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
[the] Dervaes Gardens sits practically on top of a Pasadena, California, freeway and is only blocks away from the famous Rose Bowl. Outside are all the trappings of twenty-first-century life: automobiles, satellite dishes, supermarkets, car washes, and stores…
June is the tipping point month were things can either go up hill or downhill … and fast! So far, we are holding steady. Some things are growing well, while others not so much.
On a cold, drizzly, gray day in February two chefs were dropped off at the Urban Homestead.
See what happens when they have to whip up a tasty meal with ingredients from the garden and pantry in this “foodie’s” drama.
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 [...]
Nothing says ‘I love you’ better than homegrown veggies
There’s a slew of photos from last weeks work and happenings here on the urban homestead (from cheese making to brewing a spring garden tonic with weeds) in queue but first I liked to take some time remind folks that spring is just around the corner and [...]
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) [...]
A Homegrown Revolution Roots In Pasadena (PASADENA NOW)
By TRICIA AREND
Published: Monday, July 13, 2009 | 5:36 PM
Gardener and urban homesteader Jules Dervaes is growing a revolution in his Pasadena home. Dervaes’ little urban garden plot that could has led him to found the Path To Freedom and Little Homestead in the City, a sustainable resource [...]
Thanks for one of the Freedom Gardeners for bringing this frightening article to our attention.
Pretty soon vegetables could be at risk now that big M has stopped their meddling with rice, corn and soy — looks like swiss chard is threatened with contamination and cabbages are next!
BATTLE OVER BEETS
Organic seed producer Frank Morton has been [...]
Weighing in for the month of May
748 lbs of produce (vegetables, fruits and herbs)
90 Duck eggs
80 Chicken eggs
17 lbs of Honey
Grow Your Own Groceries
Here how you can join us in our collective growing effort
Tally Guidelines
Any “poundage” grown by you on your property, patio, window sill or community plot including fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts that [...]
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 [...]
… to our table
Don’t you just love the feeling when you get when you harvest root vegetables. It’s a magical surprise everytime since what lies underneath is hidden till you pull!.
When it comes to harvesting, I really like our wire veggie baskets – especially when it comes to harvesting root crops. I am able to easily wash [...]
If we aren’t already busy enough the days just got busier. My day goes something like this (while others are similar if not busier than mine)
Wake up, eat, emails, tidy up, feed the animals, spring cleaning, work on e-newsletter, send out e-newsletter, lunch, help pack seeds, print more seed labels, sort seeds, work on compost power point [...]
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) [...]
Note this is not a photo accident. We had the 007 Soup for three meals in a row!
Sprouting seeds in our handy Food PANtrie
Last week we enjoyed fresh homegrown broccoli. Since we strive to eat low on the food chain with homegrown vegetables as our main food source this recent article shows [...]
With little or no surplus for our clients, we’ve been concentrating on just feeding ourselves and cutting back on unnecessary store bought food items.
We’ve cut out buying raw or organic milk (operation goat milk in the works, but that’s for another post) instead buying organic milk powder. We don’t use much (‘cept for baking) or [...]
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 [...]
Well, the summer garden’s slowing crawling to a close here on the urban homestead. Though, I am not quite looking forward to cooler weather, I am, however, ready for a change and perhaps a new chapter.
Thanks for everyone’s positive comments, they are greatly appreciated. We are blessed that you find inspiration and hope in our everyday [...]
Prunning fruit trees
Bed of young snow peas
The last of the summer crops, tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash and a few volunteer sunflowers
In what’s seems like overnight the gardens’ taken on a whole new feel. The towering bean vines and squashes are slowing coming down giving way to cooler weather crops like broccoli and peas.
Even the [...]
What a welcome addition the hearty cow peas (or blackeyed peas) were to our 100 foot diet. These creamy white and black spotted beauties brought back childhood memories. Growing up on our 10 acres in Florida black eyed peas were one of the crops we grew and were readily available (and cheap) in local supermarkets.
Give me some [...]
Though there wasn’t that overwhelming onslaught of summer harvest the garden is still producing just enough for our family meals to consists of primarily homegrown. The lima beans are still producing like gangbusters providing us with hearty, wholesome and filling meals. Peppers and eggplants are still growing strong, another flush of green beans are almost [...]
Can you spot the huge praying mantis on the mildewed squash?
While manning the PTF table at our most recent event and fielding a whole slew of questions – one was “how can I fight powdery mildew.” Is it just me but (warning an off topic tangent alert) what ever happened to polite greetings like “hi, [...]
Just grow one small area, do it well. Then, once you have got it right, grow more – Allan Chadwick
Don’t forget the Tally Hoe Contest ends this evening 9:00 pm PST (winner to be announced on Monday!)
Also in September we once again are hosting a FILM & FOOD NIGHT- spread the word about this inspiring film [...]
Once again CBS LA correspondent Bill Whitaker visited the urban homestead yesterday. The producers needed him to do a stand up intro in front of the house and also take some B roll of the garden – vegetables growing (lima beans, squash, peppers, tomatoes), harvests (avocados, apples, etc.) They could not get these great garden and harvest [...]
When we started growing full time, every summer it came down to too many vegetables and fruits and something needed to be done with the surplus.
So, learning practical food preservation has been something I’ve looked forward to every year and have come to enjoy. Looking at the colorful jars that are stocking the cabinet you [...]
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 [...]
…. biodynamic/French intensive gardening (often referred to as “the method”) has slowly gained a reputation among organic gardeners in North America … largely through the efforts of Chadwick and John Jeavons (of Ecology Action of the Mid-Peninsula in Stanford, California). It was Jeavons who eventually took the technique—which Chadwick had synthesized from the intensive gardening practiced [...]
Save the date!
Path to Freedom Urban Homesteaders will be boothing/tabling and Farmer D will be part of a ‘Slow Food’ panel discussion at the Sustainable LA Downtown Film Festival.
About the Event
This year’s Downtown Film Festival – L.A. (dffla.com) will conclude its final day on Sunday, August 17th with “Sustainable L.A.” – a day-long line-up of [...]
July is feeling more and more like June.
Like we mentioned before everything’s off kilter about a month. And you know what that means – wacked out bugs and vegetables who don’t have a clue what to make of the unseasonable weather pattern. Also it means we are a month behind in our harvest tally. What [...]
What’s New On the Plate
This week – figs! Figs are one of those versatile fruit that can go both ways. Used in both sweet and savory dishes. Not only do figs make outstanding desserts they also are dynamite in quesadilla and pizza.
Growing up I was never really a fig lover (though did enjoy fig newtons [...]
It’s been another busy week here on the ’stead. Certainly not a dull moment that’s for sure. Something always going on!
Last week inspired by catching a brief clip of Bittman’s cooking show on our local PBS station made some tasty ‘leftover rice’ dishes with solar cooked rice.
And just incase you are wondering… No, we aren’t [...]
We are certainly blessed with some tasty crops coming in. After waiting a whole year to enjoy some of these fresh fruits and veggies it’s hard to tire of eating the same thing meal after meal, after meal. Though you may want to check back with us in September. We may have changed our tune… [...]
Freedom Gardeners of the World, Unite! Photo Copyright 2004 Path to Freedom
Seeding Change: Website Seeks to Liberate Diets—and Wallets—from Supermarket
Site’s “100-Foot Diet” Brings Local Food Movement Home
PASADENA, CA. – July 7, 2008 – Think of it as Facebook meets the Farmer’s Almanac: A social networking site for backyard pioneers who want to fight soaring food [...]
Clay pot irrigation tomato bed. Cassidy, our cat, sleeps among the rows of tomatoes
Plants are heavy with sun ripen tomatoes. No salmonella worries on our farm!
Summer blooms.
It’s a jungle out there. Lady bug earth oven nestles amongst the garden greenery
Backyard garden growing up!
The garden giants take over! The four corners of the yard are [...]
Normally this entry is posted on Friday – wrapping up what we ate last week. However, I got so busy on Friday that I figured I could post on Monday. So here it is!
SATURDAY
Breakfast – homemade, homegrown blueberry pancakes (made with homeraised eggs) and homemade, homegrown strawberry sauce
Dinner – potluck with friends
SUNDAY
Breakfast – homemade granola
Lunch [...]
Path to Freedom – Living a simple, yet sustainable life with Jules Dervaes
Published in July Issue of 31tenMagazine.com
With headlines about rising food costs, soaring gas prices, and skyrocketing foreclosure rates that reach directly into everyone’s wallets, as well as sobering reports about the state of the earth’s environment, there is mounting pressure for some relief. [...]
Thankfully it’s finally cooler! Hopefully the temperatures will keep on the other side of 100 for awhile.
Here’s a few homegrown goodies that are coming out of the garden this week. Don’t you just love summer and the earth’s wonderful bounty?
What are you all harvesting? Care to Share?
