The Path Project - Urban Homestead Diary

The Path Project: Weekly Entries � AUGUST 2002

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:: To Do List ::

As time and funds permit...

grape arbor

raising ducks

grey water reed bed

solar shower

composting toilet

~~rabbits and hutch~~

rainwater collecting

growing mushrooms

dwarf fruit trees

trellis passion fruits

bicycle wheel trellises

grey water reclamation

solar panels

permeable paving

tear out driveway

tear out concrete patio

bio-diesel

:: Current Projects ::

Handmilled soap {crazy for the lavender oatmeal soap-mmm}, drying herbs, home and yard repairs, summer planting and transplanting, mulching and more mulching, some seed saving, making natural foliar sprays and fertilizers.

:: WIPs ::

Constructing more vertical growing spaces, trying to find room for two apple trees, bananas, two passion fruits, mango, strawberry and pineapple guavas.

:: Hobbies ::

Gardening, hiking, baking & cooking, knitting & crocheting, leather-working, a little bit of "carpentry" here and there,

:: Harvesting ::

Beans, squash, tomatoes, basil and herbs, cucumbers, lettuces and other summer greens, strawberries & blackberries, and some onions, plums, peaches, figs, peppers.

:: Favorite Dish ::

Would have to be fresh strawberry pie... yummy! Taking second would be an heirloom tomato sandwich.

:: Blogs ::

The Great Growing Experiment

Mairi Musings new

Eco Logical new

:: Daily Clicks ::

Guerrilla News Network

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From our readers...

Great site! Very organized, great pictures, lots of information and links....I really like the daily diary, it's like having a friend in California :-) You make this kind of life look obtainable. Truly Motivational! Thanks

~ Alikat ~

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~*~*~ PHOTO OF THE MONTH ~*~*~

Summer Harvest

more pics

O harvest of my lands! O boundless summer growths!
O lavish, brown, parturient earth! O infinite, teeming womb! A verse to seek, to see, to narrate thee.
~ Walt Whitman ~

URBAN HOMESTEAD SUMMER REPORT

August 28, 2002

CLEANING TIME! Un-cluttering and simplifying

Have spent these last couple days going through the house and garage and dumping all the STUFF that has accumulated over the years. Old clothes will be recycled into rags or donated, and stuff that's just JUNK will be thrown out.

We try to use/re-use items until they can't be used anymore. Also we love to pick up items that are being thrown out by others {yep--we do dumpster dive! Sometimes wish we had a truck to pick up some larger, bulkier items that are being thrown out -- what people throw away these days } -- but sometimes you have to just go through your own STUFF and just "pitch it." The junk we usually throw out is really... well -- junk. Now the place seems lighter and cleaner and less messy. *ahhhhh*

Weather Report: Still pleasant with foggy mornings.

August 22, 2002

SMELLS LIKE SUNSHINE

Here are two cool sites that I have come across in my surfing the web: Clothes Pins for the Revolution: Scouring the web for anti-consumerist and ant-exploitation information.

Project Laundry List : Organization focusing on sustainable forms of energy, through art, advocacy, action and education.

Weather Report: Overcast in the morning but clearing to be quite pleasant.

August 20, 2002

Sir Felix's last days with his ladies...

AND NOW THERE ARE FIVE. So long Felix, we're sad to see you go. :-(

We fortunately found our bantam rooster {Sir Felix} a good home!!!! It's about two blocks from our home and the guy there raises bantam chickens in his yard. He has a cute little place with apple, peach, and other fruit trees. So, Felix should feel right at home. We are sorry to see him go, but he has a habit of crowing not only when he gets up in the morning -- 5:30 am -- {which doesn't bother us} but he continues to crow throughout the whole day: 9:00 am, 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm. It wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't a school surrounding us on two sides. The chicken's pen is located near where the kids eat their lunch and when school starts they be jumping up and looking over the fence and it might disrupt their classes as they too are located near the coop area. So, not wanting to cause any trouble and risk losing all our chickens, we had to find Felix a good home before school started where he can crow his heart out. It's great that he'll be just two blocks away so we can be able to visit him on a regular basis.

Hopefully our hens will take it OK and not pine away for the lost of their "hunk."

Weather Report: Another drizzly morning, still nice and pleasantly cool.

August 19, 2002

Drab and drizzly morning in August... except for the morning glories

LONDON CALLING?

It's a dark, cool, wet & drizzling day... I'd say a might strange for a summer's day in August don't you? Global warming is not a problem eh?

Weather Report: Strange to say the least.

August 18, 2002

Peach as big as a grapefruits & first apples

We're up to our ears in peaches! Sooooo with all the peaches coming in, went searching on the internet for peach recipes and found these two recipes for PEACH BREAD ONE & TWO. Made a couple of loaves of each. The bread it actually quite good... in fact it's delicious!

Woo Hoo -- finally harvesting peppers... it's about TIME guys!!! Finally can whip up some fresh salsa.

Weather Report: Cooler than normal. High of 78�-80� with overcast, dreary mornings--clearing out around noon.

August 15, 2002

Whew! Thankfully the weather's starting to cool down just a tad. We're back to foggy, cool mornings. Boy, for a couple of days there it was like living in an oven.

This year we are trying a squash called climbing trombocino {a packet from Renee's Garden } It's growing like crazy over the PVC plastic arches and is really cool looking and not to mention tasty too. I think it tastes much better than zucchini... it doesn't get all mushy or watery *shudder* when you cook it.

Trombocino Climbing Squash

The guys took down the 'Yellow Lady Banks' climbing rose from the trellis over the driveway... EEEWWW!!!! It's all bare and open--sorta feels naked and bright on that side of the house--can't wait for the kiwi to grow so it'll be all nice and pretty again. With kiwi taking the now empty place, at least the space over the driveway will be useful and produce fruit we can eat.

Weather Report: Cooler, thankfully we get a break from the heat.

August 11, 2002

Curing oatmeal lavender soap

Have a couple of craft projects going which are taking much longer than they should. *sigh* One of the projects is crocheting a really funky granny square afghan with leftover yarn and another is knitting a cotton short sleeve summer sweater featured in ROWAN { even though summer's practically over *duh*}. We don't watch much T.V. {nope, don't have cable, so we don't have a clue about all the hype over the Osbournes, Sopranos, or Six Feet Under}, and that means there's really not much "sit-down" time to complete some of these projects. Would like to knit a retro 60's/70's belted sweater coat this fall

but will have to see how that goes. So much to do and so little time to do it in... *sheesh*

On another subject: Shopping once a month really saves time, though, we do get quite a lot of stares from fellow shoppers as we push a, filled to the top, cart around. A new guy at Trader Joes once thought we were with a movie production company. He explained that they (movie production companies) come in all the time and purchase shopping carts full of food. I then told him that no, we weren't with any movie company and that I was shopping for 4 weeks. A lot of the guys and gals that work at Trader Joes and Wild Oats are used to the sight of us bulk shopping and they are really cool about it, though it takes quite a lot of time to ring us up--and I know that those in line behind us praying that another line will open up. At Wild Oats we purchase the staples such as flour, rice, beans and granola in 50 lb bags or buy things by the case. What's really good is that they give a 10% discount on bulk purchases which helps cut the hefty bill.

Bantam chickens are doing well, though we are having a hard time training Felix, the rooster, not to crow {not that there is anything wrong with it, but we have a school on two sides of us and they will NOT like it}. If he doesn't shape up, we will have to find him a good home {we don't want him to end up in someone's pot}. If anyone in the Southern California area would like to have him, let us know! He's a pretty, well developed rooster. {Actually, he's a cockerel since he's not a year old yet...}

One of our pullets, Peggoty, makes the weirdest noise... something only describable as a high pitch squealing--almost like a pig! It's the oddest sound and hard to "name it" to anything. The other hens make their usual clucking and cackling sounds, but this one, well, she's different!

We purchased some beautiful kiwi plants {three females and a male}. We plan to take out the climbing 'Yellow Lady Banks' rose that grows on an arbor over the driveway and replace it with the kiwi. We still are tempted to purchase more edibles, but there looms the BIG question... where the heck to put them?

Weather Report: HEAVE WAVE!!!! It's a like an oven outside... temps 100� plus! For the past two days the heat has been extremely brutal. It's not fit for man nor beast to be outside during the day. They say there'll be no relief until the middle of the week. Meanwhile we bake... YUCK!!!

August 4, 2002

Old root beer advertisement

We "made" {*wink*} our own root beer from a kit. It's surprisingly easy to make and really delicious! And tastes soooo much better than the sugary gunk sold in the stores. You can check out our HOME BREW link page for additional links.

What's real disappointing and downright pathetic, is the pepper crop this year... haven't harvested much sweets nor "hots". Downright miss the freshly made salsa that we made a lot of last year. Perhaps, we might have a late harvest... (Please, oh please...)

There is still much work that needs to be done on this website (*urgh*), but things are quite busy still for all of us. I mean, one could spend one's time here on the

internet/computer, but life and duties call and come first. So, I'll have to be patient and get around to adding more stuff to this site in the spare time that's left during the day... which isn't much right now. *sigh*

The past few days were spent re-potting all the tropical fruit trees and new herbs. Also, loads of veggies and fruit are coming in so time is spent making dishes and preserving. Yesterday we made 1 gallon of homemade yogurt to be used in our peach and berry smoothie and fruit bowl. In addition made another batch of handmilled soap. And... with the drought conditions the yard requires a bit more attention... making sure plants don't wither up and croak.

A lot of new plants have come into our lives this past year. Our goal is to make this homestead an urban, edible "jungle." Let me see, so far the new additions are: FRUIT: passion fruit, avocado, pepino dulce, strawberry guava, pink guava, pineapple guava, mango, banana, dwarf apricot, apple, raspberry, blueberry, wolfberry, rhubarb, mulberry. HERBS: rosettelle hibiscus, gota klola, vicks plant, toothache plant, banana mint, bay laurel, australian tea tree, marshmallow, cinnamon yam, licorice, tamarind, foti, jojoba, stevia, bloody dock, chamomile, veronica VEGGIES: yacon, red jerusalem artichoke, asparagus, golden purslane, vegetable leaf amaranth {great hot weather green and substitute for lettuce} and of course all the different heirloom tomatoes. -- there's possibly more... can't think of them all just yet. Really would like to track down this cool tropical fruit: LYCHEE

Last week went on our annual clothes shopping for "the basics" -- shoes, underthingies, etc,. It's ridiculous all the styles and choices {not to mention the prices *yikes*}, especially in shoes, and some are even downright ugly and makes you wonder who in the world would actually wear something like that. Just give us the simple, basic choices -- black, brown, white. We'll have to go to the local thrift store soon for items such as flannels and such. Love thrift store shopping, but have to use self-control most of them time... keep reminding one-self, now, do I really need this or am I getting it cause it's so darn cheap?

Post Script: Check out this crafty, thrift store divas site on turning thrift store finds into fashionable clothing. Be warned... an old nightgown will never look the same again. ;-)

Weather Report: Starting to warm up a tad. Dry heat with temps in the high 90's.

August 4, 2002

Fruiting Pepino Dulce

We're harvesting a good crop of peaches this year, though not as much as previous year--they are much larger. We've picked some that are as big as grapefruits!

First time growing and eating the pepino dulce that we purchased over a month ago from Burkard's. The plant is quite interesting--a bush plant with "melon" like fruit. The taste is quite interesting--a mixture of flavor: apple, melon, cucumber. It's actually quite good! This plant will be a welcomed addition to our edible landscape.

Have you ever tried eating fried green tomatoes?--no, not the movie. Well, you are missing a great treat! We hadn't even thought of eating green tomatoes, until last year when we tried green tomatoes for the first time last summer--and now we're hooked. Here's great site with recipes for Fried Green Tomatoes

Weather Report: Still pleasant and mild, sunny days. Temps in high 80's with a nice breeze.

August 1, 2002

Sheesh guys, enough pics already!!!

We have a new addition to our household -- Cassidy. She's an abandoned kitty, dropped off in our neighborhood.

Over the past years, we have had numerous baby kittens dropped off {can't understand some people!!!!}. We've found good homes for them... looks as if we'll be keeping this one.

Cassidy has a little cut across her nose, possibly from a run in with our next door neighbor's cat -- Charles aka 'Charlie'-- bad boy.

She likes being with the bantam chickens and eating with them < pic below > -- corn, rice, squash, tomatoes, seaweed... she's a health food freak!!!! We try to feed the chickens mostly from our garden. They especially love corn on the cob,

Guess who's coming to dinner?

raisins, grapes, leafy veggies, worm, aphids and wheatgrass. They much rather eat these than the scratch we purchase from our local feed store. They are real California chickens ;)

Saw this quote on a website: Zucchinis terrific! Like bunnies, prolific!. Wish all veggies would grow like zukes, no matter what kind of year it may be, they still produce their hearts out.

Here's another great recipe for those never-ending zukes... Since we don't eat meat, these

zucchini patties make a great substitute. { Recipe: Zucchini patties}

Weather Report: Mild days. Thankfully not as hot and humid as a few weeks ago.

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