Path to Freedom: Urban homesteading project
Stuck in the city? Daydream about living in the country, growing your food, owning a few chickens, and aiming for a lifestyle of sustainable practices? Twenty years ago, on a city lot in Pasadena, California, the Dervaes family decided to begin their dream where they found themselves at the time, rather than waiting to plant the seeds of their homesteading dream on five countryside acres of open fields and lush green rolling hills.The Path to Freedom project has become a beacon of educational inspiration that most anyone can start to live a simpler, self reliant, sustainable green life even if they find themselves living in the middle of urban sprawl. Through the Dervaes daily journal, the family shares their efforts and accomplishments in creating an organic permaculture garden and green living way of life.
In 2007, the Dervaes family harvested 5,700 lbs of food, all grown on one-tenth of an acre. Jules Dervaes states, "We are proving that we can attain our goal if we advance in stages whatever the circumstances."













