urban agriculture

Food Works provides opportunities to young people to make a difference in their communities. The youth come from a diverse background, 14 to 21 years in age, they learn valuable skills how to communicate more effectively with adults, grow and market the food they produce at farmers markets, and provide fresh produce to low income families nearby.

Jules Dervaes and his three adult children all live and work together on their family farm in Pasadena, CA. They call themselves, “eco-pioneers.” They say it’s a homegrown revolution that’s taking place, a way for them to get back to a more natural, organic and better way of life. Their mission? To change the world one urban backyard at a time.

PASADENA, CA. - July 7, 2008 - Think of it as Facebook meets the Farmer's Almanac: A social networking site for backyard pioneers who want to fight soaring food prices and global warming by growing their own food. At FreedomGardens.org, novice and expert growers from all over the world can gather to post success stories, ask questions, and challenge one another to ever-increasing levels of self-sustained living.

For many in the city, having a garden or farm is what they think an impossibility. In San Francisco, My Farm will create and cultivate anywhere from 4' by 4' to a whole yard, for you, and harvest a box a week, plus share what extra is grown via a CSA scheme.

Since the mid 1980's the Dervaes family has transformed their home into an urban homestead.  Eco pioneers, Jules Dervaes and his family,  have taken upon themselves to be the change they wish to see by living the solution.  Their sustainable urban homestead has demonstrated to others how to live a low impact lifestyle by  reducing one’s carbon footprint.

URBAN FARMING: Jules Dervaes and three of his adult children live on one-fifth of an acre in Pasadena, Calif., a block away from a multilane highway. On this tiny sliver of land, they manage to be mostly self-sufficient. “This is our form of protest,” says Dervaes, who is 60, “and this is our form of survival.”