The man at the centre of flood concerns in Stafford [New Zealand] has credited a small concrete breakwater built by a former resident [Jules Dervaes] 30 years ago for saving his house, and possibly his life.

Interview by Kathryn Ryan
The Dervaes family have transformed their California home into an urban homestead. They harvest nearly 3 tons of organic food from their 1/10 acre garden while incorporating many back-to-basics practices, as well as solar energy and biodiesel. The idea started when the family was living in Hokitika in the 1970s. (duration: 16′37″)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/20100525

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Download podcast: http://media.libsyn.com/media/twobeerswithsteve/Episode_46_-_Urban_Farming_With_Jules_Dervaes.mp3
Download this episode to your MP3 player, throw on your work clothes, grab your spade and head to the garden. Leave the European Bailout and the NYSE glitches behind you and grow something real.
Jules returns to the show and this time I (Steve) have moved beyond making lame excuses as to why I [...]

The Path to Freedom Urban Homestead and kitchen are featured in this new Food Network show, Private Chefs of Beverly Hills. Watch the It Ain’t Easy Being Green episode on Friday, May 7, 2010, 10:00 PM Eastern Time.
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Their use of an ancient form of slow watering, called ollas, is probably the biggest practice that we home gardeners can easily adopt. Looking like a bulbous clay vase, an olla filled with water once or twice a week, then capped with a stone will slowly leach its water cache into the surrounding soil, only as needed. An olla is a nearly perfect watering system that gets water directly to the roots, and is available in different sizes and shapes on their website’s “Peddler’s Wagon” (www.PeddlersWagon.com).

Airing today, Wednesday, April 21, 2010, on the 5:00 p.m. News on Channel 4.

Date: April 15, 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Location: Santa Monica Public Library – Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium
Address: 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401
Cost: Free
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 [...]