The Urban Homesteader in Los Angeles

We've always been a fan of the Path to Freedom project.  Anyone who drops out of the rat race, rips up the lawn, plants a vegetable garden, goes solar, and starts raising chickens gets our wholehearted support, but the Dervaes family did it in Pasadena, of all places.  A local news station took a break from car chases and celebrity gossip to check it out; the newscaster notes with astonishment that "they plant, raise, and eat their own crops."

Gasp!  Film at eleven!

Comments

[ginger]

Great clip and the best part? These people look pretty normal!

[Michele Owens]

Amy, you're right. The tone of the newscasters is hilarious! Organic, those newswomen are not!

And I agree, Path to Freedom is amazing--the idea that they not only feed themselves on a fifth of an acre, they grow enough to sell some to restaurants besides--incredible! Plus, brewing the biodiesel in the garage! Monumental!

I'll make fun of Edible Estates, but not these people--they are exemplars.

Path to Freedom really demostrates that we can make lemonade out of lemons--namely our sprawling settlement patterns here in America. If only we made our yards productive, they might become an environmental plus, rather than a ridiculous drain on the soil, water, energy, and people's souls.

Here's what I really love about the Path to Freedomers, though--they're not pleasure-averse eco-communists. They're aesthetes! Their house and yard are BEAUTIFUL!!!

[Pam]

Boy, these guys have an amazing thing going for 'just' one fifth of an acre!

[Yolanda Elizabet]

Gasp indeed. It's shocking isn't it, that some people find it shocking that others actually grow their own food and are having fun with it too. It's sad really, there used to be a time when many people grew their own veg and fruit. And had a few chickens and maybe a goat or a piggy.

I don't have a very big vegetable garden myself but am able to produce a lot of fruit and veggies from it. It looks great too and loads of fun is had by me with growing the stuff, gloating over it (an essential part that) and eating or drinking it, as the case might be. Champagne anyone?

[Gloria]

Re:Here's what I really love about the Path to Freedomers, though--they're not pleasure-averse eco-communists. They're aesthetes! Their house and yard are BEAUTIFUL!!!

Oh my god they seem like normal people!!!

Do you really think everyone that gardens with a purpose other than pretty is odd?