Urban Homestead Day of Action

Show the Dervaes that we won't be bullied and told that our way of life is copyrighted.

Urban Homestead Diaries

"Show your Urban Homesteading pride and unity by tweet, blog, and update with the words urban homestead and urban homesteading in the title.
Be sure to put the words in the title of your post so they show up on google searches."

Tis a Gift to be Simple

Becoming an Urban Homesteader

It's been a few years since I embarked on this journey and this spring has got me truly excited. I have so much more sunny land to work with. There are so many more possibilities.

I want to concentrate on Organic Heirloom Vegetables and Herbs. I want to start seed saving and conduct experiments within my little suburban farm. We have an acre of land with a sprinkling of trees. I need to remain mindful of our septic tank. All in all though I have an excellent blank canvas for living work of art.



I started planning out my raised bed. I plan to construct 10 inch high borders and fill them with compost, peat moss and soil. I wanted to make the configuration of my raised beds interesting, unique yet functional.



The three rectangled beds in the centre will be permenate installments for plants like strawberries and herbs. The outer L-shaped beds will operate on a rotating basis. There are 3 foot aisles all around, but that may change depending on the width of my wheel barrow or wagon that I want to use.

This design has over 400 square feet of gardening space. But I am not finished there. I would like to construct another set of raised beds at the back of the property for vine plants like pumpkin, cantaloupe and maybe watermelon (one of my planned experiments). And I would like to make a larger herb garden for things like Chamomile and other medicinal type plants on the opposite side of the deck.

All in good time, all in good time. The trick will be to slow myself down at this point. Watch out...I'm an urban homesteader!

Can Someone Own URBAN HOMESTEADING?

The Dervaes family is Pasadena, CA have quite a following. At one time, I was a self-professed groupie. Not anymore. This family, who works their suburban plot of land to generate food for themselves and their community has gone way beyond my threshold of tolerance. They have professed to claim the right to the words: Urban Homesteading, Urban Homesteader. They hold the registered rights to the business name Pathways to Freedom, and Little Homestead in the City. These I do not contest. They are a trademark like any other business.

Here is a link to their open letter stating how they own the rights and everyone should cite them before using their owned words.


Here is a response from Gustavo Arellano.


Trademarking an entire environmental movement, and claiming it as your own sole creation is a bit much. Scott and Helen Nearing we advocates of the lifestyle long before the Dervaes were on the scene. Thoreau himself dabbled with the experience briefly. I can bet there have been many more who have been less likely to seek their five minutes of fave as vehemently as this family.

Homesteading is not a lifestyle you can expect to get rich off of. It is not something that can be owned and marketed, packaged and shrink wrapped. Homesteading is a way in which you can express yourself, your true beliefs on the world and how we all interconnect. Homesteading is a philosophy, a lifestyle, a reflective practice. It is not an invention like the light bulb or vacuum. It is the culmination and evolution of the journeys of many people. It can not be own by a single source or marketed for a single gain.

What the Dervaes are attempting to do is own a piece of the green movement because it is proving to be profitable and lucrative. And to me, that is just wrong. As far as I am concerned their website and all the information therein has been green washed and rendered useless.

It's Cheap Because It's CHEAP!

I have discovered that when moving there is often a fair bit of shopping involved with getting settled. I am not a big shopper. I honestly think that in my old house and old routine I was okay with heading to the shops maybe once a week and it was usually for groceries. But all that changed when we bought this house and it feels like I am always looking for the next opportunity to head out. My 'To Buy' list is the longest it has ever been, especially for this DIY Diva who'd rather create what I need than hand over hard earned money for the convenience of having someone else do it. This DIY mentality can only get you so far. I can make a lot of things but a couch is not one of them!

It all started with living room furniture to replace the aged couch that should have been in the dump years ago. Of course that's a big thing but there are plenty of little things that I was not expecting. Like waste baskets for the extra bathroom, entrance mats for doorways and a vacuum (a few rooms have carpets now).

A normal person would be excited at the prospect of shopping around looking for that perfect 'whatever' to go with the paint in the bathroom. But I'm not normal so it's no surprise that I haven't been too excited about hitting the shops.

I think part of my trepidation is the fact that I stress about every dollar, nay every penny. Why waste a dime on something that is a short term solution or minor luxury? I have also developed this obsession with steering clear of cheap stuff. I know as a frugal person I should be looking for the cheap stuff but it's cheap for a reason. It's cheap because it's CHEAP. Instead I am on the look out for the best deal, or in other words, the most bang for my buck and sometimes that means buying something a little more high end with a better warranty and a longer life span.

But of course this way of shopping prolongs the already excruciating process. Instead of one overly busy store now I must got to two or three or more to make sure the thing I saw at the first store was really the best 'bang for my buck'. This leaves little time for the still unpacked boxes or the mountain of empty boxes hibernating in the garage waiting to be recycled.

It feels like I am not getting much done but I think I have resigned myself to the fact that this is the way it has to be for now. Like sucking it up and eating my gruel, I must use more than just impulse to get what I need. If that takes more time and effort so be it. It will save me the aggravation of replacing a broken item in a year or so when a cheap impulse purchase comes around to bite me in the butt.