Urban Farming: 6,000 Pounds of Food on 1/10 Acre

[nationalize the fed]

Over 6,000 pounds of food per year, on 1/10 acre located just 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. The Dervaes family grows over 400 species of plants, 4,300 pounds of vegetable food, 900 chicken and 1,000 duck eggs, 25 lbs of honey, plus seasonal fruits throughout the year.

From 1/10th of an acre, four people manage to get over 90% of their daily food and the family reports earnings of $20,000 per year (AFTER they eat from what is produced). This is done without the use of the expensive & destructive synthetic chemicals associated with industrial mono-cropping, while simultaneously improving the fertility and overall condition of the land being used to grow this food on. Scaled up to an acre, that would equal $200,000 per year!

To follow the Dervaes and their Urban Homesteading activites, you can find them at http://urbanhomestead.org

MORE: http://ftmflix.com/video_listing/urban-farming-6000-pounds-of-food-on-110-acre/

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Proving GMO's are not necessary except so that companies like Monsanto can patent food

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

1. I listened to the guy who runs this place at last years Heirloom Seed Expo in Santa Rosa:

http://www.singingfrogsfarm.com/Home.html

They sell great produce at the local farmers markets.

(edit for spelling)

[jtuck004]

2. So they live in poverty, but with vegetables? n/t

[Luminous Animal]

6. Likely they've got outside income. 1/10th of an acre is not a full time job.

[jtuck004]

8. Yeah, 4 people and $20K a year isn't a lot. It's a cool project, but

the whole story is important to let people know what is possible and how.

[BrotherIvan]

10. Also add in the savings for buying food

That's quite a lot. If a neighborhood got together and farmed a plot, think how much that would be. Add in after school students, part time workers who wish they could get more hours but can't, stay at home moms who figured out that daycare is too expensive, retirees, anyone willing and able, you would have a whole community that could feed itself. With the healthiest, freshest food. It wouldn't take much investment or work with everybody chipping in. Savings on bulk needs. Everyone composting. It really is the way forward.

I have read about whole towns in Europe being "edible" with front yard gardens where they coordinate who grows what. And you are welcome to come and pick what you need. That's a community I would love to live in!

http://eatyouryard.com/services/edible-neighborhoods-homepage/

[jtuck004]

12. All while we are subsidizing processed food mfrs and people who grow and sell the most unhealthy

of foods, helping them pay low wages while we give their employees food stamps...

And then we get excited because people can grow some food on land, and couldn't afford to do it if it wasn't for someone working outside to bring in income.

It's a cute show, but most people would be foreclosed on and homeless if they tried this.

The thing that makes this exciting is how pathetic it is in a country where we make you work all your life and then take money from you in the form of taxes and give it to the bastards that are hurting us, and making something like this impossible.

[KurtNYC]

14. people who grow their own are "lighting a candle"

instead of "cursing the darkness"

In many urban areas, urban ag is the ONLY way to get fresh or local or organic food.

[jtuck004]

17. We have more working poor than we have had in years. They light the darkness too, when they can

pay the electric bill. Unlike bankers, who have been made wealthy by the past few years.

I think it's great, and they get some good exercise. but what they show is possible is that people can eke out potatoes on a place if the police don't run them off for trespassing, 'cause there ain't no way in hell they are paying for that place on $20,000 a year divided between 4 people.

Without outside income this wouldn't be there - it's more like a performance than what can really happen.

No one is putting down their work, just putting it into perspective and getting rid of the inedible and artificial and unnatural.

These growers think that is important, and I do too.

[BrotherIvan]

20. I often wonder about my yuppie friends

Who are so excited from taking their children to activites, sports, etc. They say they have to keep up with a furious pace and an over-scheduled life for their children because colleges want "well-rounded" children. And people are complaining that many children are growing up sheltered, spoiled, and without a sense of empathy. Instead, we should be encouraging all that time and effort into helping the community, of working together. Kids used to help out on the farm or their parents business, but now we have extended childhood so long it's past 25. So many able bodies who would learn about giving and supporting their families and other people. And they would get paid for their work and could proudly feed their families. We all live such isolated lives, in little boxes that each take up too much resources separately. TPTB like it that way.

[jtuck004]

21. People miss the real value in farms. As illustrated, it SURE as hell ain't in raisin crops - Mi$$

RobMe more money in an hour, according to his tax returns, than the 4 of those make all year, including the food they eat.

But they have spirit, which is what your post suggests, and I think that would be more valuable than money right now.

He, otoh, is an empty shell of what might be called a GMO human.

[jtuck004]

18. Many new things are edible when you are hungry enough <G>

But that is a good idea for a town, and it should be expanded.

[BrotherIvan]

19. It's also how we help each other

I'm tired of begging corporations and the politicians they own to help us. I want us to help each other, to feed each other. I want to help grow enough food to give away. I already pass out fruit and veg from our small apartment plot around the neighborhood. There was a retired man, living in an apt complex who started a garden in the front (dirt) lawn of the foreclosed house next door. The water was turned off, so he and his buddies carried it by bucket to water. They hung out, worked on the garden and had a great time giving stuff away to everyone in the neighborhood. The bank put up a 12 ft chickenwire fence to keep them out. Bastards.

There was a great TED talk about using the strips of grass along sidewalks to farm. Especially in poor neighborhoods, it's a fantastic idea. At our farmer's market we have two urban farm groups who sell their produce.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la

We have to remember that we can take care of ourselves without working like slaves. We are not completely helpless.

[riderinthestorm]

13. I've read about them before. The four of them only do this for a living

They make money through workshops and events. Iirc, they also sell stuff like baked goods and equipment.

But this is their full time gig for all of them.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. The home they live in would be worth several hundred thousand dollars and would not be

affordable without much more than 20K a year even if rented.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. Make it weed and ya got something.

[User_Friendly]

5. A nice visit from a federal agent maybe...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Some of those types are so stupid they believe weed can turn you into a lizard....

[jtuck004]

9. You ought to see all the new warehouses full of growing pot - there aren't enough

federal agents to keep up with them, unless they would rather bust business than people who are hurting others, who might shoot back. Cowards.

And that doesn't say anything for the likely hundreds of thousands of people with little pot plants that put out a few ounces every 4-5 months.

It's past the point where most people care, and federal pressure may well backfire. Along with pressure from the fascist ass clowns who are joining to try and shove it back underground, tilting at windmills.

[KurtNYC]

15. Today it begins...

L.A's first cannabis farmer's market to open Friday

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-cannabis-farmers-market-20140703-story.html

[mackerel]

4. Brilliant!

[Uncle Joe]

11. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, nationalize the fed.

[WinkyDink]

22. Their climate helps.

[Courtesy Flush]

23. That's 1.4 pounds per square foot.

Doesn't sound like much, but I'll be lucky to get 1.4 pounds out of my whole garden this year!