JULES DERVAES, KEEP The BEET Media Star, and me
at the PRO PENINSULA PATAGONIA WILD & SCENIC
ENVIORONMENAL FILM FESTIVAL March 26
in San Diego. I was deeply moved to meet
Jules, the founder of PATH TO FREEDOM,
THE ORIGINAL MODERN URBAN HOMESTEAD
in Pasadena, Ca. The work he and his family
are doing is crucial to the health of the earth
and extremely inspired.
March 28, 09
9 AM
Today is my sister Vivian's birthday.
Happy Birthday Vivian,
I am sorry I dd not call you yesterday.
I know you do not pick up the phone today
on your shabbath. Maybe I can call tonight
after sundown. Sorry I am out of touch.
Wow! I am feeling bonds of broken community
this morning.
My community life feels mostly Virtual Reality
with a few conferences thrown in.
The most sustainable part of my week
is the Farmers' Market. That's tomorrow.
I am feeling sad after a couple end of the day
calls yesterday that fray some of the bonds I feel
with close ones.
I have not done my homework.
There is much to do here at the
ENCHANTED GARDEN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY.
My own space needs many hours of attention.
Most of my socially fulfilling engagements are away from
home, even through the banner of the place where I live
says Community in its name.
In my Virtual world, I am way behind in projects
that I owe people during the last week.
I spent last week working out relationship at home,
and spending a lot of time exhausted.
I realized I had missed deadlines.
I missed our SAN DIEGO EARTH FAIR DEADLINE
for the EARTH TIMES, that actually came out a couple
days ago.
I put in time to connect with the most local Earth Day
of all, activities down the street at San Diego State University.
There felt like a wall. I did not know how to reach the students
who were planning this.
Then a breakthrough came. I saw that the group that was
putting on the San Diego State Earth Day was participating
in the PRO PENINSULA sponosored PATAGONIA
WILD & SCENIC ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
here in San Diego.
From the E3 calendar online, I had the sense that
the group putting on the San Diego Earth Day
were involved.
I saw from the E3 website, that they were planning
a Farmers Market at State. I thought that would be a great
project to support.
I learned from JP of PEACE PIES that the man in charge of
the SDSU Farmers' Market project was named MATT.
It turned out that MATT NELSON was manning the
table at the environmental film festival Thursday night
March 26.
Bingo!!!! I also met RAE GURNE, president of E3,
the Enviro-Business Society, the group putiting on the Earth Day
activities at SDSU. She recognized my name. I had written her
a note on Facebook. She had not responded.
That PRO PENINSULA sponosored PATAGONIA
WILD & SCENIC ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
was a field day of magical and inspired connections.
One of the featured films was HOMEGROW REVOLUTION,
a Film by PATH TO FREEDOM. Path to Freedom is run by
the DERVAES Family. JULES DERVAES spoke before the film.
I have heard of him. I have already been inspired by the work
he has been doing.
The film tells the story of how he has taken a 1/10th acre
site in Pasadena and turned into
THE ORIGINAL MODERN URBAN HOMESTEAD.
The work they are doing dovetails into the work
we have in mind in where I live, on 1/3 acre
within walking distance of SDSU.
The DVD, HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION is available from
http://HomegrownRevolution.com
info@pathtofreedom.com 626.795.8400
This is a must DVD that deserves extensive viewing.
It will be in the other
PATAGONIA
WILD & SCENIC ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
showings that are traveling around the country.
One of the most deeply moving and emotional
experiences of the DVD, is experiencing the
very deep bonds of family that the DERVAES experience.
They have a very healthy and healing relationship
between themselves, the dad, two daughters and son
who are all involved in the garden,
and now more than ever, in the emerging
businesses and projects to get the word out
to inspire others.
The Dervaes' also have a powerful healing relationship
with the animals on their property--some chickens
and goats, and cat, as well as a poweful bond
of community with the plants on the property
that are shown in this film to be producing
extensive organic and local produce.
I was deeply inspired spending quality time
with JULES DERVAES, and touched to spend
some time with his daughter JORDANNE.
Both Jordanne and ANAIS, the other daughter,
are featured in the DVD that they made themselves.
Their brother also participates strongly
in the success of this Tight knit family project.
Jules was very open and honest with me.
I could see that with the coming in of the success
of the project, he was being taken farther from
the ground itself.
Jules is very committed to the idea of
inspiring a HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION.
He wants to demonstrate that the
project can sustain itself without outside grants
or sponsors. The economic model of family sustainability
has created a number of other businesses.
One is called PEDDLER's WAGON,
Sustainable & Practical Goods for the Urban Homesteader
Http://www.PeddlersWagon.com
The second is called FREEDOM GARDENS
Our Earth-We Dig it.
This is from the promo card:
Grow for 21st century food security.
Join an online social community of
gardening enthusiasts fed up with foreign oil,
frequent food miles and high food prices.
Http://www.FreedomGardens.org
The other business is called
FREEDOM SEEDS. This is very important work.
Jules and I spent time talking about the condition
of seeds. Monsanto is the Number one holder of
seeds in the world. They are sponsors of GMO
seeds. Jules is providing a counterpoint.
Here is the URL to the new Seed Company"
Http://www.FreedomSeeds.org
Here are the promo words:
FOR LIBERTY. FOR LIFE.
NOT JUST A SEED SOURCE--
A CAUSE
Non Hybrid
Non GMO
Non Monsanto Owned Seeds.
The materials on the promo piece
are Copyright c 2009 by the Dervaes Institute
a non-profit 508 C.
The other side of the promo piece
describes PATH TO FREEDOM
The Original Modern Urban Homestread
& Sustainable Living Recource Center
established 2001, Pasadena, CA
http://www.PathtoFreedom.com
There is also a Journal in the making,
LITTLE HOMESTEAD IN THE CITY,
a journal by 21st Century Eco Pioneers.
http://www.LittleHomesteadintheCity.com
This is from a quote on the literature:
"By the process of directly working
in harmony with nature, we do the one thing
most essential to change the world--
we change ourselves."
--Jules Dervaes, Founder/Director
Much the of the web work on the site
is the handiwork of Jordanne Dervaes.
She told me she never went to college.
This was a conscious act. She is a natural
born talent. Jules, single
parent, told me the children were home schooled.
Jordanne, I found a remarkable woman.
I wondered what her personal dreams were.
I wondered if she wanted to be a mother.
It seems that the natural growth of this family
would be based on bringing in others,
likely through marriage.
The essence of this project is to inspire
other people to do urban homesteads.
I felt that this family needed more
room to spread, a large piece of land
in the country.
One of the themes of the film festival that touched
me very strongly was the contrast between
corporate goals and family values completely
bonded with a way of life that was one with the
earth and all nature.
The Featured film--RED GOLD--
contrasted life at the Kvichak and Nushagak Rivers
in Bristol Bay, Alaska, one home to the two remaining
sockeye salmon runs. At the same spot mining companies
NORTHERN DYNASTY and ANGLO AMERICAN
have proposed to extract what may prove to be the
the richest deposit of gold and copper in the world.
What is at stage is an entire sustainable, and happily
subsistent way of life in harmony with that land
vs. a quest for development.
The relationships between fisherman, native populations,
and family life and values were stunningly expressed in a number of fiims.
I felt these feelings inside me.
The presence of the Dervaes family brought home these deep
feelings inside me. Days later, those feelings are stirring.
I find myself yearning for the essence of what life is about,
the bonds and fabric of community, the joys of close
friendship.
RELATED LINKS and PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOGS:
Pdf Poster of the Flm HOMEGROWN REVOLUTON:
http://HomegrownRevolution.com/download/hgr_poster_dervaes.pdf
FREEDOM GARDENERS BLOGS:
http://www.freedomgardens.org/#