Green and Frugal: The Urban Homestead

My sweet husband sent me a website today to check out -- The Urban Homestead. It's about a family in California that's become as self-sufficient as possible by gardening, utilizing livestock and recycling. The most interesting aspect is that their on 1/5 of an acre! Over the last 20 years they've perfected their edible landscape while reducing their carbon footprint.

Here are some of the things they're doing, which are impressive, to say the least:

Urban Homestead at a Glance

• Location: Northwest Pasadena, one mile from downtown Pasadena
• Property Size: 66’ x 132’ = 8,712 sq.ft. (1/5 acre)
• House: Simple, wood frame craftsman bungalow. Circa 1917.
• House Size: 1,500 sq. ft.
• Garden Size: ~ 1/10 acre (3,900 sq.ft. / ~ 66' x 66') 
• Garden Diversity: Over 350 different vegetables, herbs, fruits & berries
• Productivity: Up to 6,000 lbs harvest annually on 1/10 acre

Food / Garden

• Growing 99% of produce
• 6,000lbs on 1/10 acre Garden
• Saving seeds
• Companion planting

Healthy Soil / Planting Methods

• Remineralization
• Self watering containers
• Integral pest management
• Square inch plantings
• Polyculture
• Successive sowing

Composting Methods

• Making / Using EM Bokashi
• Vermicomposting
• Composting food, garden and green waste
• Brewing compost teas

Food Preservation/Storage

• Canning
• Drying
• Freezing
• Fermenting

Food Choices

• Buying in bulk
• Organic
• Local
• Eating seasonally
• Reducing "food miles"
• Fair trade
• Vegetarian (since 1992)

Raising Smallstock

• Chickens (eggs/manure)
• Ducks (eggs/manure)
• Dwarf rabbits (manure)
• Dwarf/pygmy goats (milk/manure)

We keep contemplating getting some chickens and possibly a goat or two. But we wonder if we would be getting in over our head. A garden is one thing, livestck is another.  
So this is just the short list. They do so much to be green and environmentally friendly!


Do you have a homestead or are contemplating one? I want to hear all about it.