Turning A Suburban Yard Into An Organic Farm (VIDEO)

In this video, KVIE profiles Jules Dervaes, a man who has turned his small suburban yard into a profitable organic farm. Dervaes says what started out as a hobby became serious for him with the advent of genetically modified foods and rising food prices.

With the help of his family, they now produce over 6,000 pounds of food annually on their 1/10-acre land, though their goal is to hit 10,000 pounds. The 350 varieties of organic fruits and vegetables grown not only sustain the Dervaes family, but the large surplus is sold to local restaurants and catering companies.

Setting an example as to what's possible in city farming and sustainability, the Dervaes family even makes their own bio-fuel for their minimal vehicle usage.

WATCH how a backyard lot became a farm:

Comments

[Randy White]

08:37 PM on 06/18/2010

Awesome!

Check out www.lawnstogardens.com and www.brightneighbor.tv the movement is afoot!

[Acebass]

11:25 AM on 06/07/2010

These folks are awesome. I'm doing something similar in my back yard...

[Jolimont]

03:42 PM on 06/01/2010

I wish he'd mentioned how many people work on this farm (sounds like 6-10 people) and how they water all these plants, how much water they go through in a year.

[SeattleTonyR]

03:35 PM on 05/25/2010

Wow, how neat! I heard about an organization in Seattle where folks donate their backyard to be turned into a backyard farm.

[farmilyman]

11:20 AM on 05/25/2010

Fantastic idea. Raised bed or square foot gardening can increase the yield significantly. GMOs are going to be the next unstoppable environmental disaster.

[MamacitaOfLove]

11:20 PM on 05/24/2010

KarlaElisa We are actually exploring using the top pvc rod that runs the length of the bed in the middle to be a drip irrigation pipe as well. But what we did was take the pipe and cut 12 of em to 39" and have one that is 10 cut into 2' sections where a T is then placed inbetween the 2' parts so you can attach the 39" legs on the sides. And I stand corrected...we used 1/2" pipe..."

Thanks! I gt what you're saying. I'm excited to plan this! I can get something like this going for late summer and winter crops.

[mlaiuppa]

10:41 PM on 05/24/2010

I remember seeing this a year or two ago by following some links from Huffington Post. The original article was about a guy who had written a book on Urban Gardening and turning your front lawns into food producing victory gardens. He traveled from city to city doing a house and trying to get the movement going.

The Dervaes family has a blog about it: http://urbanhomestead.org/

[MamacitaOfLove]

11:07 PM on 05/24/2010

Thank you so much! Fanned and faved!

[ilovecandy]

11:35 PM on 05/24/2010

Thanks for the link.

[KevinFitzz]

07:37 PM on 05/24/2010

PG&E is out to screw Northern Californians. Vote NO on Prop 16!

[KarlaElisa]

02:59 PM on 05/24/2010

I watched this last year and am now 1 year into ripping up all my grass and implementing a 1/2 acre sized farm, complete with laying hens, raised beds with mini greenhouses to extend my growing season here in Oregon.

I have already planted over 400 potato plants, 1300 corn plants, 60 cauliflower and broccoli plants and numerous lettuce, spinach, beets, chard, carrots and onions. I have over 100 strawberry plants and over 60 raspberry plants plus 30 asparagus plants.

Mapping it out for the perennial fruits and veggies and taking into account crop rotations in the raised beds and the open ground is important but not all that difficult.

Good riddance to my lawn. I'm going to have fresh food coming along more than half the year.

[MamacitaOfLove]

05:35 PM on 05/24/2010

Good riddance to the lawn is right! You go, Karla! We have so many neighborhood restrictions that I have to be careful what I do and how I do it. One neighbor was accused of "farming" and the HOA was up in arms.

I made a large "room" in the backyard with tall plantings around the edges that still gets enough sun and looks fine from the street and the (picky) neighbor's yards. That will be my permanent space. Right now, I have a garden spread out all over an acre in beds and nooks and crannies. It works fine, but it would be great to have it all in one organized spot.

[KarlaElisa]

06:36 PM on 05/24/2010

Any way you can infiltrate the HOA and invite them to 'go green'? So MANY edible landscapes are works of art....I can't imagine what it would be like to garden on the down low...those people should be ashamed of themselves.

Maybe you should put together a power point presentation showing the level of pesticides that affect people, the erosion and damage done to valuable top soil (takes 500 years to create an inch) and remind them of what that dust bowl that resulted in the Soil Conservation Act was like.

Show them the beauty of these people's set up...There is nothing offensive about their yard..it's stunning.

You know them better than me but I like to think there's more than one way to skin a home owner association's rigid anti sustainable rules.

[mlaiuppa]

10:33 PM on 05/24/2010

Grown flowers in with your veggies. Raised beds with roses or geraniums. You can plant onions, garlic, carrots and who's to say it's not ornamental. Cabbages are great in a border too. Marigolds are nice. And you can eat nasturtiums. There are flowers and herbs and vegetables you can mix in beds to help each other to resist pests too. If they question your garlic or onions, say it's to keep the aphids off the roses.

[ozamerican]

08:45 AM on 05/25/2010

Good on ya!

Countless acres of land sits wasted while we spend money "outsourcing" our food requirements to processing companies who don't have human health or the health of the planet at the center of their agenda.

[sheila]

01:22 PM on 05/24/2010

Wow. Kind of deflates my excuses about needing a homestead to have a big garden! 1/10 of an acre is a postage stamp - it is so inspirational to see what people do when they decide to make something work! Hurrah to the Darvaes family!

[KarlaElisa]

03:00 PM on 05/24/2010

Do it where you are now, you won't be disappointed. And be prepared for this to become an addiction. : )

[mlaiuppa]

10:35 PM on 05/24/2010

It's an average inner city lot in So. Cal. A lot of people have more. Replacing the front lawn gains you a lot of space. Being smart about irrigation will even save you money over a lawn. Drip irrigation is the way to go. And you can get that at Home Depot. Very do it yourself.

[KarlaElisa]

03:10 PM on 05/29/2010

We just made pvc frames to turn our raised beds into mini greenhouses to expand the growing season here in Oregon. Today we're going to suspend one more $1.05 piece of pvc from the middle one in the frame that runs the length of the bed, but before we do we will drill tons of tiny holes in it and then cap one end and fit the other to attach to a hose. In each of our raised beds we ran water lines in with a faucet so we could eliminate the need for hoses everywhere and experiment with what water techniques best fit our program. I think this is it. I can water each bed in about 2-3 minutes this way by just turning the faucet on and off. And this can work with or without the cover on the frame, no hassle. Couldn't be more pleased. No more watering everything to get the stuff that needs water handled.

[smile13]

12:53 PM on 05/24/2010

Best "green" news on this page I have read in a long time. Thanks Jules! xo peace

[Neutralino]

12:42 PM on 05/24/2010

I've heard about this guy. What an amazing achievement! Bravo!

Food doesn't get fresher or more local than this. It's worth mentioning that this project is a testament to the effectiveness of home gardening. Anybody who wants to improve their nutrition while simultaneously reducing their carbon footprint should buy a hoe and a pack of seeds.

Every neighborhood needs an overachieving gardener like this guy. I am in awe!

[MamacitaOfLove]

02:22 PM on 05/24/2010

He/They need to write a book!

[organicconnect]

11:08 AM on 05/24/2010

This is great. Limited space does not have to be a limitation on growing vegetables. Here's a story about a guy doing it on his balcony: http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2010/03/organic-gardening-the-key-to-our-future/

[GrumpyDudes]

10:35 AM on 05/24/2010

That's amazing! I would love to do that on my own suburban lot! Now if I could just figure out how to get around my communities covenant that says I have to maintain a flippin' lawn!

[Neutralino]

12:43 PM on 05/24/2010

Hmmm.

Even in back?

I recommend oregano and parsley as perennials for the front lawn, veggies in the area out back.

[GrumpyDudes]

01:44 PM on 05/24/2010

Yep...even in the back. I want to put up a greenhouse this coming winter...and I have to literally present my plans, etc to our homeowners committee, and cross my fingers they approve it.

[000Jade000]

09:54 AM on 05/24/2010

A much better video on the Dervaes family:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q

Nice to see some of the backyard updates in the video linked to in the article, though!

I love these people! Go, Dervaes family!

[MamacitaOfLove]

02:23 PM on 05/24/2010

Thanks! I'm going there now.