Got lots of stuff to fix (including misspelled words) but will get to it soon!

Okay, this is going to be awesome!

Ooooo, A new feature. Can't wait to find solutions to all of my issues...well, gardening issues. ;-)
(I'm loving this site by the way Jordanne!)

Very excited about this site. Woud be great if you could search members by location so you could share local knowledge. Also I seem to be unable to upload pictures. I sent a group and then a single pic. They seemed to be transmitting, but don't show in gallery. I have been very inspired by the path to freedom and thank you for all your sharing.

Love the site ! Thanks for the site. Very inspirational and with tons of gardeners with lots of great ideas and projects. Well I'm trying to use my frontyard and gets some cooking herbs like basil, rosemary ! I'm also trying to grow fruits like strawberries at home.Starting in baby steps.

Ooooh! Something new! This is better than Christmas morning!!!! Just gotta tell you fellers how much I love this site and how 'at peace' I feel since making the committment to grow what I eat and eat what I grow. "They" can gouge me at the gas pump, charge exhorbitant rates for electricity and force me to pay taxes, but I'LL decide what goes into my kids little bellies.....oh, and snickering at Cornergardener's "issues".

WOW! This place just gets better and better, thanks for all your hard work :-)
CornerGardener, I have issues too LOL

Hi everyone! I can't believe how fast this place has grown just since I joined a few weeks ago. I'd love to be able to browse other people in my region to see what they're doing. Searching "Illinois" only brings up a few people but I imagine there's more out here! Oops, just realized Turtledreams said the same things but I guess that means other people want it. :)

Thank you Jordanne, and thanks for all your families hard work in making this place possible! I've only been here a couple of days, but I am enjoying myself thoroughly!

marileejean~ When I search Utah, I only get two others, and I don't think either of them has been back to the site since they signed up. (P.S. if your one of those two, sorry if I missed ya.) I have made it a personal goal of mine to build more of a gardening community around me whether thay like it or not!
P~

Hi CG - I also just realized that my (and probably others) just have "IL" instead of the state spelled out.

Marileejean is right. "IL" won't bring up Illinois, and Illinois won't bring up those who typed in "IL." Same problem with "United States" "US" "USA" etc. Anyhow, this is an issue that I've been working on for awhile and will be putting in something that autocompletes the state/country. When someone types in "C" it'll bring up the possible choices: "California", "Colorado", etc and the person just has to click on their choice. This will help keep things uniform.

Even when I check the map I only have 2 locals... I'll find more though... you watch!

This is so very, very cool. Keep up the good work, Jordanne! :)

Hi everyone, I have the same problem as turtledreams with the pictures, nothing appears... and I seem to be the first one from Belgium here (except your ancestors Jordanne !)

Hi all,
I just found my way here and it is so marvalous to see so many others walking this path. We are a family of four living on an urban size lot in rural Pennsylvania. We are surrounded by large monocrop farms. Although there is tons of "farming" going on all around us, there is very little human food being grown. Most is for livestock feed, and what is not is most likely GMO and chemical laden. Organic CSA farms are springing up here and there, but they are often too pricey for our very modest budget. Growing our own food seems the only sensible thing, and so we do, and our children are blessed with a beautiful garden and the freshest, best tasting food possible.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone here is up to.
And thanks to the Dervaes for this community and all the inspiration!

Yummy!!

You know, a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...

We've been building our garden for 6 years now and I'm very eager to get input, tips and ideas on how to maximize our production. We've put in an automatic watering system which keeps everything growing, use a compost tumbler to rebuild our soil, and are currently eating apples, tomatoes, apricots, grapefruit, lemons, herbs, onions and green beans from our Pasadena plot. I'm hoping to see pictures and read about natural pest control and combatting mildew on melons!

I'm glad I found this site..................I never realised that my road to self suffuciency was also a path to freedom and that there were a lot of others around the world on the same track.

WooHoo.. I just discovered this forum feature! It's great to have a place to connect with all of ya'll great folks focusing on a sustainable, self-reliant, empowered way of life. For the last few years I have felt alone on my island of dreams... now I feel surrounded by like-minded people and it really feels like all things ARE indeed possible. Thank You Freedom Gardeners!
YAY!

I just heard your interview with the Garden Rebel on WDBO radio in Orlando, FL. So I joined right away. Although I grew up in Pasadena, Ca, I was forced to move to Fl. with my family in 1962 and I have been so frustrated ever since with the Florida humidity and the challenges of growing a garden without pesticides! And the sandy soil is another whole story!! With thus forum I hope to connect with other Florida organic farmers to share techniques for success! I have started my own small worm farm on my front porch, and I now have a good start on making some decent soil for my garden from my kitchen waste and shredded mail. Are we allowed to post links to web sites like the worm farm site? Glad to be here! Lynda

It was impolite of me not to introduse myself on the forum before I started to post. Sorry!

My name is Yvonne and I am a middle-aged woman in Sweden on the westcoast. We live in the countryside on a small homestead. We have no animals exept two cats. I try to grow as much food in our garden I am able to, and the lawn is getting smaller every year.

I have been interested in sustainable living for many years, but I felt rather lonely earlier.
Now I feel so happy that I have found you all and I thank the Dervaes family to share their thoughts on the net with the rest of the world!

If there is something I have written you don't understand feel free to ask what I mean. Sometimes it's difficult for me to know the right word in english, but I learn everyday more and more because of you.

Yvonne, if I might add my 2 cents, I think you speak/write beautiful English! Hugs!

Andrea

Thank you very much Andrea, you are so nice to me! But I must confess I have a dictionary to see some words, so I am not speaking English that well. It's easier to write....you got more time to think ;-) !
Yvonne

Hi all,
My name is Oscar and I have just joined the site. It is wonderful to see so many like minded folks. I have been gardening for about 15 years just as a hobby. It is a very relaxing activity for me. I am a computer programmer and it is a very unhealthy job, I do enjoy it but would rather be involved in some physical activity. I must say that the Dervaes family have opened my eyes in a matter of weeks. My plan is to become as independent as possible under the current circumstances. In the near future I will be able to have much more room to achieve my goal. I plan on moving to SW Michigan where I have 11 acres of wooded land. I am somewhat blessed that I work from home so can basically do it from just about anywhere. Any way I very much look forward to participating here with everyone else.
Oscar

Hi...newbie...I'm a Texas gardener and blogger...really pleased to see this up and running...

Excellent! I am so glad the forum is up and running :)

It is so nice to "meet" everyone. I am looking forward to getting to know you all better.

I am in PA also, Nettlejuice :wave:. We have two acres, but over one is planted with huge Norway pines. I would love to have them taken down to plant a fruit orchard and some sugar maples... but alas, no one wants to buy and acre of standing pine right now and we cannot afford to have them removed. Besides, the owls and ravens really dig the 80+ foot trees. So our growing area is a little less than one acre. On that we have the detached garage & house, and four 10 X 14 garden plots. I also have a few small perennial flower & herb beds that I take mostly neglect :lol:

This is so exciting. I cannot wait to learn as much as possible from others so much more experienced. I'm learning slowly, but without any friends, neighbors, family, etc with gardening knowledge, it's difficult.

The website is great looking forward to all the new stuff coming online. I dont normally get excited about a website but this one looks to be promising.

Hi, I've been hanging around for a few days but I haven't yet introduced myself. I've been gardening all my life, I come form a family of gardeners. I've only really gotten serious about producing a significant amount of food from my garden in the last year or so. I'm planting fruit trees and berry bushes and will continue to add more as my budget allows. I'm also expanding my vegetable plot. and expanding my perennial flower bed to include herbs.

I'm challenged by a cold climate and a short growing season but I know people have lived self sufficiently in my community before so I'm confident i can do it to.

I would like to reach a point where I am producing a surplus that I can add to the local food supply by selling at our farmers market.

Hi, I live in Altadena CA. It is so great to see that there are so many of us out there.
I planted my first garden at this location this season so, I am in the process of learning what grows best where. Like the rest of you I am working to towards a more self sufficient and simple life. Each week I challenge myself to take a step no matter how small.

Hi everyone,

New on the block here. I am looking forward to sharing garden success stories with everyone.

ohhhhhh, I'm excited! Like I need *another* forum to be a part of! I'm excited.

I have been growing a little vege garden for the last five years, and living in the middle of Sacramento, on Highway 50, people are amazed that I can produce so much produce - it's so much fun, and I'm providing my family and the neighbors with good, fresh veges and strawberries. Love it.

great site hope to learn a lot. I'm slowly transforming my little patch of ground and glad to connect with like minded people.

I live in Ca up east of the bay area. We live in a rental right now and the landlord frowns up the digging of the yard so I am using mostly containers at the moment. Before the rains come I intend on putting up several rain barrels to collect rain as we are usually in water rations out here. I grow the usuals, tomatoes, peppers, basil, zucchini, cucumbers, assortment of herbs and catnip (for the kitties :) ). There is so much I want to do that I am at a loss of where to start. My hubby thinks I am crazy but when I put that homegrown salsa in front of him he does get a little excited. We are blessed with a very long growing period (practically year round depending) so expermenting is fun. We dont have homestead animals, cats and dogs only. I would love to get some chickens but I have queensland heeler dogs and I am afraid they will get to them. Hopefully, we will move to a place that will be a bit more lenient with the digging...lol.

Hi:
I've been hanging out here but did not check out this forum yet. Nice to "See" everyone. I live in Atlanta, in an area which is kind of funky and urban. We own two lots, side by side which equal almost an acre. The first thing I did when we moved in was to begin a garden: both flowers (actually, mainly herbs) and veggies - the veggies were hard since we had so much shade. When we purchased the 2nd property I put 5 raised veggie beds in that front yard in the sun. This year a tornado took out almost all our large trees and so we quickly expanded the front yard to 5 more beds. We are looking forward to "developing" the rest of our property into more edible landscaping and adding a cistern to collect run-off water as we are downhill. Currently, all water for our gardens comes from re-claimed sources.
This community is becoming more and more interested in the enviornment and sustainability. It's pretty cool to live here. I know all the local urban farmers (we have several urban CSA's) and many of the community gardeners - we are fairly connected. However, nobody has similar goals to what we have.
Eventually we are looking towards urban farming on a small scale to provide local resteraunts with the FRESHEST

Hi:
I've been hanging out here but did not check out this forum yet. Nice to "See" everyone. I live in Atlanta, in an area which is kind of funky and urban. We own two lots, side by side which equal almost an acre. The first thing I did when we moved in was to begin a garden: both flowers (actually, mainly herbs) and veggies - the veggies were hard since we had so much shade. When we purchased the 2nd property I put 5 raised veggie beds in that front yard in the sun. This year a tornado took out almost all our large trees and so we quickly expanded the front yard to 5 more beds. We are looking forward to "developing" the rest of our property into more edible landscaping and adding a cistern to collect run-off water as we are downhill. Currently, all water for our gardens comes from re-claimed sources.
This community is becoming more and more interested in the enviornment and sustainability. It's pretty cool to live here. I know all the local urban farmers (we have several urban CSA's) and many of the community gardeners - we are fairly connected. However, nobody has similar goals to what we have.
Eventually we are looking towards urban farming on a small scale to provide local eateries with the FRESHEST food, herbs and flowers - from a block or two away! We also want to provide most of our own foods - begin to provide some of our own energy.
It's nice to meet you all!

Hello, I live in nevada.

Hi everyone, I live in NJ on a half-acre lot. This is the first year I have tried the gardening and off-grid thing. I'm excited to find this forum with so many like minded people. I always wanted to grow our food and be more self sufficient but I thought we needed many acres. Then I found PTF and got inspired and started our "half-acre homestead." I look forward to getting to know you all and gleaning your wisom.

Hi everyone, I live in the metro Atlanta area on a small lot that feels big to us. We are just getting started with edible gardening this year but after great kale and collards last winter and a bumper crop of grape, cherry, and regular tomatoes, we are really loving it. I hope to have edibles throughout our yard, the sunny part anyway. I am so excited to find a community of others with similar interests!

Hello, I'm glad to be here! My family is in Baltimore -- right in the city limits, but we've got a good size lot, and the edibles are taking over. This season I got the garden beds built and the usual Zone 7 veggies going. Hoping to double production next year and add berries and hazelnuts, and lots more herbs. Would love to hear what people are doing with their front yards -- my dream is to have the lawn GONE.

I just realized that I never actually introduced myself LOL! I'm Andrea, stay at home mom to 2 darling children and a wannabe homesteader. We live in west central Ohio, on an acre+ lot in a small farming community. We're living on former farmland and the problem we're dealing with is spent, overfarmed, overtilled soil, nutrient-deficient. But it's getting better all the time with composting and TLC.

We do the old fashioned approach to gardening...a large spot that's tilled twice a year; in spring for planting and in fall to plow under the crops and add leaves, grass and compost to the soil. Probably not the best approach, but we're learning more and trying new things each year. Thrilled to be here and getting to know all you wonderful folks. Best wishes. Andrea

Ooo, just found this forum! I like the idea of this site very much.

Hi there:
I've been posting a bunch and just noticed this section. Guess I should introduce myself! I live in the foothills above Pasadena in one of the oldest houses in the city -- 1874 or thereabouts. We have .70 acre. Under 1000 is lawn for the kids, we have a veggie garden of about 1000 sq ft, plus about 18 fruit and nut trees and three berry beds. We host a dumpster on our property for a composting company, so we are closing the loop more than the average suburban lot! Ihave a hubby of 23 years, two kids 5 and 10, an old dog, three cats and six chickens. I've selected the spot for the goat and the bees but haven't gotten to those yet! I dream of growing or raising the majority of what we eat, enjoy making my own soaps, cleaning products and such, and buying as little as possible that is new, plastic or from a big box! :) I am not above stopping at a curb to view interesting castoffs on trash day, much to my children's occasional horror. :) We talk of relocating to the area east of Sacramento, perhaps around Auburn.

Hi, I just realized there is this introduction area! I posted about Carrots already, sorry! I live in Hacienda Heights, CA. It's a good sized city, with fairly large Corporations nearby(like FritoLay and Tropicana). We live in the home my husband grew up in. The lot is about 19000 sq ft, the house is about 2300 sq ft, with a giant pool that takes up most of the backyard. I'm currently digging up all non-edible plants and ammending the soil to plant crops. This is my first year of getting really serious about growing our own food. I've done some small patches before, but this time we're gun ho!

I am so excited to find this forum! Thank you Jordanne!! I am originally from California, but I have found my way up to New Brunswick, Canada and am enjoying the experience of four full seasons. Summer is a frantic pace, everything has to grow grow grow, we have a one week window to get all of the long season crops planted, or we miss the season!! But it has taught me not to procrastinate. My husband and I are living by our own means. We have been renting here for two years on 100 acres. He has built us these amazing little rustic barns from wood he brings down with the horse, and mills it with a chainsaw. We got nearly 3 acres of grain in this spring which I am hoping will carry us and the cow, horse and chickens through for a year. And our garden provides us with everything we need and more. I love the life we live, but it can be lonely, we are an oddity to say the least. Great to meet so many others with similar concerns and interests.

I just found this area of the site. Guess I should introduce myself.

I'm from eastern Ohio. I'm single, caring for my aging mother, and trying to tend something like 3 rural acres. I've gone on a journey to healthier living the last couple years to help my diabetic mother and to improve my own health so I don't follow her down the same path.

I would love to own chickens, ducks, and goats, but I just can't see how I can take them on right now with no help. I'm afraid they'd just become coyote bait.

I have a fairly decent sized "weedy" garden grown in a combination of raised beds, rows, and square plots.

I look forward to this site evolving. I have questions about fruit trees and more to throw at you all.

I also just realized there was an "introduction" forum going ;) We are a family also doing the best we can with what we know and have on a very small scale 'burban plot. We are completely new to this garden thing and learning as we go, we are very eager to do this right though ;) I would eventually like to have enough going on in my backyard to eat fresh, preserve for later, and share, share, share! I am so thrilled that we have this opportunity to learn from each other and be able to come together for encouragement to move forward through our successes and failures. Thank you PTF for opening the door for us all and bringing us all together! Blessings!

Hi there,

Our family is steadily making progress on our 83 x 160 lot in NJ. We love to preserve as much as we can through drying, canning, or fermenting. I never heard of the term urban homesteading before PTF but it is nice to now we aren't as crazy as everyone thinks. There are lots of kindred spirits out there.