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Become An Urban Homesteader
realitysandwich.com ^ | 7-31-07 | Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyne

Posted on 06/04/2008 9:19:54 PM PDT by B-Chan

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A rather old, but still-relevant article. While the authors' whole-wheat hippie earnestness grates somewhat, I think they're basically on the right track. Fresh local food is better tasting and better nutritionally, and our cities would be more pleasant places to live if more space was devoted to green and growing things. The new economics of petroleum will eventually destroy the 'burbs-on-a-freeway model of American life; we'd all do well to consider our alternatives.

Opinions expressed in articles linked by me on FR do not necessarily reflect my own opinions.

1 posted on 06/04/2008 9:19:54 PM PDT by B-Chan
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To: B-Chan

Where can you buy steak seeds?


2 posted on 06/04/2008 9:23:51 PM PDT by REDWOOD99
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To: B-Chan

Sprawl is in every country on the planet. It is simple (urban) economics. As gas prices increase, there is an incentive to move closer in to reduce transportation costs. This results in less sprawl. BUT, increased congestion results in less green space. Urban infill (the latest craze) sounds spiffy, but sprawl allows for green space.


3 posted on 06/04/2008 9:28:41 PM PDT by whitedog57
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To: REDWOOD99
In urban settings, steak is squirrel and palm rats. Mmmm, squirrel....

An airgun or slingshot brings in the Whitetail of the Trees (or d-— palm rats).

Also, where I live is the occasional raccoon or opossum (in El Segundo, raccoon and opossum!)

Not that I'd bust a CB cap in a raccoon just to roast it, mind you.

4 posted on 06/04/2008 9:28:54 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: All
Farm animals like chickens are illegal in the city of Los Angles.
5 posted on 06/04/2008 9:29:49 PM PDT by troy McClure
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To: B-Chan
yogurt with raw honey

WTF!! This bugs the heck out of me. Is there such a thing as cooked honey? I don't think so. What is so special about this "raw honey", does it just sound more "organic" that way. Oh, and that whole "organic" thing bugs me too. It's not like you could ever find an inorganic plant. Hippies!

6 posted on 06/04/2008 9:31:11 PM PDT by chaos_5
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To: troy McClure

But if you call them pets it’s OK, as long as you don’t have roosters.

This is a reapplication of ideas from Whole Earth Catalog and Mother Earth news- not bad ideas to consider, given the prospects of the years to come.


7 posted on 06/04/2008 9:31:50 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: chaos_5

I may be wrong, but I believe raw honey means it hasn’t been heated so it can be vacuum packed. Otherwise who the f... knows.


8 posted on 06/04/2008 9:39:56 PM PDT by bigfootbob
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To: chaos_5

“Is there such a thing as cooked honey? I don’t think so.”

Commercial honey is pasteurized at 160-180F and pressure filtered at higher temperatures. This is done so it won’t crystallize, supermarket consumers won’t buy crystallized honey. “Raw” honey is not heated at all, and is “strained” to remove wax caps and errant bee parts but not filtered. It crystallizes readily. Being processed at lower temperatures keeps the natural bacteria and yeasts alive, so it’s easier to cook with (use in bread for instance) and some people say they can taste the difference (I can, raw honey flavor is more intense, sharper). It stores longer than “supermarket honey”.

Filtered, pasteurized honey sells for $4 per pound, “raw” honey costs more, maybe twice more. Market pressures make the less processed product more valuable because lots of people favor it over Sue Bee (nothing wrong with Sue Bee, it’s a preference thing).

If you become a beekeeper, go for the raw honey market, the profits are greater.

The honey frames are usually uncapped with a hot electric knife (almost 200 F), the real purist raw honey is uncapped with a “chain uncapper” that uses no heat at all before the frame is sent to the centrifuge for spinout.

All those beeswax candles come from the uncapping process.

I know people who keep bees in the city.


9 posted on 06/04/2008 9:46:51 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: B-Chan

I agree with you. The hippy angle can be rather distracting, but the general idea isn’t bad.

I grew up in a suburban area where we grew or raised much of our own food. We had 3/4 of an acre plot.

We raised our own steers. Two of them, rotated one out to the freezer each year and brought in a new one.
We had somewhere in the range of 50 chickens in a coop. Also had turkeys, pheasant and cornish game hens (I think that’s what they were called, they were little bitty chickens).

We also had a fair good selection of friut bearing trees, grape vines, berry patches and a good sized veggie patch.

A youngster learns lots of good lessons in all that. Food does not magically appear in grocery stores. No matter how tired or sick you are, the animals have to be fed, watered, cleaned up after. If you don’t spend the effort to keep the weeds out of your garden, and the bugs of your produce, you don’t get as much to eat later as you’d prefer.

And, last but certainly not least, old school grandmas are a heaven sent savior when its time to do the slaughtering... and the lye soap making... and the chicken plucking.


10 posted on 06/04/2008 9:50:32 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: B-Chan
"Where do Erik and I live? In the heart of urban Los Angeles...

Homegrown food is mind-blowingly fresh and flavorful, 100% organic, untainted by disease, blood or oil, and alive."

I really doubt that their produce is "untainted" if it's grown in the middle of LA.

11 posted on 06/04/2008 9:55:52 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("Ah! but it was something to have at least a choice of nightmares.")
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To: chaos_5
Is there such a thing as cooked honey?

Raw honey has not been heat processed - other honey has...big difference.

I'm hoping this 'urban' farming/independence spreads - Otherwise when the sh*t hits the fan, they'll be raiding us country folk and demanding we take care of them.

Actually, I remember, back in the '50's, when I lived in a Boston suburb, being in awe of the Italian neighbors whose city back yards were in total, neat gardens - no lawns...they even grew their own grapes and made their own wine.

12 posted on 06/04/2008 9:56:16 PM PDT by maine-iac7 (Typical Gun-Toting, Jesus-Loving Gramma)
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To: REDWOOD99
"Where can you buy steak seeds?"

Count me in

13 posted on 06/04/2008 10:00:24 PM PDT by ehit88 (I'm(not anymore)shoveling snow while a Cubs game is on?????(my Alan Keyes t-shirts are on order))
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To: troy McClure

Ask anyone who is a serious gardner or a farmer, and they will tell you that growing enough food for a family to actually live on is a major operation and would probably require several acres to get enough diversity and to rotate crops each season. Never mind that a hailstorm can wipe out the entire drop in a few minutes or that you are constantly concerned about infestations, varmints, and the weather. Then you have to preserve everything so your 1-month crop can last for 12 months. It ain’t easy by a long shot.


14 posted on 06/04/2008 10:00:39 PM PDT by Kirkwood (Ask me again tomorrow.)
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To: REDWOOD99

Steak seeds come 12 gauge, .308 cal or by the arrow.


15 posted on 06/04/2008 10:01:49 PM PDT by RIGHTWING WACKO FROM MASS. (Better to have and not need than to need and not have...my theory on gun control)
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To: chaos_5
> This bugs the heck out of me. Is there such a thing as cooked honey?

Yes. Most store-bought honey has been pasteurized, which destroys nutritive enzymes, and filtered, which removes other components that can help build up resistance to allergies.

These processes also make your "cooked" honey tasteless -- raw honies taste a hundred times better. Store-bought honies are blended (which ensures a consistent product), whereas many raw honies are sold by the type of flower/plant that the bees made the honey from -- clover, buckwheat, sourwood, and many others. The different flavors between honies are as varied as the tastes of different wines.

If you'd like a great supplier of raw honey, I heartily recommend Draper's Super Bee Apiaries in northeast Pennsylvania (http://draperbee.com). I've visited there; it's a pretty neat place to visit. Disclaimer: I have no association with Draper's, other than being a satisfied customer.

16 posted on 06/04/2008 10:06:11 PM PDT by NewJerseyJoe (Rat mantra: "Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!")
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To: B-Chan
claim land and become a pirate gardener

Heck, why bother with property rights! What would they think if someone stole veggies out of their garden or took off with their hens and eggs?

17 posted on 06/04/2008 10:11:23 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie
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To: DBrow; TigersEye

I use raw honey everyday. Its helped my daughter with allergies & seems to give me energy. It is also good to put on a wound. Somehow it seems to make it heal faster. I like royal bee jelly too.


18 posted on 06/04/2008 10:13:01 PM PDT by pandoraou812 (Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn! ...........^............)
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To: troy McClure; B-Chan; SE Mom; Bahbah; silent_jonny; snugs; DollyCali; LUV W; MS.BEHAVIN; ...
This family is doing amazing things in Pasadena .. growing everything they eat on 1/5 of an acre. And it's a beautiful place. Plus they make a living selling what they don't consume -- 4 adults in the family .. no "real" jobs ... restaurant oil for fuel, living on $30,000/yr. The dad is really savvy about this .. it's fascinating what CAN be done.

Nightline did a segment on them last month .. video is

HERE ON THIS PAGE

Right side ... "The Real Simple Life"

Here' the family's story and website

It really intrigued me. They make you see it's possible ... and soon, who knows, this society may need to go back to some of those basics of self-sufficiency. I've told my sons ... use some of that backyard for a few tomato plants, lettuce, cucumbers. Food's going sky high, and I don't see it coming down anytime soon.

19 posted on 06/04/2008 10:26:27 PM PDT by STARWISE (They (Dims) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author)
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To: B-Chan
I live on a nice piece of land in the country.....many 5 acre "farms" around us...

but I would love to live in a city....to be able to walk to church...to the library....to the store....to be able to go down to the coffee shop and read the paper....you can have enough of a garden on a city plot and maybe it would be more carefully taken care of since there wouldn't be that much to worry about...

20 posted on 06/04/2008 10:33:47 PM PDT by cherry
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