The only constant is change...

Ch-ch-changes!  How do you go from eating very little organic foods, eating out a lot, using paper towels and taking really long showers to being kinder to the earth and to yourself?  One step at a time.   

However, change is not easy for me.  I am a creature of habit.  I like to have all my ducks in a row, have a plan and to know where I'm going and when I'll get there (preferably, I'll get there early, too).  I find comfort in the details.  

This being said, the whole process of our family becoming more intentional about how we can contribute to the planet in a positive way (give back, instead of take, take, taking) can be, at times, a little overwhelming to me.  It all feels very B-I-G.  What makes it better?  Breaking it down into small chunks.  Here are a couple of examples of the chunking:

Last fall we joined the Beneficial Farms CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) .  We set up an account online and pay $25 each week for our fruit and vegetable share and an extra $5 each week for our meat share (one pound of lean ground beef).  Then, each Thursday we pick up our share and enjoy the organic yumminess.  Now, what does this do to help us and our planet?  Well, we are given the opportunity to support local farms and farmers, eat in season good-for-us foods and get to know like-minded people in the process.  We have been so impressed not only with our food, but with the people who run the CSA and the website (full of tips, information and fantastic recipes for all the seasonal items I've never even heard of before) that we chat it up to anyone who will listen.  My brother, after hearing all about it, actually asked us to set up an account for him as his Christmas gift last year!  Done!   

This weeks share = peanuts, chutney, apples, potatoes, frozen apricots, sprouts & our beef

Another step we're taking is to slowly move to purchasing and eating all (or as much as is humanly and economically possible) organic foods.  This has been an ongoing goal of mine for a long time, but I've always seen it as unattainable on a large scale.  We eat only organic dairy and meats, grow organics in the garden and shop at the Farmers Market on occasion, but the rest was always negotiable.  However, I read yet another article this week that scared me (a lot) and I am now determined to make the shift.  Now, does this mean that we can (realistically) just throw out all of the food that sits in our pantry?  Not at all.  What it does mean though is that we will slowly start replacing all of our foods with organics.  We purchased (thank you Tax Refund!) some glass containers as well as some bulk food items to fill them up with and so now begins the slow shift...We'll eat what we have, slowly replacing foods we've always eaten with healthier/organic versions.  Another shift is in our attempts to make more things from scratch that we've never done before (ravioli, bread, tortillas, red chile...).  Hence all the flour :-)

Organic flours, dried beans and soups mixed in with their generic versions that will slowly be eaten and phased out.

Organic oatmeal & toppings, rices and popcorn mixed with ordinary cereals that will shortly disappear into my daughter's belly.

Close up of our beautiful beans.  The tallest empty container will soon hold Pinto Beans.  We've already made several batches of these beans and frozen them.  It's cheaper, they taste better...especially with Hatch green chile and homemade Tortillas!

In other news, our five originals chickens have been laying eggs like crazy!  I think they've been enjoying the warm weather over the past couple of weeks because we've gotten 18 eggs in about a week!  Crazy!  Last summer, (their first laying season) at their peak, we got about 4 eggs a day, but as the temperature dropped, their laying did too...to about 1 egg a day, if we were lucky.  Talk about a change!  I guess we'll just have to wait and see if this maintains!

Also, our four little chicks are growing so fast!  They're losing some of their fluff and growing in some real (miniature) feathers!  Prim (the biggest chick at the front of this pic) is HUGE!  Not sure why, but she is growing much faster then the other three and seems to have a bit of an attitude (which is why she is now nick-named Prim).  I am hopeful she's just big and not because she is actually a "he".  Fingers crossed.  And the little blondy in the back (AKA the "broken one") is still with us!  YAY!  Hopefully she can stay strong and straighten out those wings!

While change is not always a comfortable thing for me, I know that it is necessary.  If you're not growing, you might as well be dead, and I've got miles to go before I sleep.

Pieces of the puzzle

Well now, here is my little addition to the explosion of Take Back Urban Home-steading(s) -ness. 

What we have before us is a collective dream to produce more and consume less, to experience this world at it's richest and leave it in better shape for our kiddos than it was made for us.  Our collective goal is (most generally speaking, of course) to grow more, drive less, compost scraps, raise a few chickens (eat some good eggs), help the bees, know where our food is coming from and relish in the knowing that we are not alone.  We do all this on our own little Urban Home-stead(s).  Itty bitty growing spaces in the middle of towns and cities because we either don't want to or can't afford to move into the country and have a go at it. 

Now, can anyone tell us to stop?  Nope.  Can they tell us what to call what it is that we do?  Apparently.  By law.  A certain family now can.  This article explanes it pretty well and has all of the trademarked words/statements/craziness... 

http://technorati.com/business/article/the-green-movement-trademarking-controversy-and 

Will this stop any of us from living our dreams and gaining joy from the process?  Nope.  Will it enable us to rally (virtually, if not in person) and build a stonger community?  Absolutely.  We are all in this together.  We are all pieces of an intricate and beautiful puzzle, all working through the mud and the muck and sharing a common vision. I almost (almost, but not really) feel bad for the Dervaes family and their little Urban Homestead, because although they live smack dab in the middle of Pasadena, I have a sneaking suspicion that they are feeling quite lonely right now. 

I, on the other hand, am feeling quite good as part of a thriving, passionate community!  Cheers!

TEA!

Good morning!  My name is Melissa, and I am addicted to tea.  For real.  I could drink tea all day everyday.  This tea is made from mint we grew on our front porch last season and hung to dry.  Then, all you have to do is stick it in a nifty little tea ball to steep.  Add a bit of honey and it tastes like magic in a cup! 

Beginnings

Alrighty then...here's my very first posting!  Yay me!  Cheers to the beginning of my blog about our experiences growing food and chickens (and hopefully bees soon, too) on 1/8 acre as well as all of our joys and stumbles along the way!  I thank you (my imagined reader) in advance while I figure this whole blog thing out.

What better way to start off then with the ultimate beginning...life!  That's right, last Wednesday we got a new batch of chicks from out local feedstore!  2 Ameraucanas and 2 Rhode Island Reds to add to our flock of 5 Ameraucanas we got last spring as our very first journey into Chicken Land!  Until this morning, we were sure we would lose one of the R.I. Reds...she just couldn't keep her feet under her, wouldn't eat or drink unless encouraged and slept all the time.  This morning, however, and all day since, she's just like one of the others...running around like crazy, eating and chirping away!  YAY!  Hopefully this maintains!

Where do we keep these chicks?  In a home made brooder in the garage for now.  Where will they live when they're big enough?  Out in our backyard with the original 5...in the coop we built from scratch last spring.  Trial and error?  Oh, yes!  And there is some re-modelling to be done this spring as well, but it works and has gotten them through the last 9 months or so. (Note: this cardboard box is not the brooder we built.  Promise.  I just don't have a good picture of it yet.)

Now, just to give you a bit of history...You know the age-old question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"  Well, in our case, it was the chicken first.  Last year we bought 5 chicks with the intention of harvesting their eggs while they produce and then culling them when they stop (the goal is to be as sustainable as possible, not feed birds that aren't giving us anything back...this may sound harsh, but it's the truth).  We were thinking that, statistically speaking, 1 would probably die and 1 would probably be a rooster which would promptly try to give away (our neighbors would not take kindly to the cockle doodle doos of a rooster) which would leave us with 3.  This, we thought, was a good number to start off with.  However, they all wound up surviving and they were all girls!  We'll see what this year brings, but we've obviously fallen in love with the whole backyard chicken idea...and even more in love with their super yummy, almost orange yolked eggs!!!