Some of this (like the database move) is out of hands so we can only continue to work on what we need to do and hope the rest comes through.

In the meantime, Jordanne is coding the relaunch of the software and is hoping to have it ready as soon as the database issues are fixed. However, some of the features are dependent on a third-party and so, we hope that will get done in time also.

During all this, we are searching for sponsors and advertisers to be a part of this site and help offset the costs. Although we (the Dervaes Family) work on this site for free (we couldn’t afford ourselves ), there are fees and bills that need to be paid for a site like this. So, we need to stick some ads on here so we can keep the core part of our site free. Hopefully, these ads won’t clutter up things, keep the site clean and be relevant to our users.

So, that is just an update … we have lots of ideas in the works and we are looking forward to sharing them — and receiving your feedback!

Tally “Hoe” Contest

This year, we urban aggies here at Path to Freedom,  are on a personal challenge to grow from our annual 6,000 lbs to 10,000 lbs harvest on a 1/10 acre garden – how close will we get to our goal?

How to Enter

It’s easy, all you have to do is enter the following information into the comment box below for a chance to win

1. Your Freedom Gardens user name (not a Freedom Gardener, here’s how to join)
2. Your guess for the poundage harvested at our Freedom Garden for the month of July
3. There is a limit of one guess per person

Deadline: The contest ends on Friday August 29  at 9:00 PST . We’ll announce the winner on Monday, September 1st

Note: You MUST be a registered member of FreedomGarden.org  (not a member, sign up!) If no one guesses within 50# of the LBS harvested, “the pot” will roll over until there is a winner!  In case of a tie two prizes will be awarded.

Prizes: Gift certificate to the Peddler’s Wagon

1st $ 25.00
2nd $15.00
3rd $10.00

Thank you for your patience and we hope that you will continue to enjoy the site.

Jordanne

We expect to have this done in the next couple of weeks;
1.) Transfer of site to faster database.

2.) Improved styling of site (better navigation, faster loading header)

3.) More content (how to use site, terms of use, privacy policy)

4.) Community Blog (for automatic import of users’ blog posts with specified tags)

5.) Improved forum with these features:
#WYSIWYG Editor
# Signatures
# Attachments on posts
# Extended member information on every post
# Member ranking (depending on number of written posts)
# Posts rating
# Possibility to make the forum public (with Search Engine Optimization)
# Sticky posts, announcements, locked topics
# Browse latest postings page
# Emoticons
# Forum Pruning

5.) Launch of “Kitchen” recipe sharing section

6.) Improved layout of site with dynamic updates

7.) Trading / Swap area for seeds, tools, garden supplies.

9.) Improved profile layout.

10.) Integration with user’s personal sites

11.) User contributed content / wiki

12.) Launch of “Tallyhoe” contest

13.) “Groups” feature on the network

14.) New images and buttons and “networking” icons similar to myspace and facebook

15.) Printable “cards” with your profile info for “hand-out” networking with friends and family

And that’s just the beginning! Your donations and support will help us to continue to grow.

Any questions, just leave a message here. I’ve been working away at this site and appreciate your patience as I continue to try and make this a better community.

Peace,
Jordanne

Freedom Gardens: Congratulations Freedom Gardener of August!  Thanks for being a part of this site, contributing to it and spreading the word!  Tell us a little more about your garden.

CornerGardener:  We started gardening 4 years ago when we first moved into our current home. It was something that we had planned to do in our last place but just never seemed to get going. We started with 120 sq ft of raised beds, added a little each year and this year nearly doubled it to what is now over 400 sq ft. Last year we made a decision to begin truly working the land that we have. I had found Path to Freedom’s site and their message and was inspired to take action. Today the garden has grown; we have chickens and worms (so far) for both food and manure. We grow beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers of course but also try to add new plants every year like kohlrabi, kale and heirloom variety vegetables. We grow food both for fresh eating as well as for storage and try to maximize yield in the small area we work by getting creative with our methods and square inch gardening more each year. We are loving every minute and every bite of food!

FG: Behind every garden, there must have been blood, sweat and tears. What have you felt was (is) the hardest thing you’ve faced (or are facing) in your gardening? Would you care to share a story?

CornerGardener:  Of course in the evolution of our garden we did face a lot of work. Last spring, we decided to build our back yard border beds and to pave our pergola floor with recycled “urbanite” that we could get for free. Having three strong young boys (10, 11, 13) we put them to work and attacked a six foot high pile of concrete and within a few trips had reduced it to rubble. We’ve also had to become active in our community to change the laws to allow for the keeping of urban chickens. That’s still an ongoing battle, but nearing completion. The outlaw birds still reside in our backyard.

FG: What do you feel is the most important thing in gardening?

CornerGardener:  I’d have to say failures. I know I know… am I nuts? Failures to me mean a couple of things. One, you tried something new and it didn’t work. The point is, you tried. Two, you now know what NOT to do; you’re that much closer to success and you can try again. I am a firm believer in trying new ways of doing things. We are, most of us, growing in very unconventional ways. Trying, and failing sometimes, helps us to get to know our land and how it works and in the long run will make us better stewards and better farmers..

FG: Have you changed - emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually - since you’ve gardened?

CornerGardener:  In some ways I’ve always gardened. My first memories of growing things go back so far I can’t put a year to them. I can say however, that since I have had this first garden, I seem to have come into my own. I know I was meant to do this. It has given me a way to take back control when I feel the world is spinning out of it. I have found my peace to a great extent. Much of this is tied to my garden.

FG: Has the website (freedomgardens.org) helped you with your garden?

CornerGardener:  It has. It’s given me ability to connect with other FG’ers that share my same passion. I learn and am inspired by others here almost daily. I already have new plans for next year that have come directly from this site! I love it.

FG:  Thank you for taking the time to share with us.  Your blog states: “Ad Posse Ad Esse” – you have really gone from ”possibility to reality” in creating your garden.  We enjoyed learning more about you and your wonderful perspective of treating failures as important lessons to learn in gardening.     We  are behind you in spirit - hoping you win your battle to keep your “outlaw” chickens. :-) 

CornerGardener has some beautiful photos to share with us so be sure to visit cornergardener’s profile to see photos, learn more about his garden and visit his great website/blog “Ad Posse Ad Esse.”

Freedom Gardeners of the Month receive a gift from the online store Peddler’s Wagon - Green Goods for the Good of the Planet. (Please support Freedom Gardens and help us grow by purchasing from our store)

Featured Freedom Gardeners are selected by the amount of time they spend on the Freedom Gardens site, the effort put into their profile, how much they have contributed to the site and how much they have shared or spread the word about Freedom Gardens.

Some ideas of where you can ask permission to post this flyer:

• Supermarkets

• Health Food Store

• Libraries

• Coffee Shops

• Book Stores

• Churches

• Community Centers

• Garden Clubs, etc

• Schools & Colleges

• Farmers Market

• Nurseries

Seeding Change: Website Seeks to Liberate Diets—and Wallets—from Supermarket

Site’s “100-Foot Diet” Brings Local Food Movement Home

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.

The site is backed by the example of its founders, the Dervaes family, the urban-dwelling “eco-pioneers” who have been growing most of their own food since 2001. On their one-fifth acre residential lot in Pasadena, Jules Dervaes and his three adult children, Anais, Justin, and Jordanne, grow over 400 varieties of fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers-with enough left over to run an award-winning “green” business selling fresh organic produce to local restaurants and caterers.

Few can match that output, but the Dervaeses say that by growing at least a portion of what they eat, “Freedom Gardeners” everywhere can take back control from the corporate food system. In the process, they can improve their health, reduce their ecological footprint, and save money. With food price inflation at the highest levels since 1990, the latter may be the most compelling reason to join what the Dervaeses call their “homegrown revolution(TM).”

To motivate new gardeners and focus their efforts, Freedom Gardens offers challenges like the 100-Foot Diet. With a nod to the 100-Mile Diet and other “eat local” initiatives, the 100-Foot Diet urges people to garden in whatever space they have available, be it a small patio or a spacious backyard, then prepare at least one meal a week using as many homegrown ingredients, and as few store-bought ingredients, as possible.

Mr. Dervaes uses the illustration of a target to explain the 100-Foot Diet in the context of the global food economy and the distance food travels from field to plate. “The outer ring of the target is overseas, while the circle at 1,500 miles represents the average distance produce in a grocery store travels. The 100-mile diet is getting you closer to the center. But, the 100-foot diet is actually bringing you right back to your home, and that is the bull’s-eye,” he says. “We want people to look for food security in their own backyard.”

Freedom Gardens is an offshoot of the family’s first website, PathtoFreedom.com, a seven year-old sustainable living blog that gets 5 million hits per month from 125 different countries. The new, more interactive site uses social networking software to connect visitors with other gardeners in their area. They can share tips about local climate and soil issues, display which challenges they are participating in on their profiles, and find others nearby doing the same challenge.

“We are providing the setting for ‘over-the-fence’ chats,” says Mr. Dervaes. “Neighbors can help each other more than we can from our particular locale. Through the website, we facilitate their getting together.”

Growing your own diet is not easy, but the Dervaeses are living proof that it is not impossible either. In their first year of full-time gardening, the family’s harvest was over 2,300 pounds; by 2003, their yearly take had reached over 6,000 pounds. This year they have challenged themselves to reach a new all-time high: 10,000 pounds from a one-tenth acre urban garden.

The Dervaes family has received several local awards and congressional recognition for their environmental contributions and outreach efforts. They have been the subject of numerous articles in newspapers around the country, including The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, and were recently featured on ABC’s Nightline and CNN.

About Freedom Gardens

Launched in May 2008, Freedom Gardens is a social networking website for gardeners and homegrown food enthusiasts. The site’s founders, the Dervaes family, draw on years of personal experience on their model urban homestead to help others take back control of their diets and their budgets by growing more of their own food. For more information, please visit www.freedomgardens.org.

- Jordanne

Freedom Gardens: Hi quincehomestead, congratulations! You have been selected to be the Freedom Gardener of July 2008! Tell us a little more about your garden.

QuinceHomestead: We live in North Minneapolis on a lot that is around 45Wx100L in feet. We are about a block from a large city park that is teaming with flora and fauna.

Last year we had a small garden with tomatoes and peppers due to the condition of the ground. In the back yard, we had 2 layers of pavers that were once used for the cities road with a layer of asphalt between them all under 2 inches of grass.

2 Falls ago (06) we started tearing all this out and built a paver patio and over this Winter with the inspiration of Path to Freedom, we took the next step and went from a 50 sq ft garden to what we have now (~700 sq ft).

We are growing the normal round of food that is pretty local to here: tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peas, lots of greens, carrots, etc. The garden is mainly comprised of raised beds and tries to follow the permaculture principles of restorative gardening. We are also raising chickens for their eggs and reusing their outputs as inputs for our garden.

FG: Behind every garden, there must have been blood, sweat and tears. What have you felt was (is) the hardest thing you’ve faced (or are facing) in your gardening? Would you care to share a story?

QuinceHomestead: The hardest thing is probably the time management of working full-time in the work world and then still having to find time for the homesteading. The other hard part is keeping up with all the changes that spring up.

FG: What do you feel is the most important thing in gardening?

QuinceHomestead: To us the most important aspects of our gardening is being able to feed our family while knowing where that food comes from and also making sure we attempt to garden in a restorative manner, not just a sustainable manner.

FG: Have you changed - emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually - since you’ve begun gardening?

QuinceHomestead: We have always been gardeners, but mainly my Wife. This year, I find myself more calm, stronger, and happier that before. Also quite a bit more tired

FG: Has this website (freedomgardens.org) helped you with your garden? If so, care to share “how?”

QuinceHomestead: Yes, the website along with Path to Freedom has provided the information, connections, and support to take the next step

FG: Be sure to visit quincehomestead’s profile to see photos, learn more about their garden and visit their great website/blog.

Freedom Gardeners of the Month receive a gift from the online store Peddler’s Wagon - Green Goods for the Good of the Planet. (Please support Freedom Gardens and help us grow by purchasing from our store)

Featured Freedom Gardeners are selected by the amount of time they spend on the Freedom Gardens site, the effort put into their profile, how much they have contributed to the site and how much they have shared or spread the word about Freedom Gardens.