The Dervaes urban farming family
I have planted herb gardens in small soil beds that I put out on the back steps of my apartment. I feel pretty good about myself when I grab a sprig of thyme and throw it into a chicken and dumpling soup I'm creating. I feel sad when I realized, after a couple of weeks that most of the tiny garden has gone to waste because, alas, I didn't come up with something to do with mint leaves! I usually assuage my farming failure guilt by telling myself I live in an urban environment and I do not have the space with which to properly tend to plants.
The Dervaes family is showing how hollow my excuses are:
The Dervaes family live on 1/10th of an acre 15 minutes from downtown L.A.. In itself that’s not strange. What’s crazy is that they manage to maintain a sustainable and independent urban farm. Complete with animals!
In a year they produce around 4,300 pounds of veggies, 900 chicken , 1000 duck eggs, 25 lbs honey, and pounds of seasonal fruit. There are over 400 species of plants. What?! They have everything they need to ‘live off the land.’ From beets to bees. Chickens to chickpeas.
What they don't eat they sell to local chefs and others wanting locally grown food. According to the Dervaes they make around $20,000 a year selling their surplus.
Watch the video below the fold.