The Path Project - Urban Homestead Diary

The Path Project: Weekly Entries � November 2002

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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 and still trying to track down large pots for dwarf fruit treees.

:: Hobbies ::

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

:: Harvesting ::

Sweet potatoes, radishes, trombocino squash, beans, greens.

:: Favorite Dish ::

Warm vegetarian chili

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The Great Growing Experiment

Mairi Musings new

Eco Logical new

:: Daily Clicks ::

Guerrilla News Network

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~ Alikat ~

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

Autumn harvest

more pics

In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. . ~ Rose G. Kingsley ~

URBAN HOMESTEAD FALL REPORT

Friday - November 28, 2002

COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS

November is a month to give thanks for our blessings.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. Our bountiful garden harvest, (even though it was bad drought year) our hens, rabbits, our home and family and last but not least that we are able to share our journey with others. Wishing everyone a healthy, safe and happy holiday!

Weather Report: It's a beautiful day!!!!

Tuesday - November 26, 2002

PUTTING ALL OUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET

The hens are doing wonderful, which is a blessing! They seem to like what we've been feeding them, naturally -- fresh greens and veggies and kitchen scraps and squiggly creatures/bugs from the garden. We get about an egg a day from each hen. We even have some surplus to sell!

It was quite a shock when we tried using the eggs for the first time -- cracking the egg, I mean. The darn thing wouldn't crack... compared to those wimpy transparent egg shells from the grocery store, this one was like armor! Had to tap it hard a couple times! I assume that our hens ARE getting enough calcium. Even though the bantam eggs are smaller than regular, free range eggs they aren't THAT much different see �

Weather Report: Windy - the Santa Anna's have arrived!

Monday - November 25, 2002

MOVIN' RIGHT ALONG

The reed bed is coming along nicely. We planted some bog/water plants along the edge and collected some river rocks from the Arroyo. Building it is one thing, figuring out how to get the bath and wash water out is another. We'll tackle that problem when we come to it.

Made some delicious homemade granola yesterday. Boy, I could just sit down and demolish the whole batch myself *shh, don't tell anyone*. Nothing like homemade, you can't beat it!

Reed bed coming along

I came across this wonderful website KRAFT PROJECTS... Check out especially the 'Trash to Treasure' -- that woman sure is talented! Gave us some ideas. Right now we're collecting wine bottles when we deliver to restaurants and caterers. We plan to use them to outline a bed... still have a long ways to go, though, to collect enough bottles.

Weather Report: OK, now, make up your mind... now it's cool and foggy.

Wednesday - November 20, 2002

KEEPING BUSY

I went to our local nursery again yesterday and was lucky to be there right when they were going to get rid of three Chilean Guava plants. They are pretty pathetic, but with some TLC, perhaps we can get them to grow. Also, today we made some shampoo bars by re-batching some castile and then adding oils and essential oils.

Weather Report: Unseasonably warm and hot temps in the high 90's -- 17� ABOVE NORMAL!!!!

Sunday - November 17, 2002

ONE STEP AT A TIME

I put together a list of NEW PLANTS that we've acquired this year, which will continue to grow!

The bunnies are doing well, they are very playful and like to be petted. Moonshadow's the hyper of the two, while Sierra is the shy one.

We had a family meeting the other day and had everyone list new projects/skills they'd like to accomplish in the coming year to become even more self-sufficient.

Coffee

We asked ourselves, "what more can we do?" to be self-reliant and "greener." What part of our life can we alter or change? After analyzing our current habits and lifestyle, we find that there are many more things we can do and our journey is, by no means, over!

I typed up this list {which is, by the way, quite long!} and hung it up in the dining room so everyone can see it and mark off projects as soon as they are accomplished. The problem, I find, is that there is too many new things to do and learn... and you want to tackle them all, but you have to take it one at a time.

Weather Report: Hot and dry.

Friday - November 15, 2002

EAT YOUR HEART OUT SMUCKERS!

We were blessed with a wonderful gift of a box of gorgeous pomegranates. We made a bunch of JELLY from a recipe posted on the forum by one of our readers. It's surprisingly delicious! Thanks to Amy, Vitali and "Coyote"...

Ok, we finally came up with a name for the other rabbit -- SIERRA, cause she looks like a snow capped mountain.

This month I hope to put our COUNTRY LIVING GRAIN MILL into use. I aim to start grinding our own flour and peanut butter, etc. I love non-electric appliances--I hate the noise of all those electric gadgets... I already have a non-electric juicer, hand-cranked blender and food mill. As you gather I love LEHMAN'S -- have my eye on some more ol' fashion gadgets.

I found out while searching the internet that there is a spinning group here in Pasadena -- few blocks away actually. They're called Pasadena Wednesday Spinners and meet the first Wed of every month. Darn I missed it! But, perhaps, I hope I can make next month's meeting. We'll see...

Weather Report: Bring back out the summer clothes! Temps in the 90's.

Wednesday - November 13, 2002

BUNNY BUNCH

Yesterday we picked up two dwarf rabbits. The black and white one's MOON SHADOW and the brownish one's... well, we haven't picked a name yet. They really are taking to their new home, though Cassidy, our cat is wondering what all the fuss is about. The rabbits will be a great addition to the "homestead" eating the green veggie scraps and giving us some manure for the garden.

In addition, I also picked up a beautiful coffee plant from Burkards. It's over 4 feet tall... I plan to take some cuttings right away!

Heard the other day from a friend that Gary Jones of the famous Hortus Nursery here in Pasadena {actually down the road a little ways from us and every time I pass I see all the neat stuff leftover... would LOVE to get a hold of some of it for the garden}, is now at Armstrong's and rumor has it that he is bringing the world famous TOMATO MANIA to Armstrong's this Spring.... could it be true... please, oh please! But, hey don't ya have to admit it... I still miss ol' Hortus.

Weather Report: Bit cooler but still warm.

Tuesday - November 12, 2002

KINDRED SPIRITS

The wonderful people down at Long Beach Organic dropped in yesterday. Amy gave me some coffee plants... two actually... and a pineapple guava in exchange for some of our seeds.

I'm soooo excited about growing coffee. Check this link out about an LA gardener growing her own coffee.

We had a lovely afternoon, it was nice to chat and get together with kindred spirits.

Meyer Lemon

We chatted about a variety of subjects and one of the gals {Amy} got to telling me about her raw food diet... hmmm... got me thinking... I should look into that!

Also we had a chance to meet Vitali. I was totally blown away when he told us what he does... he sews his own organic cotton clothes, bakes bread, crochets, spins and so on... talk about a renaissance man. I'm thinking that guys does and knows more than I do.... it was a bit embarrassing! Makes me want to go and get my own spinning wheel...

Weather Report: We're expected to reach 90� today!!!! What a shock!

Monday - November 11, 2002

ONE OF THE THREE R's

Finally the guys got around to working on the grey water reclamation reed bed. We hope to reuse the grey water from the wash, dishes and bath. By letting it filtrate we should be able to get good clean usable water to use in garden. It going to be really neat seeing it come together... stay tune!

Here's a link that you might be interested in: HOW TO CONSTRUCT A REED BED

In the garden, everything seems to have grown overnight... it's wonderful! Though now, we are having problems with a pesky skunk that wants to dig up the beds... naughty!

Weather Report: Back to warm temps... high in the 80's.

Sunday - November 10, 2002

HERE COMES THE SUN!

Ahhhh! The sun's finally come out today, after two days straight of constant rain. It starting raining Thursday night and didn't stop 'till late Saturday night. Our rain gauge measured about 2 plus inches of rain... can you imagine all of last year we only received 4 inches! Has El Nino arrived?

The garden and trees, hillsides around here desperately needed this soaking rain. Seeds are sprouting up everywhere in the yard... and the National Forest has been re-opened... now we can take our weekly hikes up there once again!

Weather Report: Cool, nippy fall-like day...

Friday - November 8, 2002

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN?

First real rain of the season! It was so nice to wake up during the night and hear the raindrops falling on the roof. It's truly a blessing... we've gone too long without any significant rain. The plants and the garden are finally getting a much needed soaking.

Time to go and dig up umbrellas and rain slickers...

We bought some citrus yesterday -- Meyer Lemon and Bearss Lime, adding to our edible collection. Also, we are starting work on the grey water reclamation reed bed. The guys salvaged some old boards and we plan to go down the the Arroyo near our home to pick up some nice river rocks and dig up some cattails.

OK, all you guys who wrote wanting more pics of the yard... here they are.

Weather Report: It's raining!!!!

Wednesday - November 6, 2002

EYES BIGGER THAN OUR YARD?

Got a lot of projects going all at once, too much in fact. We're having a hard time juggling them all while trying very hard not to drop any. The guys are building new fences and working on trellises for the sides of the house, over the driveway, along the fence line. etc. We are trying to keep clear of run-of-the mill designs... trying to be innovative, but imagination takes time. It's so much easier to just go to the home and garden center and buy something ready-made and plop it right in the ground. But we would miss out on being creative.

Banana

Still waiting on the planters for the fruit trees... one day they should come in! I'm still tempted to purchase more fruit trees. Right now I'm looking at getting a dwarf lime, lemon and tangerine. And I'm trying to track down coffee plants, horseradish, Chilean guava, and many more. There's always room... I think! *grin* Our ultimate goal is to get 3 tons {6,000} pounds of food from our yard. This year it looks like we'll make close to 4,000 pounds, God willing.

Today, the guys are working on a hand-crank drum so that we are able to turn the compost into fine soil for the garden. Already we can see a tremendous difference from the manure/compost that we had delivered. The soil is full of worms that must have migrated in. The veggies look healthier... Now if we just could get some rain. The weather guys said there is a chance on Thursday, Friday and possibly Sunday... we need the rain badly... we are praying!

Weather Report: Warm, dry. Temps in the 80's.

Sunday - November 3, 2002

SALAD ANYONE?

The lettuces are coming up all beautiful and lush. So now all our customers are happy once again. One lady commented that I'd better bring her bag of salad mix, as - and I quote - "It's addicting!" Could it be that the freshly harvested lettuce leaves contains opium? I'm not kidding, when I don't bring them their salad mix, they are truly and utterly disappointed, like I'm punishing them or something. *sheesh, guys* But, you can't beat fresh, morning picked salad mix delivered that day. Now can you?

Weather Report: Beautiful, crisp day. Temps in the 70's.

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