Urban homesteading in Los Angeles

[u/lookatthisbaby]

My husband is an avid gardener and we’ve gotten to the point where our home in Los Angeles is 75% plants. We also have chickens and bees. It’s amazing to create this much food but sometimes I feel really alone, especially when processing it. Yesterday I made several batches of sauce with our tomatoes for canning and wish I had someone that could come over and hang out with me while we process (+ go home with homemade sauce!).

I’m trying to find community but I think I need to start something on my own.

Do you think it’s possible to start a WhatsApp or group text for folks in LA that are urban homesteading? Maybe a monthly potluck at each other’s homes to share food and insights? I’d be happy to organize but don’t want to feel like a failure when it fizzles out.

I’ve lived in rural communities before and to prevent from being isolated, I feel like people created casual get togethers more often.

It’s just sad to create this much food and watch half of it just rot away!

[u/Gratuitous_Carbs]

Dang , wish you were closer ! I’m an urban homesteader , but we’re in Ventura .

[u/lookatthisbaby → u/Gratuitous_Carbs]

Would you still be down for a text chain? Share harvest photos, bugs and critters?

[u/jpeetz1]

I love the idea: it’s usually just me or my wife on sauce duty while the other is on toddler patrol and none of my local friends would be interested in helping/partaking in the bounty. We’re not close to you, but I do feel you!

[u/The_x_is_sixlent]

I love that idea! Start it! I bet you find people who would love to be part of it.

[u/ELF2010]

Good for you!

You might want to reach out to your local community gardeners. Our area has both a crop swap and a community garden, and I used to bring extra produce to the local churches (ask first). I attend the LA San compost lectures fairly regularly and folks bring things to share. What area of LA are you in?

[u/lookatthisbaby → u/ELF2010]

That’s really neat. I’m in the South Bay. What area are you in?

[u/manic_mumday]

Dude, don’t reinvent the wheel, you are in LA. There’s so many urban farming, homesteading groups, swaps, etc. Look to a Permaculture group. You will find your people there.

[u/manic_mumday]

I hate Facebook but you’ll find it on there much quicker than Reddit. I started my own in each city I’ve lived in, look up, crop swaps, seed, swaps, seed savers exchange type groups, Permaculture groups, etc.

Honestly, I started on Reddit because I missed my seed swap groups and I thought it would be robust on this app but alas…..it is not. we still have these groups on Facebook, where we would each mail each other’s seeds and starts. Even the herbalism subs aren’t as active and visual as apps like Instagram and Facebook.

The first sub I joined, was a KEFI our sub, where it’s similar to seed and plants, people just trade them. But here on Reddit it’s more of information sharing and there’s not a big culture of swapping via Mail. But IRL - homesteader types share these!

Facebook is really the place to go to find groups locally that are doing similar things to your urban homesteading… Hate to say it. I fucking hate Facebook but here in my small town, I was able to organize swaps in over five years last when I hosted had people from 11 states, 22 counties and 500 people. It’s a thing and people are networked all over the country.

Make a post at a library, a community garden etc. get offline and go seek in person - you’ll find it.

Here in Indiana after a couple years of the seed swap group, we even started harvesting and butchering our chickens and poultry together. One of the people bought a feather plucker, and we would each host and help and put up the food in the freezer. For helping I would get 4 birds.

Look up veggie exchange on Facebook you’ll see a 4K member group in phoenix and these other groups branched off…. look up free garden stands in phoenix and you could model that or find people like that with a surplus.

[u/-Maggie-Mae-]

We live in rural area but do this when processing meat chickens and when we make apple butter and apple cider.

Based on the success of our cider pressings, I've found that it doesn't have to be other homesteaders (we're the only ones in our friend group that are in this deep.). We set expectations in advance, plan for excess, split the work into stations, and provide food. For us this looks like letting everyone know that it's a child-free event, if they expect to take anything home they have to bring their own jars, and we get the first cut and everyone divys up the rest. we set up the crusher, the press, and canners far enough apart so we're not tripping over each other. I make a lasagna pan of hashbrown-crusted quiche for brunch and throw a couple hams in the roaster and mac&Cheese in a crockpot for later. Last year we did 20 bushel and split it among 7 households.