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We have had a beautiful week of warm sunny weather. So nice in fact, that the garden started to think it must be spring. Despite repeated warnings from me, it didn’t listen, and now it is paying the price. So let this be a warning to you all, it’s not spring yet, at least not…
What to do when you have too many scobys? Clean with them of course! So I took some of my kombucha vinegar, orange slices my kids left on the floor, and a month, and brewed up this weird concoction. Will it clean my oven? You’ll have to watch to find out.
I have spent way too much time overthinking this thank you for reaching 1000 subscribers. I doubt anyone is going to appreciate my attempt at art house imagery showing that trying to get people to watch your videos on YouTube is as futile as trying to dig for spring in the snow. But sometimes, when…
This is a bit all over the place, but I talk about the experiment that we are going to be doing this year in finding out which zucchini grows the best for us – by growing them all! Experimenting with different varieties and different plants is a good way to learn what grows well in…
Welcome to the premier Urban Homestead Radio podcast! In this episode, the Dervaes Family answer questions from gardeners online, share tons of stories and tips for raising chickens, garden updates, and much more. This episod has two parts, so be sure to check out both. Listen carefully to each story to catch the secrets of…
For my 4th soap, I am learning to do a decorative swirl on the top of the soap. Of course I cheat, so I colour the main soap with cocoa powder, rather than just the swirl, and I use my own self-created recipe, rather than follow the one in the book. But I’m feeling more…
WARNING! This is a bad joke, lol. I’m celebrating by dropping the kids off to watch the show with the grandparents and trying to get some stuff done around the house! If only it would stop snowing so much, eh?
We are still trying to find ways to expand the available growing space in our backyard.
So, the internet can be a mean place. And I’ve found out that Pure Living For Life has been served a big ol’ steaming pile of it, over a comment about “playing homestead”. I took the comment to be about the image of homesteading being something fun and pretty, when the reality of it is…
Welcome to the Urban Homestead Radio podcast! In this episode, the Urban Homestead have a very special guest and dear friend on the show: Lil’ Mo and the Dynaflos! Learn more about Mo and Mike from Lil’ Mo’s Unholy Four and Lil’ Mo and the Dynaflos! Both bands are international rock-a-billy phenomenon with huge fan…
We are starting our seedlings for the early spring garden!
For my 3rd soap, I was supposed to make a simple recipe and learn the skill of embossing. But instead I got excited and made some soap embeds, added activated charcoal and essential oils, and made pink moon and stars soap, that I stamped extra stars into. So much for taking this learning thing slowly.…
We’ve had a couple of question from people about the size of our coop, how it was built, and other chicken questions. We are addressing some of these questions in this video.
The backyard orchard is overgrown! It was time to prune the espaliers six months ago, but better now then never. I’m no pruning expert, but I got out there and pruned the apple tree and pear tree on this warmer winters day. And that is one less job for the spring.
So when I try to grow moldy kombucha I fail, and then when I don’t try, I get mold. This fermenting thing is hard. But I have moldy kombucha now, so I can show you all the disgusting details. And I also speculate why this happened, and a way that I can prevent this from…
To finish off my mountain of quince fruit, I made a jam. But not just any jam. This is super decadent, extra special whiskey and black pepper quince jam! With some heat from the pepper and some burn from the whiskey, this goes perfectly with cheese and crackers. And I will definitely be making this…
The weather was nice and sunny, and that doesn’t happen very often here in Kelowna, BC, Canada over the winter, so we all headed outside for a play. There isn’t much going on in the winter garden, but come and check it out with us, as the kids play and look forward to the warm…
As I learn to make homemade cold process soap, my second lesson is to add color and scent to the soap batter. And it was a lot more simple than I guessed. DIY soap is so much fun. The recipes and directions to learn soap making are all in this book which I highly reccomend:…
I have been slacking on my kombucha brewing over the winter, but it is time to start it again. Come chat kombucha while I set up my continous brew vessel, and try to figure out what to do with 4 liters of vinegar.
So, I got high on St John’s Wort. And no, that’s not a thing, lol. Having had this crazy experience with St John’s Wort has lead to me taking seriously a lot of claims about the power of herbs, even though I wouldn’t normally be inclined to believe. And more importantly, it has me very…
Well, I rotted most of my spaghetti squash crop. Opps! That was a lot of garden space to devote to such a big fail. But, I’ve learned that I need to rethink how to store my squash for future years, and some tips for how I could have done it better. Come and learn from…
Welcome to the premier Urban Homestead Radio podcast! In this episode, the Dervaes Family recount the joys and struggles of being raised by their visionary Father, Jules Dervaes and the decades of hard lessons and experience that have empowered them to become the leading experts in the Homegrown Revolution. Laughter and sorrow combine to bring…
I love seeds! I love all seeds. But the seeds I like the best, are the ones that grow the easiest, and create the most productive plants, best suited to my growing conditions and my personal taste preference. For that reason I don’t want to also limit myself to only heirloom or a specific price…
I think I capture the first time soapmaking experience pretty well with all my confusion over what light trace is, and making big messes. I take you through all my steps, all my confusion, and complain about washing the dishes, lol. Want to soap along with me? I’m making the super simple first recipe in:…
All the cool fermenters talk about bone broth being a miracle for your health, and since I was sick for all of December, I figured I better get on this if I want to make it through the rest of the winter, lol. Apparently I have been kind of making this for my entire life,…
Welcome to the premier Urban Homestead Radio podcast! In this episode, the Dervaes Family recount the joys and struggles of being raised by their visionary Father, Jules Dervaes and the decades of hard lessons and experience that have empowered them to become the leading experts in the Homegrown Revolution. Laughter and sorrow combine to bring…
In an attempt to have a clear course for learning soapmaking, I bought this book to be my textbook and to follow along with her recipes and lessons. I really liked the book for its clear instructions, and great looks and layout. Get the book here: http://amzn.to/2mesWFw this is an affiliate link, shopping with it…
It’s time to order the seeds for the garden. The seed catalogs have shown up in the mail, and the fun is about to begin! But wait! Before you even think about buying anything, you need to have a plan for the garden, and take stock of the seeds that you already own and can…
We produced 1,300 lbs. of edible produce from our 3,000 feet of usable backyard space.
Our aquaponics system in our filters for our catfish pond has frozen over completely! We have had an extremely long cold snap for our area. Yesterday was the first day in about 7 days that the temperature got above freezing!
