Imagining one family producing six thousand lbs of food on land that’s only one tenth of an acre just 15 minutes outside of Los Angeles seems too amazing to be true. Either way, the Dervaes family found a way to produce 4,300 pounds of veggies, 900 chicken eggs, 1,000 duck eggs, 25 pounds of honey, and additional pounds of fruit as well on their 4,000 square-foot area of land. Not only is the family able to provide food entirely for themselves, they also make near $20,000 each year by selling their produce from their front porch.
Every member of the Dervaes family chips in to ensure that every square inch of the land can produce as much as possible. In addition to producing their own organic food, the family also lives almost completely off the grid. While many of the tools they utilize are hand powered, most of their other energy is produced from solar panels, making their utility bill only around $12 each month. Their car is even powered by biodiesel from used cooking fat that restaurants in the area deliver to their doorstep, so they also don’t burn any fossil fuels at all.
The Dervaes eat foods that are in season, preserve what they can, and sell their produce directly to local restaurants, which are grateful for local food in order to meet the demands of the busy area. This provides the family with the money they need to buy any food items they aren’t able to produce on their own.
Although they’re facing issues ranging from pest control and droughts brought on by climate change, they are continuously coming up with innovative and unique solutions to continue on in their rare lifestyle.
