The bulk food pantry

Making use of "air space"

Humpf, the title of this post sounds like an 80's band. LOL

We all know that saying, "a place for everything and everything in its place."

Easier said than done for an urban homesteader's way of life.

When you start living a more simple, self sufficient life, how is that you actually accumulate MORE stuff?  It's a true and a simple fact.  Living a simple life is, in fact, not simple.   If you make food and goods from scratch, you need to store all those supplies  somewhere - anywhere!  Come on, folks, we all have to admit it sometime right?  Raise your hands if you got a stash of stuff just piling up with no place to put it.

Storing all the supplies is certainly a challenge on the urban homestead.   We have to use our space wisely; but we still seem to accumulate more stuff than  sometimes we really need.  Urban homesteading is not only about wisely using every available space to grow food and become more self reliant but using space wisely to store all our much need supplies that we need in this journey towards sustainability.

Organizing and maintaining an urban homestead is one of the most daunting challenges   There are  garden, food supplies, seeds, crafts,  etc., etc.

Doesn't always work, but we find having a daily chore schedule helps keep things a bit more tidy.   If you've brought stuff out for soap making or sewing, keep the container nearby so you can put the stuff back from where it came. A "once around the home and grounds" - putting up, sweeping, dusting and tidying.   Because we are  a working farm, within minutes of a clean up, things can go back to being unruly; however, if everyone does his part to clean up his surroundings,  it does help.   Each member of the household here is responsible for his area of expertise.  We try to follow the golden rule and be good neighbors and citizens of this Rose City so we are very conscious of keeping our homestead tidy and clean.

What creative organizing solutions have you come up with to store all your urban homesteading supplies?

One example is where Jordanne created an otherwise unused space for storing books, yarns and other crafty items in our bedroom.

Care to share?

FUTURE FEAR SBS DATELINE (watch video)

Others are approaching the future differently, believing the biggest threats we’re facing are problems that we’ve caused ourselves. Richard Heinberg is one of the world's foremost peak oil experts, who warns that we’re addicted to fossil fuels and must adapt before they run out. David takes us to a Los Angeles suburb to meet the Dervaes family of so-called ‘urban homesteaders’. They've already adapted and are living self-sufficiently and almost entirely off-grid.But are they all being over cautious, or will the rest of us be under prepared?

Heinberg thinks that if we're going to survive, we need to change the way we live.

RICHARD HEINBERG: We've got to work together on this because individual survivalism just isn't going to cut it. You know, if I've got my vegetable garden and my neighbour is starving, then the only way I'm going to be able to continue eating is to stay up all night with my shotgun to make sure no-one goes over the fence. What kind of life is that? We're creating out of this paradise, Earth, we're creating a hell for our descendents. I think it's our duty, not just to somehow try to survive this but to change what we're doing and to create a survivable planet for everyone, for our communities and for our descendants.

I met a family that's doing just that.

JULES DERVAES: Some more tomatoes here, we're about 90% self-sufficient in the summertime because this is all our bounty.

Jules Dervaes lives in Los Angeles, right next to a major highway, but he's turned his backyard garden into a farm.

JULES DERVAES: These are heirloom squash from Italy, and they hang from the trellis here. Just watch your head.

He's got two daughters and a son.

REPORTER: How do you like this yourself?

JUSTIN DERVAES: I love what I do, so I can't complain. I've got a green thumb.

They grow 350 different fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries. They all survive on what's grown here.

JULES DERVAES: This is our barnyard. It's in the city, so we've got a nice little animal enclosure here. We've got five ducks, eight chickens and two goats.

And while I'm there looking at these goats and chickens, I can hear the traffic next door, whoof whoof up and down the highway, but you could be in the middle of the countryside.

JULES DERVAES: We're looking at a planet that has run amok. So you have to be sensitive about which direction you're going. If it's going the wrong direction, it's either you're going to turn around early or you turn around at the edge of the cliff.

Come up here to our store on the front porch - Nice to meet you.

They obviously had a fear for the future too of what's going to happen. But they're going around it in a different way.

JULES DERVAES: This is a completely different dream, we're talking about self-sufficiency, we're talking about neighbourliness, we're talking about a community of helping one another.

ANAIS DERVAES: It has the herbs from the garden. And we've already made some ice-cream. Yeah we have a hand-cranked...

JORDANNE DERVAES: It's cool, yes, it works for us. But it's a little scary because out there, it's no. It's, you know - you could actually forget about the bad things out there.

There seems to be this common strand running through America right now - A fear of the future, and a sense of doom. But I saw people responding in very different ways - from preparing to hide from change, to preparing to make change happen.

JULES DERVAES: So we figure we're preparing ourselves to live simply. I mean this here is riches, but people don't understand. If you look around, you'll see riches here but it's in the form of tomatoes and peppers and animals. So we're going backwards, and I say a step backwards is progress.

Afterthoughts

Though Mr Brill was here for well over four hours, tis a shame that the piece didn't capture the entire workings of the urban homestead - we'd need a whole show or two, there! A seasoned and well traveled journalist, was really taken with the place and after the filming as the sun set we sat down to a homegrown meal (which he enjoyed) there in the garden while Blackberry and Fairlight looked on.

We received an email from one of the SBS staff which said:

"We had so much wonderful footage and it was such a such a shame that we couldn't have included much much more of the Dervaes' in our piece (especially for me as a Researcher who sets up stories and then hands over the reigns to a producer and editor)."

Perhaps if enough folks write in?

The debate continues, what happens when the times turn bad? Escape or take a stand? There are the extreme preppers and practical preppers - what's the future going to be? Is sure is a scary thought, especially for us in the city who have, as urban homesteaders, taken practical steps towards positive change. Of course, it's not just an American problem like it sounded in the piece, we are all are on the same train - though some countries may be slightly behind we are all traveling the same track. One day we are going to have to deal with the future because it's happening now.

So what are you doing to prepare for an uncertain time? Which side are you on?

Opal - after the character in the Christy novel
AnnaLee - song sung by Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings and OCMS
Lulabelle - another purdy southern name
Beulah - another song sung by Gillian Welch

The little peepers are sure growing fast!  They graduated from the kiddie pool to the big one last week and are eating greens.   Now that summer's returned and the temps are back to "warmer" the duckies are spending their days outside in one of the raised beds.  They can dig in the dirt and splash around their water bowl to their hearts content - better yet they are natural dose of sunshine rather than from the artificial brooder light.  We like to ween them off the light within a week but you have to do it right as they are still small and can get easily chilled.   After an afternoon outside, we bring them back in the house for the evening.   Getting them out and about helps them to develop stronger constitution and resistance to coccidiosis. Not to mention the swimming and letting them walk around  helps develop strong legs.  Of course Jordanne's specially formulated ducky supplement is added to their organic mash which contains essential minerals,  brewers yeast and tonic herbs.  BTW, over at BarnyardsandBackyards Jordanne's offering a FREE bag - enter the Natural Poultry Supplement Giveaway

Pretty soon the fluff will give way to feathers and they can join the backyard menagerie.

Jordanne snapped a great bunch of photos during the duckies latest excursions.

We are in the BIG pool now!

Synchronized swimming ducky style

Time to dry off and snuggle

Our new playground

Should we stay or should we go?

Look up in the sky - is it a bird, a plane?

Nestling under the wing - er arm for safety

Or in an apron pocket will do just as well

Marching home again - hoorah, hoorah!

Cute little backsides

Whew, we're pooped

There's a lot more happenings on the homestead besides the baby ducks. I hope to get around to posting pics from the summer garden, highlighting our meals and kick off another series called "Homestead Helpers"

Stay tuned!

Goodness gracious, great balls of fluff!

Khaki Campbell (a heritage breed) babies have arrived on the urban homestead. This batch will be our third go around raising Khaki Campbell ducks and we ordered more than we needed but we've split the order with two other people.  Heck if we had more land we'd keep all of them.   Can never had enough critters.

Khaki Campbell's are an excellent duck breed for the urban homestead.  Medium size, they are relatively quiet, good layers (they don't go broody) and are consider land ducks so all the need is a shallow tray of water to be happy.

Was it eight or so years ago when we raised our first batch of KC's? I can remember how scared and intimated we were wondering were we going to screw up somehow.  Anxiously watching their every move, were they warm enough, etc, etc. The second batch came four years ago and our anticipation of screwing up was lessen and with this batch it's like "ho-hum." However, one still worries over the little girls but it's not a big to do! Instead it's more comfortable, been down this path before routine.  Even our kitty seems bored....  I have to admit I did wake up 1/2 dozen times last night to check on the babies!

Check out these cute lil quackers. Everyone say "ahhhhhh"

Out of the box and into the brooder

Ducky luv

Checking out their new surroundings

Cuteness

This one we nick named "hot lips" because of her pink bill

What a trip! Stuffed our face with water and feed and now for some much needed zzzzz

Some camp out by the watering hole

Others by and in the feed trough

Sleep tight babies

Someone else is getting tired too. Spanky, out kitty, seems slightly bored with the new amusement

Ok you can stop drooling over the keyboards now.

Out of the twelve that arrived yesterday, only four will join our expanding backyard barnyard menagerie.  Five left with newbie urban homesteaders yesterday afternoon and three will leave us this morning to join another urban menagerie.

We'll start bonding with the four right away - it's really a good idea to handle them at an early age.  And if it warms up (yep still wearing a sweater - can you believe that?) we'll bring them out for a swim.  Jordanne's non conventional way of raising poultry is not something you read about in books but it works!

Now what to name them?

Suggestions?

Another Arrival!

In between us peering over the brooder ooohing and ahhhing over these fluff balls, Jordanne's mixing her natural duck supplement in the organic starter mash that contains brewers yeast and tonic herbs. You can now purchase it online - great for grown duckies and there's also a mix for chickens too.

Make sure to support Jordanne and her new efforts. What "effort" is that you say?

Remember the other day when  I said she was working on something and think now is a good time as any to make a HUGE announcement. Jordanne's launched a new social network just for animals called Barnyards & Backyards. There's still a bit of dust as the site is a work in progress; however, there's no need to wait -- come join this free community!

Barnyards & Backyard Features

Contributing articles from passionate and critter caretakers

Ask Mz Hennessey

:: Resources ::

How to Care for Baby Ducks

Khaki Campbell's - ideal for urban homesteaders

Natural Poultry Feed Supplement - contains minerals and tonic herbs.  Specially formulated by our head critter caretaker!

A step backwards, clay pot irrigation

We bought a couple dozen olla’s from you last year but only had two beds and few oak whiskey barrels at that time. This year we made a few more raised large beds and added a few more barrels (barrels perfect for the olla’s) installed drip lines to water all of the ollas at once by turning the handle on the hose. OH MY OH MY. We have a few whiskey barrels with just drip irrigation 360 sprayers and no olla’a and what a difference the olla makes, all of the whiskey barrels (holding tomato plants surrounded by herbs or strawberries and herbs combined are thriving, just thriving, taller than the no olla barrels. Plants love them, when removing them this past winter, they were hugged by roots of vegetables that had grown with them that past summer. They work and work well, we all have been utilizing the plant nanny a clay spike that holds a wine bottle. They have the same concept as the olla yet can not be filled with the drip lines. look very nice in the whiskey/wine barrels. very vineyard feel to our courtyard now.
We love it. - Patricia

Plant Pottery That Works

We can't sing the praises enough of clay pot irrigation, an ancient method of plant irrigation - considered the original drip irrigation system. And yes the ollas are 100% LEAD-FREE

Sure they are somewhat pricey but here on the urban homestead we've been slowing putting ollas [pronounced OH-ya] throughout the yard and over the last three years have cut our water usage in 1/2 while maintaining our annual poundage of close to 6,000 lbs. {our water bill for the entire year is $600}

It's great to hear of others who too have success with this ancient yet highly efficient watering method, thanks for sharing Patricia.

What about anyone else, care to share your olla experience? O yah!

Or better yet, share what water wise efforts you are doing to reduce your water use in the garden. Are you getting rid of the lawn to grow more food, mulching or planting crops closer together all in an effort to save water?

Here's our latest Water Saving Projects and list of Water Wise Ways

:: Resources ::

Buy Ollas from our Urban Homestead Shop

Using Ollas in Your Garden

Pictures of Ollas in Raised Beds

Ollas FAQ

Make Your Own SWC ("self watering container") Ollas in Containers (pics sent to us by another LA urban homesteader)

My Halal's Kitchen Blog post:

"Many of you who follow this blog or actively participate on the MHK Facebook Page probably remember my several mentions of the Dervaes Family, the nearly self-sufficient Californians who garden just about every inch of their modest Pasadena home and even sell their harvest to local chefs and restaurateurs.

I first learned about Jules Dervaes a few years ago while watching a clip on ABC Nightline. I was instantly  intrigued by this interview which showed how he gardened just about every inch of his front and back yard with edible goods and how he got his three grown children so actively involved in the lifestyle of this very modern, urban, self-sufficient homestead.

I was recently fortunate enough to discover the Urban Homestead’s online activity: a website, blog, their tweets on Twitter and connection with the public on Facebook . To that end, I’m so excited and grateful to be able to bring you my own interview with Jules Dervaes, the patriarch of this urban homestead, whom we can learn so much from about living a life free of the constraints of super-consumerism and significantly reduce our carbon imprint on the earth, without sacrificing happiness and wholesome living.

I hope you’ll read the entire interview all the way through, as it contains wonderful and insightful responses to the questions I thought you might ask him yourself. It’s exciting and liberating to learn how to live off the big or small space you occupy right now. I’m learning so much every time I re-cap the interview.

After reading, do you think you could do what Mr. Dervaes has done?  Has it inspired you to even want to do what he’s done? Please do leave your comments at the end of this post and let’s start a community discussion on living a more eco-friendly, self-sufficient lifestyle."

Read My Interview with Urban Homesteader, Jules Dervaes via MY HALAL KITCHEN

Would you like to interview one of the urban homesteaders?  Contact us

Friends and fellowship

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.

-- Charles Dickens

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.  So much time these days is spent away from home.  As urban homesteaders on the sustainable path, we start reclaiming our back our food, energy, water and waste but what about our entertainment?

Folks from all walks of life, all ages are invited to take part in our 'Saturday Socials'    It's all about good food, good friends and good times (ah I can just here the Cheers theme song now) .

You never know who's going to drop by!

For our most recent Saturday Social, Jordanne and I whipped up some scrumptious 'slaw (homegrown red cabbage, carrots, turnip and fennel) swiss chard with strawberry salad dressing and a double batch of avocado chocolate cupcakes.  The buttery avocados were courtesy of Farmer Sergio - thanks!

So why not try it at your home .   One night a month, invite folks over young, middle age, seniors).   It just may become a tradition as we transition towards a more sustainable future building a homegrown community.

It's time we take back control of our lives and start our own traditions.  Care to share how you have broken free and started tradition in your household?

Simple, Self Reliant Living

Now that the urban homestead movement is well, "trendy"  So, what's in a name?  What is this  movement of urbanites who are growing their own food, raising barnyard in their backyards and "putting up" in the kitchen?

Urban homesteading is about taking a step backwards and living a more simple, purposeful life but doing it in an inner city environment - surrounded by the modern world.

Last year we published the 10 Elements of an Urban Homestead - to help you define the steps in establishing your very own self reliant plot in the city.

Now for some bonafide definitions.

Urban Homestead [ur-buh n hohm-sted]

n. 1 a suburban or city home in which residents practice self-sufficiency through home food production and storage.

n. 2 the home and garden of a person or family engaging in sustainable small-scale agriculture and related activities designed to reduce environmental impact and increase self-sufficiency.

n. 3 a name describing the home of a person or family living by principals of low-impact, sustainable self-sufficiency through activities such as gardening for food production, cottage industry, extensive recycling, and generally simple living.

USAGE IN A SENTENCE “My neighbors’ urban homestead is so productive, they’re able to live entirely on food they grow themselves.”

Urban Homesteading [ur-buh n hohm-sted-ing]

v. 1 the act of transforming a city or suburban home into a property that produces some or all of its residents own food and other subsistence needs.

v. 2 participation in home-based activities such as gardening, raising poultry or small livestock, producing simple products through cottage industry, minimizing consumer purchases, and generally seeking ways to increase self-sufficiency in a city or suburban environment.

v. 3 the creation of an urban homestead with the goal of reducing one’s environmental impact and returning to a home-based, family-centered, self-sufficient way of life.

USAGE IN A SENTENCE “Their urban homesteading started with a small vegetable garden, but over time they become so self-sufficient that the family could sustain itself in the middle of the city without working any outside jobs.”

Urban Homesteader [ur-buh n hohm-sted-er]

n. 1 a person who practices self-sufficiency through home food production and simple living in a city or suburban environment.

n. 2 a person who transforms a city or suburban property into a home that produces some or all of its residents own food and other basic needs with the goal of reducing environmental impact while increasing self-sufficiency.

n. 3 someone participating in the movement of 21st century eco-pioneers striving to create a better world for themselves and others by exemplifying a self-sufficient, sustainable, ecologically sound return to home-based agriculture, industry, and family life.

USAGE IN A SENTENCE “One urban homesteader’s garden can feed his whole family—and serve the greater community good by demonstrating how other families can live more sustainably too.”

Copyright Path to Freedom- Urban Homestead.  All rights reserved.  May not be reproduced, copied without prior written permission.

Here's a sneak peek!

We are almost ready for re-launch of the spiffy new Little Homestead in the City "Blook" (aka blog book)

Jordanne could use a bit of encouragement as she's on the homestretch and dealing with all the headaches that come with moving and coding.  A couple of pieces of chocolate helped her thru today but the crunch is on!

It will be good to get a fresh start - a new beginning as we head into our 11th year of sharing our journey online.

Urban Homesteaders Web Ring

Are you a blogger, urban homesteader, writing about your journey towards a simpler, sustainable and more self reliant life?

Since we are busy upgrading our blog, we figure, why not upgrade the Urban Homesteaders Web Ring image too!  We started this fellowship "Ring" a few years back and it's grown to 115 members.

< So here's the new one for ya'lls blog

1. To post this image on your blog, please remember to RIGHT CLICK and SAVE - please DO NOT COPY.

2. After posting this new image on your blog remember to link the image using this URL --http://www.ringsurf.com/ring/urbanhomesteader

Got a blog and not a member of the URBAN HOMESTEADERS WebRing?

Who Can Join?

For urbanites only who have merged off the freeway of modern life onto a more sustainable, simple & self reliant path. The community’s mission is to bring together city folks, new urban homesteaders who are taking steps to live a more self sufficient life in regards to their food, energy, water, waste, transportation, lifestyle and more.

Community Guidelines

Definition of "Urban": less than or no more than 1/2 acre to 3/4 acre.

Urban Homesteading Lifestyle: Doing more with less, growing a sizeable % (at least 50 percent) own produce (fruits, vegetables, herbs), raising citified animals (at least chickens, rabbits), composting, vermicomposting producing own alternative energy, alternative heating, using alternative transportation, back to basics skills (food preservation, soapmaking, sewing, breadmaking, etc), simple living, power down, unplugged lifestyle, homegrown diet, operating a viable home based business, home-unschooling, energy and waters conservation practices, greywater and rainwater practices and more!

Being the change we wish to see by living the solution on a daily basis.

Sign up here to be a part of the Urban Homestead Ring

The iconic Saturday Evening Post does a feature on the Urban Homestead!

If Norman Rockwell were alive today, wonder what his artistic rendering of an urban homesteader would be?  That would have been somethin'

Urban Homesteads and Hope

By Jen Stewart

The concept of “urban homesteads” are gaining popularity in recent years. To put it simply, modern-day pioneers who practice this environmentally conscience style of living live as self-sufficiently as possible to protect the earth.

They live in the midst of all of the modern day amenities, but choose not to participate in them, or at least as little as possible. They practice gardening and grow most, if not all of their own foods. They keep animals to give them milk and eggs. Some even convert their vehicles to diesel engines and brew their own bio-diesel fuels.

In an effort to unearth the appeal of urban homesteads, we caught up with the founder of the Urban Homestead movement, Jules Dervaes. We were reminded of a very important message: Each and every one of us can help make one aspect of our life more earth-friendly with minimal effort. All it takes is the decision to make a difference!

Read full article/interview - click here!