Homesteading in the City: Wrap Up

Is it December already? For this year's "homesteading in the city" theme, our definition of homesteading went beyond living off a 160-acre homestead; to finding resourceful and innovative ways to live, whether living off the land, pioneering something new, or choosing an alternative way to live. In that spirit, we delved into making and doing for ourselves with our modern gadgets; read books about and by homesteaders; and continued to appreciate plants, animals and the natural world.

Homesteading in the city - with all our modern gadgets and conveniences

Homesteading with Gadgets

Homesteading in the kitchen, with all our modern tools.

Making Yogurt (video)

Roasting Chicken (video)

Summer Treats (video)

Fluffy Dinner Rolls (video)

Books about Homesteaders

Interesting homesteaders of all kinds.

Four Walls Against the Wind

Tisha

Two in the Far North

I Married the Klondike

Little House in the Big Woods

Farmer Boy

Books for Homesteaders

Resources for homesteaders of all kinds.

Practical Formulas

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

A Year of Holidays

Enjoying Nature

Enjoy the seasons, the moods of nature, and the local birds and critters.

Here are the Hummingbirds (video)

Rainy Winter Night

Should I Take Down My Bird Feeder?

Shadow Play

Mourning Doves (video)

Scrub Jay with a Mangled Leg

Fall Back and Full Moon

Eastern Fox Squirrels (video)

Garden Projects

Work on garden infrastructure, and enjoy the yard and neighborhood.

Month-by-Month: Winter   Spring   Summer   Fall

Landscaping Site Visit

Urban Forestry (video)

Fall Arrangement: Pampas Grass

Dyeing with Plants

Excursions

We took a few excursions to get out of the house, expand our horizons, and enjoy life.

Farewell to our Hemet Haven
Back to Work in San Ramon
Farmer's Market: Summer and Fall Bounty
Golden Hour at Lake Temescal
Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden
Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and the Rugged Coast

Farmers' Market: Summer and Fall Bounty

This is the time of year to purchase the last of the summer fruit here in the Bay Area. If you can't get out to one of those pick-it-yourself farms, a Farmer's Market is the way to go. Here in the Bay Area, we have many Farmers' Markets from which to choose (find one here).

The stone fruits are still available and sweeter than ever. The melons are full of flavor and moisture after many hot, hot days. A variety of berries are plentiful and also flavorful from the intense sun. This is a great time to buy a flat or two of some of your favorites, and preserve, pickle, or dehydrate to enjoy in the winter (similar to Little House in the Big Woods, but with all our modern tools and gadgets)!

Permanent farmstand in San Ramon

Soon, pears of all shapes, colors, and types will be available, as well as apples of all varieties, apple butter, and apple cider. Pumpkins, squash and root vegetables will also appear on the scene (some in the form of pie). Life is good in this time of bounty!

Farmer's Markets – Open (Six Foot Rule)!

With so many venues and activities shut down and canceled, the highlight of the week is a trip to the grocery store! My husband and I gear up for early morning shopping with bandanas and our shared electronic grocery list, and tackle the task. We each have our specialty areas, and both are on the lookout for certain scarce items (we finally learned where to purchase rationed hand sanitizer).

Grocery stores have adapted to the situation with new strategies for crowd management, keeping the shelves fairly well stocked, and protecting checkers and baggers from customers with clear divider panels. They've also found ways to support the six-foot rule, by limiting store entrance to small batches of shoppers, establishing one-way shopping aisles, and marking off six-foot intervals at the check-out line.

Farmer's market in Montclair

Farmer's markets are still open, and also hold to the six-foot rule. The one in Montclair is much smaller than usual, but doing a thriving business in artisan breads, nuts, and beautiful produce. Other businesses are still open, such as Colonial Bakery and the EM Deli and Catering market (yes, donuts and rice are essential). A variation on the farmer's market is signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription, and having seasonal fruits and vegetables delivered. Grocery stores are convenient for one-stop shopping, but I also like to support our local farmers and businesses as much as possible.

Stay safe everyone, and look for ways to meet the challenges of the pandemic – six feet apart!

Red Barn Store at Oak Hill Farm

After touring Oak Hill Farm, I shopped at the Red Barn Store. What a treat to step into the cool store after being in the midday sun, and to be met with the intense fragrance of real produce. And how satisfying to see the produce I’d seen in the fields now washed up and presented on the shelves like pieces of art, and ready to be taken home to create flavorful and nutritious meals. Herbs, berries, watermelon, peppers, chard, eggplant, carrots, flowers and bouquets, squash, cucumbers, to name a few, beckoned from the shelves.

Eggplant	Apples
Peppers	Berries

HTML Tables

The Red Barn Store was handling a continual stream of customers. I did my part to contribute. Some of my purchases included a beautiful sunflower bouquet, an assortment of heirloom tomatoes, a bunch of aromatic basil, olive oil (grown and pressed by Lucero Olive Oil with the Oak Hill Farm label), intensely fragrant apples for pie or apple sauce, and fingerling potatoes that look like ginger root and have a wonderful earthy smell. I would have purchased more, but there are only two of us at home now that our son is back to college.

Now I’m ready to make the kitchen smell good with all these fresh, beautiful ingredients, and the lettuce, peas, parsley, and tomatoes from my own little raised bed. Bon appétit!

Oak Hill Farm

I spent a fabulous morning touring Oak Hill Farm in Sonoma County. About 15 of us gathered at the Red Barn off Sonoma Highway at 10:00 a.m., then David Cooper, the farm manager, lead us on a tour of the historic farm’s barn, greenhouse, orchard, and fields. Cooper has degrees in chemical engineering, but decided being stuck in an office was not for him. He's been a farm manager for about four years now.

David Cooper leads the tour	Beehives on the hill
Basil, melon, sweet potato, squash	The barn

HTML Tables

The farm is beautifully situated – surrounded with oak and mixed evergreen forest. We learned about the farm’s organic and sustainable farming methods, which have been in place since the 1950s when the owners purchased the farm. They grow a whole array of fruits and vegetables, rather than planting a single crop. They practice crop rotation, plant cover crops to enrich and protect the soil between plantings, and allow a beekeeper to keep beehives on the property (honey for him, pollinators for Oak Hill Farm). The property is alive with bees and birds (and gets its share of pests in the form of deer, crows, squirrels, and gophers).

The produce is sold directly to several restaurants in San Francisco, at Farmers’ Markets (Ferry Terminal and Jack London Village), through CSA subscriptions, and at the Red Barn on the property. The tour is offered the first Saturday of the month. It is a great opportunity to see a farm in operation, and spend some time surrounded by beauty, growing things, and the natural world. To learn more: http://www.oakhillfarm.net/.

Community Supported Agriculture

While learning more about urban farming in the San Francisco Bay Area, I kept reading about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and CSA plans. That made me curious to know more.

CSAs provide a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food from a farmer. Typically a farmer works out a plan with stakeholders describing what the farmer plans to grow.  The farmer offers “shares” of produce to the “shareholders.” A share may be a box of fruits and vegetables once a week. Shareholders subscribe in advance and receive their share. Farmers are paid in advance based on the subscriptions. Shareholders share in the benefits of fresh produce, as well as the risks associated with farming.

Photo by Madame Furie under Creative Commons non-commercial licnese
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/madame_furie/3649737943/).

There are variations on this model. Shareholders may be able to modify the contents of the box, to work out alternate schedules. Multiple farmers and food producers (bakers, meat, honey, and so forth) may form an informal cooperative, offering additional choices to the subscriber. The plan is submitted for inclusion in the CSA database. To find a CSA close to you, search the database: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/.

Urban Farming Exhibit

By chance, we encountered the urban gardening exhibit at the Oakland International Airport while seeing our son off to fly back to University of Alaska, Anchorage. The exhibit is presented by the Oakland Museum of California at the airport from June 24 – October 7, 2011, and was organized by guest curator Sean Olson. The installation describes and shows the basics of soil, composting, and vermiculture (use of worms).

Urban farming exhibit at Oakland International Airport

The exhibit also introduces three Oakland nonprofit organizations:

• City Slicker Farms – empowers West Oakland to meet basic healthy food needs by creating urban farms and backyard gardens: http://www.cityslickerfarms.org/

• OBUGS (Oakland Based Urban Gardens) – uses gardens to build healthy communities for children, youth and families in a network of school and neighborhood gardens, green spaces, and farmers’ markets: www.obugs.org/

• Planting Justice – is dedicated to food justice, economic justice, and sustainable local food systems, by helping families build their own gardens, fostering an understanding of food, and enabling them to grow fresh food: http://www.plantingjustice.org/

These organizations provide a proactive and positive solution for bringing fresh, affordable, and delicious food to the urban setting in West Oakland, building a healthy community, and helping to create green jobs.

Farmers’ Market to Your Door

An option for obtaining fresh produce in the San Francisco Bay Area is to subscribe to a co-op or distributor. For years I’ve subscribed to Spud (formerly The Box, until it was acquired by Spud; http://www.spud.com/). Every two weeks I receive a box of organically grown fruits and vegetables, mostly from local or nearly-local farms and orchards. The produce is beautiful, delicious, and farm fresh.

Organic peas grown in the Bay Area

I typically get a standard box with in-season produce every two weeks. I can customize if I want, but I typically like to be surprised with what is in season, and adapt my meals accordingly. Their Web site makes it easy to change my delivery schedule and box contents if I choose. I receive an e-mail in advance that lists the produce I will receive, which helps for planning meals and other shopping needed for the week. The packing slip lists the local or imported source of each product. Delivery is free with a minimum order amount.

Another option in the Bay Area is Planet Organics (http://www.planetorganics.com/), which enables you to shop online for organic produce and other products. They also offer a delivery service. Their Web site provides a resource for producers, growers, and consumers.

Farmers’ Markets

I love going to the Farmers’ Market in Montclair after church on Sunday in search of good food and culinary treasures. What a treat to purchase the week’s fruits, vegetables, bread, cheese, eggs, meat, and seafood directly from a local grower or producer, or street food right from the vendor. This is the idea behind year-round or seasonal farmers markets in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Farmers' Market in Montclair Village - a great place to shop

The produce is freshly picked, in season, and full of flavor. Small growers may offer heirloom or special varieties, which big producers cannot grow and distribute. Purchasing directly from the producer and mingling with your neighbors creates a sense of community and relationship. Buying locally also reduces fuel consumption to get product to market. The markets are typically on the weekend, but some are offered during the week.

The Montclair market is part of the Urban Village Farmers’ Market Association (to find a market near you: http://www.urbanvillageonline.com/). But they are just one of many such associations. The Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association manages the Sunday market at Jack London Square (http://www.jacklondonsquare.com/events/farmersmarket.html); some Kaiser Medical Centers host markets on site (https://members.kaiserpermanente.org/redirects/farmersmarkets/in-northern-california.htm); and many San Francisco Bay Area cities and towns offer markets (check the Internet for what’s available in your town). One of my favorite markets is the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace for its cut flowers and produce (http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/farmers_market.php).