First, there is the study in opposites: the sprawl of concrete meeting a spread of fecund growth, white picket fence lining city street, the roar of freeway competing with the screech of a hen celebrating the laying of the morning’s first egg.

Path to Freedom is itself a dichotomy: a farm in the city, a “peaceful” revolution. It’s an oasis, an example and a subtle confrontation. It is simultaneously, an “urban homestead,” which existed before the term, and also one family’s quest to find “freedom” amid the chaos of city life.

Jules Dervaes and his three children began building their 1/5-acre Pasadena family farm a decade ago, but it is only recently that the world has caught up to them. Both a renewed interest in sustainability and a sour economy has transformed what once might have been deemed “kooky” into a undeniably enviable independence.

“There was a time when we were the crazy people on the block, tearing up our lawn and planting things,” says the youngest Dervaes, Jordanne, 26,” and suddenly I look up 10 years later and we’re cool. I don’t know when that happened, but I do know we’d be doing this—whether it was cool or not.”

Establishing one of the first “urban homesteading” websites to document their shared experiment, the Dervaes have become, over the last 10 years, if not “cool,” then certainly highly admired worldwide. Millions follow their popular blog, which documents the family as it successfully feeds and fuels itself—entirely from the fruits of its own labor and the incredible bounty of its tiny plot of land.

“Part of the reason we’ve gotten so much attention [is] that we’ve shown that this can be done successfully,” says patriarch Jules Dervaes. “One of the points we wanted to make was not only could this be done, but it could be done with only a little money and a little land.”

In one year the Dervaes’ homestead can produce three tons of fruits and vegetables, 25 pounds of honey and nearly 2,000 duck and chicken eggs. They utilize solar heat and people-powered machinery: for example, a blender connected to a stationary bike (pedaling gets the blades going) and an old-fashioned hand wringer washing machine. They also make their own preserves and their own biodiesel fuel.

As a result of these Herculean efforts and a low-impact, self-sufficient, sustainable lifestyle, the Dervaes have become, quite unexpectedly, the poster family for the green homestead movement. It’s a crown, however, they seem to wear somewhat uneasily.

“The economic collapse has boosted our emails and our outreach and it seems like people are now looking at this lifestyle seriously, as a viable alternative,” says the senior Dervaes, but the danger is that it’s now become trendy. So it’s up in the air, which way it will go. I’ve been here before, back in the 1970s. There was [a] big rush, a ‘back to the land’ movement that was truly sustainable. But what happened is a lot of those people got out there and realized it was hard!”

For more about the Dervaes’ homestead, go to www.pathtofreedom.com.

Event Details:
In the midst of a dense urban setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over 20 years, the Dervaes family has been transforming their home into an urban homestead, a model for sustainable agriculture and city living. They harvest three tons of organic food annually from their 1/10 acre garden. Solar energy and biodiesel reduce the family’s footprint on the earth. Big dreams and little space? This is one you won’t want to miss!

Presenter: Jules Dervaes

Workshop Session: G

An Interview with Jules Dervaes

In the bustling city of Pasadena, Calif., lives a family of urban-farm pioneers. Jules Dervaes has spent more than 20 years cultivating his 8,700-square-foot urban farm with the help of his three adult children, Anaïs, Justin and Jordanne.

The Dervaes family’s example of sustainability stands out in their quiet suburban neighborhood. The front yard is a lush agricultural oasis yielding 6,000 pounds of produce annually, which is sold to local restaurants and farmers’ markets. Their farm livestock (goats, chickens, ducks and rabbits) replace the typical suburban pets and contribute to garden compost. In addition, the Dervaes family has undertaken other sustainable pursuits such as solar-power paneling, homemade biodiesel fuel and water reclamation projects.

In 2001, the Dervaes family launched Path to Freedom to document their urban-homesteading progress and to encourage others to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. So far, their website has attracted urban farmers from more than 120 countries. The shift in perception toward sustainable living and urban farming emboldens Jules Dervaes in his endeavor to reduce his carbon footprint. “This is a sustainable family,” says Jules. “Our plan is to make a sustainable community.”

The film “Homegrown” tells the story of a farm scrunched around a 1500-square-foot home less than a mile from downtown Pasadena. It butts next to the intersection of Interstates 210 and 134. They grow about 6000 pounds of food in a year on one tenth of an acre. There’s also a goat and some chickens.

The popular term is low carbon footprint, and the Dervaes family have been intensely active in this regard for 20 years. Their commitment, however, seems to be more fundamentally fueled by a dedication to self-sufficiency. Jules Dervaes and his children, Justin, Anais, Jordanne, live and work at a modest yet ambitious ideal. Their shared devotion includes the evolving direction of papa Dervaes and his grown children.

Their bounty includes being satisfied with fresh produce that’s in season and generating satisfaction from the kitchen labors that follow their farming labors. It includes struggling for money when the cost of watering their compact crop rises significantly and restaurants buy less from them in a struggling economy.

Just the name of the film, “Homegrown,” and the name of their Web site, www.pathtofreedom.com, tells you much about the Dervaes family. They are inspirational. Most people will not walk the talk as thoroughly as they do, but they are an exemplary family.
[...]

Q & A with ‘Homegrown’
Chuck Jaffee: You have a well established career as a TV and film editor. Say something about taking on this documentary project as director as well as being the editor.

Robert McFalls: Most documentaries are “found” in post [after the filming has been done], so the editor is an important part of authorship. The director is more the driver than the editor. Editing suits my personality. With documentary editing, you get to be more of a storyteller.

CJ: How is it that you know the Dervaes family and got to make this film about them?

RM: I was looking for a project I wanted to do. I read an article about them. I liked the family aspect of their story. I contacted them.

CJ: What did you want the film to do?

RM: It seems like the economy and energy and environmental things are coming together in a way that it’s possible we’re going to have to do more of the kind of things the Dervaes family is doing, that we’ll have to get more back to our roots. Most people are just a few generations removed from being farmers.

CJ: What do you think makes the Jules Dervaes tick?

RM: Jules is a true believer, down the line. For telling a story, it’s good to have a person who’s true and driven by it. And yet, he’s vulnerable and warm. He’s a great character.

http://www.theunion.com/article/20091224/PROSPECTOR/912239979/1079&parentprofile=1055

Jules Dervaes presents “Urban Gardening as Education”
Industry Panel: ENERGY
Conference Center Room # 107
Friday, December 11, 2009 10:20 a.m.
http://www.green-technology.org/TI-new/

California is setting the pace for a green schools revolution that reflects the state’s commitment to preserving natural resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The added benefit? Healthy environments that improve faculty morale and student performance.

High performance schools will be the subject of the third annual Green California Schools Summit, the largest green schools conference in the U.S. Taking place at the Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, California on December 9 – 11, 2009, the Summit covers every aspect of building, financing and maintaining green schools. Themed “Bringing Sustainability to a New Generation,” the Summit will bring together leaders in the green schools movement. Through a full range of educational workshops and sessions, networking opportunities and special events, they will share strategies, best practices and results from their green schools programs. The Summit will also feature an expo where hundreds of exhibitors will be available to discuss innovative products and services that can help schools and districts attain their green goals and significant short and long term savings. By popular demand. The Green California Schools Summit & Expo will show you how to green your school or district.

Despite turbulent economic times, funding can be found for school projects, whether from state sources, the private sector or federal stimulus funds. Don’t miss this chance to discover what’s available.

The Summit will also address the role of curriculum in green schools, and the role that schools can play in helping students find a place in the emerging green economy.

Seventeen years ago, Jules Dervaes placed in front of his three hungry kids a quarter-pound burger and a slightly heavier condition. They had to choose between the beef sandwich and a rectangle he’d drawn in the living room, which measured 55 square feet. “For every burger you eat, you lose about that much of rainforest,” Dervaes warned, pointing at it.

That day in 1992, space prevailed over food. The young trio killed their appetite, and the family has been vegetarian ever since. “You have to make people feel bad enough to make something good happen,” smiles 61-year-old Dervaes, who’s been trying to do precisely that for over 25 years-make others feel bad enough to want to plant seeds in their backyard.

The jolly American, who likes to call himself an urban homesteader (farmhouse owner), started sowing seeds outside his house in the monster city of Los Angeles almost two decades ago. Today, he owns a urban homestead which attracts not only green activists, science students and Americans who mistake his daughter’s goat for “some kind of a dog”, but also film festivals the world over. Recently, the Dervaeses screened their award-winning documentary Homegrown Revolution in Mumbai for wannabe homesteaders.

The film, which chronicles the family’s domestic green movement, starts with the Vietnam war, which disturbed then college student Dervaes enough to develop an ambition. He soon migrated to New Zealand, took up farming and felt like “I was travelling back in time”. While sweating it out in the fields, he ruminated about the path to progress: “Taking a step backwards.” A combination of circumstances forced him to move back to his homeland Florida, where he bought a 10-acre farm, but the need to give his kids “a better choice” forced him to sell the land and move to a low-income neighbourhood in LA in 1986. The backyard was full of mulch, and growing grass demanded money, attention and water.

So in the same uptight city, where vegetarians were branded as hippies, the Dervaes family decided to convert about 4,300 square feet of their backyard into a farm. The task ahead was Herculean-the soil had to be changed, a lot of digging was required and there was absolutely no precedent for their effort-but the three home-improvers were determined. Despite successive failures, non-cooperative weather, consistent loss of crop, time and money, they managed to transform their brown, worn lawn into a green organic garden. Their slow and steady endeavour, which now yields a produce of 6,000 pounds of tomatoes, broccoli, berries, peaches, red mustard, guavas and edible flowers annually, and is even supplied to local restaurants, is called Path To Freedom.

This freedom struggle entails some drastic lifestyle changes. There is an outdoor shower and the family bathes only once a week (sweat is fought by drinking water instead). The run-off helps irrigate their small farm. Three pygmy goats, two chickens, ducks and rabbits help the quality of soil by creating manure and form “the cutest composting system” according to 23-year-old Jordanne, the Dervaes’ youngest daughter. When she takes the goats for a hike, people stump her with their ignorance. “Is that a rabbit?” they’d ask. “A llama?” was another gem.

Jordanne says friends found her weird as she walked barefoot in the house, ate eggs that came from the chicken’s butt (”Where else do they think eggs come from?”) and had goats for pets. “You don’t smell like a goat,” they would say. “There is such a disconnect with basics,” Jordanne muses. In the US, she hears that farmers are starving. “But when we ask them how much land they have, they say ten acres,” reveals Jordanne, blinking. “I feel like saying, we have two chickens, you know.”

When the film was shown to students of an Udaipur college recently, a student said, “Thank you for bringing the Indian culture back to India.” That touched the Dervaeses, who feel more comfortable in India than in America. “In the West, we tend to think linearly,” explains Dervaes, drawing a straight ray and marking points named A, B and C across it on a notebook. “After producing and using, we don’t know what to do with the waste,” he says, circling the letter C. In the Third World, however, he finds that the same three letters form the vertices of a triangle called development. “Here, everyone recycles and works with their hands so there’s an instant connect with Nature.”

“Growing your own food is the only way of radical protest,” feels this persistent homesteader, for whom freedom means an escape from commercial monopoly over seeds and food. In 2001, when Genetically Modified corn turned up in food at Taco Bell, the cheerful gardener turned into a protester. The idea of GM food, strawberries being injected with a fish gene and the like seemed like an act against Nature to him. “GM, in my opinion, is almost anti-Hindu. The religion worships its trees and Nature,” feels Dervaes, who now has his own brand called Freedom seeds.

Homesteading may be a full-time occupation with crucial investments called time and space, yet Dervaes sees hope for Mumbai. When told about the terrace gardens here, he is impressed. “It’s a good thing you all have terraces-our terraces are full of air-conditioner ducts,” he smiles. “Start with whatever you have. Plant a seed, turn off lights, save water. The first step is to want to do it,” he says. The next one is to draw a rectangle.

Path to Freedom is a grassroots, family-operated urban homestead located in the heart of Pasadena, California. Surrounded by urban sprawl and just a short distance from a major freeway, the Dervaes family has steadily transformed an ordinary 66′ x 66′ city lot [Edit: the lot is 66' x 132'; the garden area is 66' x 66'] into a lush, organic and sustainable micro-farm teeming with butterflies, edible flowers and even chickens, ducks and goats! This modern, electronic-media savvy family are neither anachronistic farmers nor Luddites: they chronicle their homesteading lifestyle on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. They also run several websites and business ventures online: Dervaes Gardens sells produce locally, Peddler’s Wagon for eco-goods, Freedom Seeds sells non-GMO and open-pollinated seeds and the nonprofit Dervaes Institute and community outreach programs support their pioneering lifestyle while educating the public. Healing Our World salutes this inspiring family for taking a stand and walking the talk.

Why did you start an urban homestead?

Since the late 60s I’ve been searching for a better way of life, believing that to be possible by living off the land. But I found myself in the early 1990s living in the city of Pasadena, California, yet I still desired to be self-sufficient in providing for my family’s needs. Genetically Modified Organisms introduced into the food supply in 2000 led me to take action, as I realized I had lost access to real and wholesome food. I decided to do something radical—where I was and with what I had. I founded the original modern urban homestead in 2001. This was my way of providing a healthy future for my family.

What inspired you to be the change?

Part of my inspiration came from working alongside my dad when I was young, as well as people like John and Robert Kennedy, Rachel Carson, the Nearings, Wendell Berry, and Wes Jackson. More accurately, I would say I was “scared” into becoming the change in the face of the unknown threat of GMOs. More than inspiration, it was fear of what had happened and what could become an even worse situation that was the motivation for me to take the course of action I did. The consequences of inaction were unacceptable, so I took the first steps in blazing a new trail.

Why should anyone grow their own food?

I would ask, “Why shouldn’t they grow at least some of their own food, if it is at all possible?” This activity would be a return to what is a normal and essential part of life. It is a matter of regaining control of your life, especially with the corporations working towards taking over all aspects of our existence. We have lost the capacity to stand on our own two feet; so, growing food ourselves is a step up to freedom.

How did your vegetable garden turn into an urban homestead?

Growing vegetables for at least some of our diet was the ground work which enabled me to begin the process of achieving self-sufficiency. Success there led to a desire to take on other challenges and see what more I could do. Thus, over the last nine years, the garden—as the foundation—has supported the other aspects of my freedom quest: energy, fuel, water, waste reduction. After a good start with growing my family’s food, we advanced to tackling our energy supply by installing solar panels and cooking with solar ovens. Next, we learned to brew our own fuel for our vehicle, making biodiesel out of used vegetable oil and are now experimenting further with water conservation schemes. One by one, all these factors combined to construct an urban homestead; and, along the way, these actions have lit a homegrown revolution movement that now inspires others worldwide.

What are some of the challenges faced by urban homesteaders?

The obvious, external challenge is to find ways to work with nature rather than against her. Today that is harder than ever because nature has been thrown out of balance. There are difficulties of finding enough space; abiding by city codes; and getting by with few resources for the novice homesteader. Additionally, because it will take time to build a skill set to become proficient in homesteading tasks, there is the personal, internal challenge of persevering through the inevitable failures and setbacks, while continually striving to improve.

What were the starting conditions like on your property?

On our one-fifth of an acre, we had a typical front yard lawn and a backyard that had extensive concrete areas. Underneath it was adobe-type soil that dried hard like a brick, which I joke could have been used to build a California mission. It was beige in color, worm-challenged and devoid of any other living microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. The soil was really junk—it was basically the means to support a plant upright!

How long did it take until you started to see the soil improve?

Because this transformation was done on a budget, it was slow and time consuming. The soil was improved continuously over many years. Due to the volume of soil and its poor condition, no matter how much compost and other amendments I added, it all seemed to vanish at first without a trace. However, after a few years, I noticed a definite change in color, along with some worms, signifying the beginning of a restoration. The shocking difference became evident when I dug up our driveway and found the original soil. What a difference twenty years can make! It takes patience to see significant improvement when you are working to restore old soil, not just replace it with new.

What is the condition of American soil?

In general, I would say the soil across America is depleted. We have taken out more than we have put back. Some soils are now useless, for example, where salt from irrigation has built up. Other soil has become unavailable when good farmland gets taken over for development. I believe we are at risk in America; there is not enough good soil left to produce the food we need. It is noteworthy that the most under-utilized land is found in residential backyards. In our current situation, this often overlooked piece of property is a valuable asset.

How did we get here?

We got here because we are always trying to get somewhere else! We are in pursuit, most often, of what is faster, bigger, and easier. Nature, by contrast, takes 500 years to form one inch of topsoil. America was a “blessed” land, and we took it for granted that the original fertility would always remain the same without our having to be good stewards. Belatedly, we are now finding out that there are consequences to neglect that need to be dealt with. Still, it is difficult for people to pay attention to something so low. Soil does not get much respect; we treat it like dirt! We have other, more important things to do, but, ironically, there is no more important matter than where our food comes from.

What are some strategies we can use to revitalize the topsoil on personal, community, national and global levels?

It all starts with personal responsibility as a priority, with everything beyond that built on the personal level. That is what Path to Freedom is all about. Without this solid foundation of individual change, greater programs cannot achieve long-lasting results. The strategy would be a stewardship strategy, as the earth definitely needs careful maintenance and dutiful upkeep. According to The Land Institute, 38% of global agricultural lands are currently designated as “degraded.” Education is the key to informing and encouraging people to take responsibility, beginning when they are very young children. For instance, right now one strategy is to buy local, such as advocated by the Slow Food movement [Editor's note: see Healing Our World 29/3].

Do you have any suggestions people can use on their land to get off chemical fertilizers and start rebuilding the soil?

The three most important suggestions are: compost today, compost tomorrow, and compost always! The chemical fertilizers are drugs for plants. In February of this year [2009], Time Magazine highlighted a report claiming today’s supermarket vegetables are up to 40% lower in minerals than those grown fifty years ago, due to soil depletion and harvest methods. To rehabilitate from these powerful but dangerous drugs you need patience and persistence, similar to AA.

Gardeners should look only for OMRI- or NOP-listed fertilizers, amendments, and pest solutions. Today, there are more alternatives available than ten years ago. They may cost more, but that is the price of getting out of the fix we are in—there has been an average 85% mineral depletion from soil during the past 100 years in U.S. Also, a natural rebuilding always takes longer, which requires a change in our understanding.

We now replenish the garden twice a year with soil enriched by composted manure from our animal enclosure, which houses goats, ducks, and chickens. Our practices of feeding the soil, not the plants, are improving the land each year. [We believe] that healthy plants come from healthy soil.

Your homestead is quite extensive. What kind of yields can the casual gardener expect?

All beginners must face the realization that nature calls the shots, so yields are predictably unpredictable. There can be beginner’s luck, but most often harvests are variable from year to year. Even for full-time, seasoned workers of the soil, the yields are erratic due to factors beyond human control. But for the casual gardener who is doing this in his or her free time, any yield is better than no yield at all. The aim is to start somewhere, and then push for an improved yield the next year. There is no guarantee, but you should consider long term success measured by small increments. However, a part-time gardener should be able to harvest enough greens for salads, a variety of vegetables for side dishes, and some fruit, and if all else fails, lots and lots of zucchini!

What opportunities exist for urban homesteaders?

Urban homesteading, like old-time farming, is not lucrative. Independent, small farmers are thrilled just to break even sometimes, staying afloat to the next year. The payoff is not in monetary riches. If you truly want to be self-sufficient, you shouldn’t look at urban homesteading as a business, but as a passion. However, there are opportunities to engage in business as a sideline to support the urban homestead. The obvious commercial aspect is to grow a surplus to sell to customers. We are able to do this and sell organic produce to high-end local restaurants and caterers. Other commercial opportunities include selling at farmer’s markets. In addition, working at home can provide you with an opportunity to make income from the homestead through sales of handcrafts, eggs, honey, etc. Once we got totally involved in this, we found there were many outlets for creativity resulting from living a self-sufficient lifestyle.

How do you enroll the future generation of urban gardeners?

I chose to do more than talk or write; I chose to build a model, a demonstration of an alternative for the next generation. I realized that for anything to be truly successful, it must be passed on to those who need to deal with tomorrow’s challenges. Path to Freedom reaches out to them on the Internet via our blog, social networking site, videos and at local events. When we can, we open our doors to students for tours. Our community outreach is about living this new way, as an ongoing process—not a stunt—so that young people can see that this is a real life choice. They can take these tested solutions (not just on paper) and implement them in their own lives.

What would you say to someone interested in gardening but who has never planted a single seed?

1. Soil is the most important thing. Feed the soil, not the plants. Soil is more than just dirt—it is a living thing. Put everything you can back into the soil in the form of compost. Don’t put in anything artificial or unnatural. Copy natural ecosystems, such as tropical forests. Don’t abuse the soil and just take from it over and over without replacing the loss.
2. Get to know your planting area—how much sun, shade and wind different areas receive. Be creative in where you plant—use containers, hanging baskets, and trellises for extra planting space.
3. Spend time at a local nursery. See what’s in season in your area. Buy both seeds and vegetable transplants.
4. Start with just a few plants, hardy ones that will do well even for beginners. Plant some herbs, such as basil and chives, and summer crops like tomatoes and squash.
5. Keep notes of what and when and where you plant your crops. Weigh your harvest and chart your progress!
6. Remember that nature does well on her own. Usually, there will be some success. Analyze that success and build on it by repeating the steps. There are many factors, but for those who have not planted before, don’t give up. Somewhere, sometime, there will be a result, and that will be your motivation to keep on going.
7. Ask questions of other backyard gardeners on www.FreedomGardens.org.

Tell us about the Victory Gardens which sprouted across America in WWII

This was a historical happening where people saw the bigger picture and knew that they could support the cause of winning the war by growing their own food. It was a sensible matter of using resources wisely, and it was also promoted by the government and given national recognition, but the movement was a pointedly nationalistic one against an outside enemy. Today, with corporate control of our food sources, there can be no such program without wreaking havoc on the economy. Furthermore, we’re facing a global crisis involving all nations, not one country against another. So, at Path to Freedom, we are going beyond that idea, making it a common cause for all people to garden for freedom through our online social network, www.FreedomGardens.org.

Any thoughts on President Obama’s vegetable garden?

It is good when the President sets the example so that others can know this is an important matter. This gets the message out that there is something others should copy. However, presidents do come and go, and one cannot depend on the example from the top. Trends pass, but people should stay the correct course. A vegetable garden should not be a fad or a green status symbol but indicative of a lifestyle, one capable of bringing about a better future.

The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.

Samuel Adams

To see what the Dervaes are currently up to, visit them at www.dervaesgardens.com, www.peddlerswagon.com and www.freedomseeds.org.

http://www.hippocratesinst.org/magazine/29-4/ (pages 32-35)