Our local paper reported that it was colder the first week in July than January. That’s crazy! The unseasonably cool weather did not help the tomatoes out – it hurt them.
This episode of Two Beers kicks off with a short chat about Jules’ appearance on a reality show on the Food Network channel. It’s a lively and humorous discussion
The guy love wearing caps — it’s a must in their urban farmer apparel. Um, that and camos. Farmer Justin digs camo’s and for a down and dirty guy camos make a lot of sense – you can wear dirty clothes and not look dirty (saves on laundry and water). Yep, Farmer J is one [...]
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 [...]
Front porch farm stand
Getting to know your farmer and where your food comes from.
Our urban farming foray’s started back in the early 1990’s when Farmer D smother the front lawn to grow food. After 15 plus years supplying local restaurants we are now expanding our homegrown produce sales to be csa-like.
These days, folks are dropping [...]
A major tv media outlet is looking to:
” profile someone who is in the LA area (from San Diego to Santa Barbara) that is in process of transforming his/her life as a combined result of the economic conditions and who is taking the Dervaes’ message as the inspiration for that transformation. The more radical the [...]
The new Urban Farm Magazine dropped by and did a brief interview with city farmgirl, Jordanne, and city farmer, “D.”
The Dervaes Family: Pioneering the Urban Farm
Take a tour of the Dervaes family’s urban homestead in Pasadena, Calif.
In the bustling city of Pasadena, Calif., lives a family of urban-farm pioneers. Jules Dervaes has spent more than [...]
Hope everyone had a lovely holiday.
Want to thank those of you who sent warm season greetings via email – and a special thank you to the Smith family of VA who went out their way to send us a box filled with yummy homemade spice cookies, a lovely card and $20 donation. Our family was [...]
In their latest issue they feature a slew of urban farming efforts – including our urban micro farm!
Here’s what Farmer D had to say:
Individual Residences
Examples of the use of individual residences for suburban agricultural use can be found in Pasadena California, and Boulder, Colorado.
Path to Freedom Since 1985, Jules Dervaes and his three adult children [...]
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 [...]
image courtesy of Elements kitchen weekly enewsletter
Look what was in our email box today!
“We Love Freshly Picked Dervaes Greens… We make special salads featuring them, always lightly dressed so their fresh flavors are enhanced. The unique blend of mesclun greens (which might include anything from baby celery leaves to baby arugula or mizuna to kale) [...]
Check out BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET Episode 303 promo which features the urban homesteaders
Airs on Tuesday, August 18 at 8:00pm e/p
Episode 3: Edibles. Industrial food production has nearly eliminated small family farms and access to fresh food. Can we imagine a healthy food revolution? Ideas include urban farming, immigrant farmers and healthy school [...]
Last summer a film crew from Sundance Channel came by the urban homestead for a couple days of filming and the episode will finally air this August. We don’t have cable so we’ll not be able to see how the episode turns out. Not sure if they will put it online so relying on a [...]
Growing Your Own Food
Benefits, Techniques and Resources
Monday, May 11, 6:30PM
Santa Monica Main Library, 2nd Floor
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Money is tight and putting your yard to productive use by growing
fruit and vegetables seems like a great idea, but how realistic is
this goal?
This event will explore the just how easy it is for one [...]
Justin picking the salad greens
Me picking the snow peas
Washing off the radishes
Getting it all packed in time for the courier service
Taping it up and off it goes!
When the folks from Oprah called and wanted to feature clips from our homemade production HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION we were like “you can’t be serious.” Of course they said they [...]
Dusting off the archives, just kidding. But, seriously, this CBS story was actually shot back in June 2008 and then a small snipped again in August 2008 when Mr Whittaker actually come to shoot his stand up walking in the garden sound bite,
After 9 months and many false alarms, the piece FINALLY aired last night.
(CBS) [...]
WHAT: The South Central Los Angeles farmers who starred in the 2008 Academy Award nominated documentary “The Garden” will be will host an organic cooking demonstration; sell and share local organic produce from their new farm in Shafter, CA; and host a roundtable discussion about Locavore community food initiatives
WHO:
The film’s featured farmers: Tezozomoc,
Sarah Nolan [...]
• Homegrown Revolution
• Urban Farming Documentary – 15 minutes
• Directed by Jules Dervaes, USA
HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION (15 min) is a short informational introduction to a homegrown project that has been called a new revolution in urban sustainability. In the midst of a densely urban setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over twenty [...]
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 [...]
Orlando Home & Leisure Magazine, October 2008
A Landscape Good Enough to Eat
Save your money, improve your cooking and help save the planet by transforming your lawn into an edible landscape.
By Cindy Heroux
No, we’re not suggesting you chow down on that boxwood hedge or dine on dracenas, but there’s a growing movement called “urban farming” that [...]
The Urban Homestead
Sustainable & self reliant living for the 21st century in the middle of the city.
Apryl Lundsten reports for Offramp Radio
The Dervaes family runs an urban farm in Pasadena.
Since they eat what they grow, they would survive the financial crisis, right?
Listen to interview
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 [...]
Here on the urban homestead one never knows what strange creatures will show up on the kitchen counter. This week’s unusual edible is a tiny little cucumber with spiky warts – not very appetizing! The urban farmers here tell me it’s called a West Indian Gerkin
So these little spiky creatures not meant to be eaten [...]
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 [...]
This morning as we were in the garden picking our clients orders for the weekend (lots of our clients have weddings this weekend) we received a call from the local Spanish television channel who wanted to come out and do a story. Sure why not since there was lots going on today on [...]
Suburban Living – Off The Grid
A Pasadena, California family is a model of urban self sustaining ingenuity. Jennifer Westaway visits the Dervaes’ at home. Despite living in the middle of a huge city, they produce most of their own food, energy … even diesel fuel.
Listen to broadcast radio piece
We are often asked which garden tools we use most here on the urban homestead/farmstead. We use a practical approach to our urban farming operation. Our gardening tools are pretty low tech and simple.
Here’s what’s in our tool shed (many of which are second hand or tools we’ve had since living on our 10 [...]
It was certainly busy morning today (and will be again tomorrow)- we had lots of orders to fill (and harvest for personal use here on the urban homestead).
Both the owner and executive chef of ELEMENTS KITCHEN dropped by to get a first hand view of what’s growing on the urban farm so they can adjust and [...]
Thanks all for the positive comments regarding the NIGHTLINE piece. Glad you all enjoyed a sampling taste of what life is like here on the urban homestead. We’ve been receiving loads of positive emails from folks across the country (read comments left on the ABC site).
It was interesting to see how three days of filming [...]
First aired back in 2007 and re-aired this week.
On this week’s “A Day in the Work Life:” who says you can’t have a farm in the middle of the city? Jules Dervaes of Pasadena, Calif. started one in his own backyard.
Tess Vigeland: Ah, life on a farm. Getting up early to milk the cows, smelling [...]
