Urban Homestead

There's been a lot of attention being given lately to the topic of urban homesteads on the internet. There is debate about who created the term, who does it and who owns it as an idea. I can't claim to be learned enough to even join that discussion. All I can comment on is my own experience.

The book the Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen has had a big impact on how I live my life. Although my grandfather used to tell stories about what it was like to grow up on a farm, for me they were almost fables. Having grown up in the suburbs the idea of living on a farm seemed like a fantasy, so when I ended up moving into a house with a big yard and lots of potential I was totally unprepared.

I had raised chickens as a kid and one of the things that attracted me to my neighborhood was the roosters crowing throughout the valley. But growing food was something totally new to me. Erik and Kelly's book helped me to get started and opened my eyes to all of the possibilities. They also cautioned my about all the the work I would be creating for myself. They were right on both counts. Luckily I like a project, and the weekends that I spend in the yard always feel well spent, even when I end up scratched and bruised and slightly sunburned.


I've enjoyed discovering what grows well here and how to work with all of the plants and bugs and lizards that are already making the most of my little patch of hill. I also realize that many people have come before me. Whoever lived here before had a picture of what this hill could be. I've written about all of the fruit trees that someone planted here. I'm not a good judge but some of them could be 20 or 30 years old.

My neighbors are also doing a lot with their yards and usually with more success than me. Front yards are filled with vegetable beds and backyards with chicken coops. In the Summer there are rickety pergolas covered with squash vines and right now many yards look like salad bars made up of a variety of winter greens.


For me gardening is a new skill that I'm trying to master, but for many of my neighbors it is the way that they've always lived their lives. To try to argue that urban homsteading is a new idea discounts a whole community of people that have quietly been doing it for generations.


I feel lucky that I ended up here, not just because of the way the sun slants through the house at sunset or the way the breeze cools the house when I throw all of the windows open. I'm lucky because my neighbor Joe is happy to trade a carton of eggs for a bag of loquats, and Fidelia is always trying to get me to take oranges and peaches from her trees. I'm lucky that my rooster's crowing blends into the background chorus. I'm lucky that there is a whole group of people within easy reach that are eager to share what they know and contribute to my success.

This might qualify as urban homesteading but it's not a new idea, or an idea that any one person or family can claim as their own.

More Pruning

Since I had the pruning shears out I thought it might be a good time to tackle the hedge in the front yard. It's evergreen but it seems that winter is still its slowest time. In the spring it puts out a lot of growth then blooms in the summer and develops seeds in the fall.

Although I haven't identified this plant yet I love it for holding up the hill. It is growing vigorously and the trunks seem rock solid. Right after these plants the hill drops off at almost 90 degrees. I guess it's more of a cliff than a hill.

I didn't want to tax the plants but they have grown so much in the past couple years that they are tall and leggy. They are shading everything beneath them and don't screen my yard from the street as well as they used to. I'm hoping that with some aggressive pruning they will growing in fuller and a little lower.

My photos are horrible so it's hard to tell what's what. That's part of the problem for me. The hedge is consuming the magnolia sapling and hiding all of the the other plants growing here.

After the pruning you can see that there's actually a palm tree growing on the cliff as well. I think this is a volunteer from the large tree on the empty lot next door. I haven't seen much of it until now.

You can also see some of the aeoniums that I planted a couple years ago. Since they've been in the dirt that have probably quadrupled in size. They are surging over the little curb and trying to occupy as much space as possible. I'll probably have to do something about them next year, but for now I like how lush they look. In the Summer one of them turns much redder and the whole bed gets a lot more texture. There are also some aloes in there but I may have to move them. They don't seem as competitive as some of the other plants.

It looks a little sparse right now but hopefully it will leaf out soon. I think I might have to coax it along over the Summer with more pruning. Last year it grew long spindly branches with only a few leaves. I would like to encourage it to become more dense and not grow so tall.





I also decided to cut the bloom stalk off of one of the foxtail agaves. I was waiting for it to grow some bulbils, little plantlets that I could propogate, but it never happened. I got sick of looking at the ratty brown thing.

The stump already has some little sprouts coming out, so hopefully it will soon be covered in new little plants. And now I don't have to duck under it to move around the yard.

Tree Pruning

I went to a tree pruning workshop given by Lora Hall at the Highland Park Community Garden, Millagro Allegro. It was perfect timing because the little fruit trees that I planted above the house needed some attention. These are the trees that I planted as bare-roots a couple years ago. You aren't supposed to let them fruit until the third year so they can grow strong roots. You can see them last spring here. I'm hoping that with a little pruning they will be in good shape to have their first good season. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Before:


After:


Lora told us to thin out the interior and to remove any branches that were crossed or growing in the same plane. She also told us that heading off a branch would encourage it to branch and grow stronger so that it could support more fruit. We're also supposed to keep an eye on how tall the tree gets. No towering orchards for the back yard. I'm going to try to keep these small enough so that I can reach the fruit by hand.


Before:


After:

This one is the nectarine (?) that had all the flowers last year.

It was hard to cut off so much, but I'll have faith that it's for the good of the tree. I keep having to relearn my lesson to be patient. I'll wait to see how many blooms they get. I'm only supposed to leave a couple per branch so the fruit will get bigger.

Potato Towers/Chicken Spa

Despite what it looks like, this isn't a pile of dead chickens.


Chickens love to take dustbaths and they love to do it communally. Out of the whole dusty yard they choose to do it in the tires I use for growing potatoes. The idea is that you start with one tire and as the plant grows you stack another tire on top and fill it with dirt. This encourages the plant to grow a longer stem or something and produce more potatoes. I've put off planting the seed potatoes because the chickens have been spending so much time in their little tire spa.


I figure that since they all like to bathe together, roman style, they can make do with one tire.

I've had a plate of sprouted potatoes sitting on the dining room table for weeks now so I threw them into the two back tires.


Then I filled them up to the rim with dirt and compost and stacked the next tire one top.


I think this will keep the chickens out.


This I'm not so sure, but I didn't have anymore hardware cloth, so the tomato cage will have to do.


They seem happy with the arrangement:

Vegetabable Bed 1

So I cleared out the last of the Summer vegetable bed. All that was left was a scraggly tomato that was late to ripen and an unexpected bonus.


a giant mushroom.


It looked a little like a portobello but I was scared to eat it.


It would have made a pretty decent meal

Vegetable Bed 2

After getting rid of all the giant fungus I was ready to put in the winter bed. As usual I was running late and chose to put in started plants rather than growing from seeds. One day I'll get my act together and plan all of this better.

I put in some cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and chard. They always look so small when they go in.

This shot was taken about mid morning and already the bed was in shade. In the winter the sun is so low in the sky that it gets blocked by this beast:

The bougainvillea is pretty but it's so aggressive and thorny. It also has aspirations to take over the whole yard. I haven't cut it all the way back yet because it offers nice screening from my next door neighbor, but it needs a lot more maintenance before I feel like I'm the boss of it and not the other way around.

I decided that now was as good a time as any to try to tame it. I feel like I cut a bunch off but there is still a long way to go.


Before:


After:

I feel like there's almost no difference. I think I need a taller ladder.

By the time I was done the bed was completely in shade. I'm hoping my trimming will give it a couple more hours of sunlight a day.


I managed to get it all in the green bin. Normally I would try to chop it up and compost it but it's just too thorny and woody and I wanted to be rid of it. I'll let the city run it through one of their big shredders.

Good riddance.

Vegetable Bed 3

The Winter bed has filled in nicely and is being admired by this pullet. There is bird netting that goes flat across the sides to keep her kind out but now that the plants are bigger the pullet can reach through and nip off the new growth that is pushing against the net.

That doesn't bother me that much but sometimes she jumps on the net like a trampoline and breaks the stems of the lettuce.

It also seems like it's time to make more room. The broccoli is pushing for more space and the butter lettuce is bolting right through the net.


Here you can see the garlic where the chickens have taken a little off the top.


I decided to expand the netted area with pvc tubing.


I used 1" diameter tubes as sleeves and attached them to the sides of the bed.



The rails are made from two 5' pieces of 1/2" joined by a corner piece.


They slide into the sleeves easily but the tension keeps them tight and upright. I was impressed with how rigid they were.


I wasn't expecting it to looks so much like a covered wagon. I kinda love it.


I had more netting that was thrown over the top and secure with screws at the bottom.


Hopefully everything has enough room for a while.