July 31, 2007

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION

Posted by process on July 31, 2007 10:55 AM

Creators of the urban homestead blog Homegrown Revolution, and authors of the upcoming Spring 2008 Process book The Urban Homestead, Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen talk about their urban micro-farm in Silverlake and show why homegrown tomatoes, homemade bread and fresh eggs from your own chickens taste like heaven. Posted on Daniel Pinchbeck's new web magazine, Reality Sandwich.

from Reality Sandwich

Become an Urban Homesteader
Homegrown Revolution

Prompted over the past few years by oil wars, global warming, ecological collapse, natural disasters and our psychotic federal government, we’ve made a few changes in the way we live.

Now the day begins when Erik gets up to let the chickens out of their henhouse. It’s a structure so thoroughly secured against marauding raccoons that we’ve named it "Chicken Guantanamo." The hens have been patiently waiting for that door to swing open since first light. Next, while the coffee brews, Erik throws some flour and a cup of sourdough starter into the mixer. He bakes a loaf of artisanal sourdough bread for us every other day, and we rarely meet with any bread that tastes better.

I get up a little later than Erik and stagger into the garden first thing. I say hi to the hens, add some kitchen scraps to the compost pile, and turn on the drip irrigation systems that water our vegetable beds. As of this writing our garden is bearing tomatoes, cucumbers, fava beans, Swiss chard, figs, ground cherries, leeks, eggplants, assorted herbs and a selection of cultivated weeds. I'm looking forward to the corn, avocado and pomegranate harvest, all of which are a few months away.

For breakfast I enjoy homemade yogurt with raw honey or maybe a thick slice of the aforementioned sourdough, toasted and smeared with tangy homemade apricot butter. After breakfast I take three sheets of tomatoes down to the solar dehydrator so we'll have sun dried tomatoes in the winter. Then I hang a load of laundry out on the line.

Where do Erik and I live? In the heart of urban Los Angeles, in a decaying bungalow on a small plot of land. We are urban homesteaders.

Read the rest here.

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