouquet of greens.   I do declare that one morning we all picked nearly 30 lbs of greens to fill the orders that morning!  Whew!

Bouquet of greens, indeed.  One of our customers exclaimed, "If I ever got married, this would be my bouquet."  Awwww.

APRIL HARVEST

276 lb produce

Eggs 141 (Duck) 73 (Chicken)

2011 YEAR TO DATE

939 lb produce

Eggs 486 (Duck)  190 (Chicken)

Once again, the weather's made an about face!  Last week we were topping 90 degrees.  It was SO HOT even used the out door solar shower.  But today,  it's cold and rainy.  Certainly not complaining about the rain.

However, Cassidy wonders what happened to her sunshine!

Chopping up the pickles!

Quite colorful and tasty too

Anticipating the time in the future of adding some fish into our diet (see ETHICAL EATING),  we have been adding more tuna to the menu.

Since turning vegetarian in the early 90s, we’ve occasionally eaten fish.  So fish we is what we are  used to,  but it’s been awhile since we went fishing!  Actually, on our 10 acre homestead in Florida, we had a fresh water pond filled with bass.  I used to fish "Huckleberry Finn" style with a simple pole.  Sometimes, I got lucky!    Grandpa loved to fish and  he would take us kids with him on his fishing trips to Tampa Bay.    And Grandma would make a mean snapper dish that was famous far and wide.

We aren't fishing any time soon.   Canned tuna is cheap, so we figured we’d start with that.  We bought a couple cans of "dolphin safe"  from Trader Joes. I know there's probably a better (fresh)  fish selection at Whole Foods (or 'Whole Paycheck' as one of our friend likes to call it) but we've committed not to shop at Whole Foods since it  admitted to selling GMO's

Recently,  I decided I should make an easy peasy tuna pasta salad.  But, of course, my habit is tweaking recipes to fit what we have in our home canned pantry stock.

Opening up the cupboards,  I find sweet zucchini pickles and dilly carrots.   Hmmm, this could work!

PASTA TUNA SALAD
© 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

1 1/2 c. sm. pasta
1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen peas, thawed  (substituted a two handfuls of homegrown celery)
1 1/2 c. chopped carrots  (substituted chopped dilly carrots & sweet zucchini pickles)
1/4 c. finely chopped onion  (substituted homegrown green onions)
2/3 c. mayonnaise
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. dill weed   (too early for fresh dill in the garden yet, substituted fennel)
1 tsp. salt  (I used 'celery salt')
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 sm. can tuna

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain well. Cool (rinse with cold water to cool quickly; drain well). Thaw peas completely; drain well. Combine cooled pasta, peas, carrots, onion and tuna in a large bowl; mix well. Combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar, dill weed, salt and pepper in a small bowl; blend well. Pour mayonnaise dressing over macaroni mixture; toss lightly. Chill. Garnish with paprika and serve on lettuce leaves if desired.

Happy to say, everyone enjoyed it!  Even Jordanne, who's not too keen on tuna.

Almost 5 inches of rain fell this weekend!   With Pasadena under a 10 day imposed water restriction (remember to turn off those sprinklers!) the rain couldn't have come at a better time.  Ground is soaked, garden is deeply watered and barrels are full.   What a blessing to have such wonderful rain to start off the spring growing season.  And there's more rain to come!

Speaking of blessings, we do indeed have a lot  for which we are grateful.   This month, many of our friends have come to us with devastating and heartbreaking news.  News that really puts life into a proper perspective, making our own problems seem rather petty.   Our prayers go out to you and your families.  May you find the strength and wisdom to walk a new journey.

Our inbox is overflowing and we are trying to get back everyone as quickly as we can.  A few emails came over the weekend inquiring about seeds, so  I'll answer it here.   Yes, we do sell seeds.   A selection of seeds that we are planting this spring are available at our online store UrbanHomesteadSupply.com

Now, now for some pictures to herald another growing season.  Ya'll ready to dig in?

Cabbage heads

Garlic in clay pot irrigated pots

Kitchen garden bed

Potatoes

Mints

Bee traps... hoping to catch a wild swarm

Blood oranges

Intoxicating citrus blooms

Salad greens galore

"Any more room up here?"

Blueberries

Edible landscaping in the front yard

Saving water in the garden with ollas (clay pot irrigation)

Wildflowers

Flowering lilac

Little fish, big fish swimming in the water

Still using up the homegrown/canned stockpile

Kitty kisses

Mixed greens

Using up the winter squash

]]> http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2011/03/21/spring-glorious-spring/feed/ 13 http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2011/03/20/happy-spring-3/ http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2011/03/20/happy-spring-3/#comments Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:37:38 +0000 Anais Dervaes http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/?p=24772

“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.” --J.R.R. Tolkien

We are enjoying some awesome thunder, blustery wind and pouring rain (3-4" is expected, what a blessing!) I have so many posts and pics piling up in my queue, hopefully I'll get around posting much of them this week.  With the rainy conditions and warm fire going on, it's a REALLY to good day to sip on a cuppa and work on some of those writings!

Our family wishes you a bountiful &  joyous spring!

Appreciate everyone's emails and letters of concern over the  possible arrival of  a radiation cloud that is "reportedly" coming our way.   For what it's worth, here's what the UN Weather Forecast has to say.

A storm is coming;  but, with the radioactivity, we are  not sure if rain is a good thing, However, we can't really do anything about it.  But, just in case, we are increasing our kelp intake  and putting extra kelp in the animal feed.

Barbara Brennan writes in her classic Light Emerging, “If you are having any kind of radiation treatments, consider going macrobiotic. According to Michio and Aveline Kushi, macrobiotics is very effective in curing radiation sickness. In his book Macrobiotic Diet, Michio Kushi states: ‘At the time of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, Tatsuichiro Akizuki, M.D., was director of the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Francis Hospital in Nagasaki. Most patients in the hospital, located one mile from the center of the blast, survived the initial effects of the bomb, but soon after came down with symptoms of radiation sickness from the radioactivity that had been released. Dr. Akizuki fed his staff and patients a strict macrobiotic diet of brown rice, miso* and tamari soy sauce soup, wakame and other sea vegetables , Hokkaido pumpkin, and sea salt and prohibited the consumption of sugar and sweets. As a result, he saved everyone in his hospital, while many other survivors in the city perished from radiation sickness.’”  -  Read full article at Combatting Radiation Poisoning

There is certainly a fine line between facts and fear, truth and rumors.  Our government  says there is no cause for alarm and reassured us that we have nothing to worry about.   OK, fine.  If increased dosages of kelp isn't "necessary," our bodies will still benefit from taking this "miracle plant."

Speaking of rain, we are sure going to need it because the City of Pasadena has declared a Level 4 Water Shortage Emergency.   As a result, it has issued a 10-Day Ban on Outdoor Watering, March 18-27.   Edible gardens and nurseries will be exempt and even, get this, golf courses.  Yeah, seriously!

With our exemption to the outdoor watering ban,  we are going to take full advantage  and step up our water harvesting and conservation efforts.

Ollas - since we starting using the clay pot irrigation method over 5 years ago, we've cut our water usage by 1/2

Grey water - reclaiming used water to irrigate fruit trees

Water conservation - is the best (and cheapest) way to save water

Metal roof installation (safe for collecting rain for drinking water).  Although we have installed the right metal roof,  we have yet to install gutters to collect the rainwater.  Since southern California is so dry, we have postponed the completion.  However, that may soon change!

(FYI: If worse ever comes to worse, as, for example, an earthquake and we do run out of water, we know a place to go in the mountains to collect fresh water to filter into safe drinking water. I guess that is as natural and green as one can get! But, hush, don't tell anyone our little secret!)

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

It rained over an inch this week.  The garden is drinking it the much needed watering after a dry January.   There's still more rain to come.  What a blessing!

The cabbage is growing nicely and I can't wait to use the gorgeous heads.

Thankfully,the rain wasn't hard, we were worried about the early blooms on the stone fruit and apple trees.

Looking forward to summer, Justin mixed up a big batch of soil and starting pulling out the summer vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and more!   Over the weekend we plan to have  soil blocking party to get a jump start on summer plantings.

Here's a bit of news, for those who care and aren't a victims of this recent rumor mill.

Our family hopes that level heads prevail and that people take time to step back, be informed about trademark policy, and search out the truth.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone,  and we hope that you continue to live the urban homestead lifestyle.

Looking back on our goals from last year Justin (Jethro) got his fish project underway,  the grey water project too.

Jordanne (Ellie Mae) revamped our two social networks, Freedom Gardens and launched Backyards & Barnyards and did get around to organizing a lot of mess.  Not to forget the launced her super amazing Natural Poultry Supplement Mix which is receiving rave reviews!

As for me (Granny),  the mountain of fabric and yarn still looms like a huge shadow but the craft-music room is coming along nicely.  Not sure if I am talking less and listening more – guess I’ll have to ask my family & friends that.

The 7K bonanza harvest wasn't the only highlight from 2010

We went back to Wild & Scenic located in the quaint mountain town of Nevada City and had a chance to meet our favorite author, John Robbins.  Had a workshop at the Eco Farm conference in lovely grounds Asilomar (didn't get to spend as much time on the beach as we'd like since it was soooo cold and rainy!).   Not to mention numerous articles and video pieces which all were featured here on the blog – our favorite being the recent So Cal Connect piece , I am Los Angeles , Private Chefs of Beverly Hills,  Sis and I were "Cover Girls" & with an article featured in this online magazine and I wrote about my home school experience for another

Our home made film "Homegrown Revolution" won  many awards including : Best Environment & Ecology Film North America - Swansea International Film Festival, U.K.; Prize of the Mayor of the Capitol City of Slovakia - Ekotop Film Festival of Sustainable Development, Slovakia; Best Short Documentary - Southern Appalachian International Film Festival, Tennessee; Honorable Mention: Westpac Award Best Short Film - Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, New Zealand.  (You can purchase a DVD copy)

We traveled to back to the homestead in New Zealand where I was born (more pics and tales to come) and with our biggest turn out ever to a presentation on urban homesteading!

After the New Zealand trip: Other outreach opportunities included four university appearances by "Farmer D" and a presentation for a public school district's student gardens fundraiser.

On the urban  homestead

Keeping it real.  As with any journey, we had our ups and downs.

Passing of dear old Clementine (the poster chicken & darling of the UH movement) and our duck Amy after freak accident which never fully recovered from.

The cycle of life continued, Though there were sad deaths there was new life with four additions to our flock.  Our southern belles  - Annalee, Lulu Belle, Beulah and Opal.

Pushing the envelope in urban sustainability we added new projects:  hops for beer and 50 tilapia for aquaponics fish farming and wrote about the challenges that we face of growing food in the city.

Wrote about necessary Urban Homestead apparel and "Natural Beauty, "  "Homesteader Hygiene", & Living Without AC,  Washing Clothes by Hand & threw an amazing  "Girlie" Tea Party under $50!

Long time customer, Elements, who featured our many of our homegrown items on his menu unceremoniously dumped us (having money issues)   When one door closed, it opened up our produce to the public with the launch of the Front Porch Farm Stand featuring local foods and goods.

Weather continued to be a problem with a record heat wave in October & record rainfall in December

Though we had one of our best honey harvest in years, Varroa Mites (and early cold weather) wiped out all of our of beehives except one.

I dropped the ball on the Weekly Meal wrap ups (sorry readers) posts but I picked up guitar which I am enjoying relearning – well, except for the sore finger tips.   Ouch!

There you have it!  Some of the highlights of 2010,  I know I just touched the tip of the ice berg otherwise I’d be here all day.

So what our plans/goals for 2011?   That’s certainly a good question and a lot to digest ….  we do know are going to have sadly terminate some projects because of the lack of support.   It’s a bitter pill to swallow put sometimes you got to cut things that are weighing you down.  I’m talking to myself here… have to keep saying that!

Also like to thank all of you readers who have supported us via donations or purchases from our online store.    Not to mention all the wonderful letters, cards and emails.   THANK YOU!

While I try to shake off a awful case writers block, if you are new or a lurker to this blog, this is a good time to swap howdies or better yet TELL US what your FAVORITE post(s) of 2010 were!

So pull up a chair and give us a holler ya hear and hope 2011 is off to a good start for you!