I’m excited about this interview and have enjoyed the friendship I’ve been able to have with Anais and her sister, Jordanne. There is a lot of good information here and you’ll want to check out the links listed in the interview as well!

First, Anais, can you tell me how to pronounce your name and what it means? How about your last name?
If I had to write my name out phonetically, I would probably write it out as “Ah-na-EESE. “ Its meaning is “Full of Grace.” With our unusual names, the meanings are not very easily found. Jordanne is a feminine form of Jordan, and we believe its meaning would be the same: “flowing” or “of the river.” However, some name resources indicate that since it’s a conglomeration of “Jordan” and “Anne”, the more apt feminine meaning might be “Flowing Grace.”

Our last name “Dervaes” would be pronounced phonetically: “Dur-VAYS.” It is of Belgian ancestry.

Many people know you and your family as the Urban Homesteaders. Can you share me what that title represents and your current lifestyle?
“Urban Homestead” is a term our father coined to describe what we were creating in the city. In 2001, when we created our website — the first ever devoted to urban homesteading – we had to explain to the great web-browsing populace what it was exactly we were doing. So, we referred to our lifestyle and what we were doing as Urban Homesteading. Because it was homesteading… just like the pioneers of old. It was a way of living that was beyond gardening and beyond farming. We were sustaining ourselves and living off the land with as little impact as possible on a small city lot in urban environs. It’s living the pioneer life of self-reliance that was common not too long ago — when people needed to form a community for survival.

We describe an Urban Homesteader as: A person who practices self-sufficiency through home food production and simple living in a city or suburban environment and who transforms a city or suburban property into a home that produces some or all of its residents own food and other basic needs with the goal of reducing environmental impact while increasing self-sufficiency. Also, it is one who strives to create a better world for themselves and others by exemplifying a self-sufficient, sustainable, ecologically sound return to home-based agriculture, industry, and family life.

You two are the only girls in your family, tell me a bit about each other and the other members of your family.
Anais is the oldest and Jordanne is the youngest and there’s a whole lot of differences and personalities in between! But, we like to believe that maybe we even balance other out that way. As sisters, it’s great to have someone to rely on and be there when you need her. Not to mention how awesome it is to share clothes! Everyone has roles in the Urban Homestead and, although we are specifically passionate about certain areas, we all try to share our knowledge with each other and help each one another grow.

Today, Jordanne cares for the  menagerie of animals (chickens, ducks, goats, cats and more) on the family’s homestead, raising them holistically and naturally.

In addition to her passion for animals, Jordanne is an avid writer and often wrote stories about her furry or feathered friends as a child.  She enjoys recording events and inner thoughts with a poetic flair.  Since childhood, her journals have reflected penetrating insights and perceptions gained from hours of acutely observing the world and the people around her. Historical events, especially of WWII and family history, has always captured her fancy.

Her penchant for being self taught has continued on.  She has tackled computer coding, website design and has gained the vast knowledge needed to maintain the family’s many websites on her own. Baking goodies for the family is another passion she shares with her sister and together they have a part-time catering business for friends. Music is a special artistic avenue where Jordanne likes to express herself.  Taking time out from her busy homesteading schedule, Jordanne will often be found practicing her guitar or dabbling with other instruments like the flute and piano keyboard.  How she wishes there was more than 24 hours in the day to accomplish all she wants and needs to do!

Anais was born to “greenhorn” homesteading parents. She immediately made a noticeable difference at the abandoned gold mining town of Stafford, located on New Zealand’s  west coast of the south island,  by raising the total human population to 4 and by making  local history by becoming the youngest citizen of that town in 100 years.

Anais grew up on 10 rural acres when her parents returned to Florida. She enjoyed planting a garden with her father, jumping from haybales, eating oranges from nearby groves and drinking raw goat’s milk from Molly Jo, a pet. Weekdays were spent in homeschooling,  exploring her  world and cooking.

After the family’s move to Pasadena, Anais honed her cooking skills and continued her passion for gardening, especially flowers and herbs.  For several years, after her father had ripped up the front yard to plant edibles, she eagerly sowed wildflower seeds, which ultimately “blossomed” into the family’s edible flower (and now produce) business.   Being homeschooled, as were the rest of her siblings, she also devoured every herbal book at the local library to learn how to whip up herbal concoctions for any ailment that have afflicted the family.

Over the years, she has added many other homesteading skills: candle and soap-making; knitting; herbal remedies; sewing; crocheting; canning and food preservation; wine-making and much more.
She loves traipsing around the urban homestead in aprons and barefeet and taking pictures of all the homestead happenings!

We think if there is one thing that would describe our Dad it would be this: He seriously lives by the axiom “To whom much is given, much will be required.” As far back as we can remember, that has been his guiding principle and force. We know that his belief has made him want to help others and he has passed on this ideal to us. As a result, he believes very strongly that we are not on this earth to please ourselves. Our work is to assist others along their journey through life. That is why we share with others and feel very motivated and blessed to be able to do so.

Our brother, “Farmer“Justin is an extremely talented jack-of-all-trades. Ask him exactly what his role is and be prepared to get quite an earful. Pry a little deeper and find a seed junkie in denial. Justin is addicted to plants — often planting seeds and growing them until there just isn’t a single inch of space to put them. If you can’t find your way to our front door, blame it on Justin’s plants. It truly is a jungle out there.

That edible jungle, however, provides us with more than enough to feed our family and sell as surplus. From sun up to sun down, he toils and is not afraid to get his hands dirty – really dirty!

How has your lifestyle enabled you to grow closer to the Father and living out his Torah?
Living off the land helps us get closer to nature and the Creator. We had to learn the lesson that we aren’t in charge and we don’t always get what we want. By putting ourselves at the mercy of the harvests, the land, and the weather, we have to rely on blessings from God. It takes a family to run a project like this and we have to rely on each other and support one another.

Living this way puts one in touch with God’s plan: He put man in the garden as caretaker of His creation. The guidelines for living are spelled out in the Old Testament, as well as demonstrated in the agrarian festivals that directly connect us with the land and harvest times. Our family keeps the Sabbath, tithes our first fruits and observes the 7 Holy Days.

Our father has said it’s enlightening to point out that a gardener’s position is almost always on his knees.

I’ve seen updates from you about getting ready for interviews and television segments, do you do these often and do you enjoy the limelight (not sure this is the right word)?
Media is a fickle thing. It’s fleeting and inconsistent and there will always, always be both the good and bad sides of it.

Because we have lived simply or “eco” for such a long time, we don’t feel enthralled by the attention. When being environmentally conscious wasn’t trendy and “green” wasn’t the latest “buzz” word, and the economy was good, people didn’t understand why we chose to garden so intensively or live sustainably and simply. So, now that most everyone thinks what we are doing is so cool… we are rather amused by it!

Our fulfillment is in the work itself, rather than in the recognition for the work. We put more priority on what we have done with the gifts and opportunities God has given us and the hard work and sweat we have put into the creation of our Urban Homestead than on the portrayal of ourselves. This journey is not about us but about what can be done with a lot of hard work and by God’s grace.

We don’t solicit for the media attention – they almost always find us! Also, we do not accept all media interviews or opportunities we receive. But we do appreciate the attention our work gets from certain print features or television segments. In sacrificing privacy and giving a little of ourselves to be put out in the public, we have seen the positive reaction from so many people who had been searching for something they felt they needed and didn’t know what it was until they saw us on some news or other outlet. We feel that it’s our way of reaching other people and showing them there is another successful way besides joining the 9-to-5 rat race and being at the mercy of supermarkets, “big-agriculture,” the economy and the ills of society that tells you to get sucked up and stuck in the consume-all, have-all lifestyle.

The impact of what we have done has surprised even as we read the emails and take the phone calls that come from our being featured in a certain news piece. Some people have dramatically changed their lives around and found something more meaningful to them. And THAT is what is more important to us. It really inspires us!

Also, the “lime-light” has opened different doors for us and has allowed us to travel to places and meet people we never thought we would have. What started as a simple family site documenting our journey has led us on travels from India to Israel! So, it has been a benefit for us to learn and grow from other cultures and people!

Where have you been featured?
Here, on Feelin’ Feminine!!! ( There have been some TV, film, magazine and other print features nationally and internationally (e.g., CNN, ABC Nightline and even Oprah) and a lot of the specific articles and videos can be found on our website. While it’s interesting to see how the different medias portray us, most of the family members don’t take any portrayals of us too seriously. Why? We’re bored with “us” and the mainstream media never gets it all right anyhow.

We are, however, a bit more proud of a family project we did together – the creation of a short film called “Homegrown Revolution” that has astonished us by being recognized by many festivals both nationally and internationally and even winning several awards. By doing it as a family, it’s such a reward to see what we can accomplish together even without having any prior film experience.

Do you allow people to come and visit your homestead? What is your outreach program?
We are blessed that we are able to share our journey and inspire others on a more sustainable and simpler path. Although we realize the importance of our Urban Homestead as an educational tool, we are a viable, working farm and our sustenance and income are all tied up in this property. So, we have to give tours on a limited basis without the disruption to our work. We have given priority to schools; but, all other tour requests have had to wait until we figure out how to have open Urban Homestead tour dates.

However, we have made an extensive effort to provide in depth information, over 2000 photos in our online gallery, 35 Youtube videos and more online so that you can visit our Urban Homestead virtually on the web. Through our blog, Little Homestead in the City, we try to share with our readers what day-to-day life is like here – living the sustainable farm life in an urban environment.

Our outreach is diverse — from opening our home for certain scheduled tours, holding community gatherings and events, to giving school visits, lectures and workshops. Other public outreach activities are: designing, printing, and distribution of brochures, presentation materials and displays; participation in conferences and festivals; distribution of educational, “do-it-yourself” materials; presentations at schools and community groups; and screenings of eco-documentaries.

Our public work in the community is the natural extension of our belief that we should care for God’s creation and all its resources and inhabitants. We strive to live by example and we believe that change starts at home.

What kind of info can be found on your website for people wanting to live more ‘green’?
A lot of information can be gleaned from our website. We’ve been “blogging” for 10 years and there’s a wealth of photos and over 2500 posts – from growing your own food, canning, cooking with sun ovens to keeping and raising poultry and goats and much, much more. It’s not about doing it all, but taking small steps to make your world a better one. We try to offer inspiration to people by showing the steps we took to get where we are now. Our garden didn’t always look like it does today!

Because we couldn’t advise people on how to do things in their specific area, we now run a social networking site: freedomgardens.org where gardeners can connect with others in their area and share tips and exchange ideas – as well as excess produce or seeds! Over 7000 gardeners from around the world have signed up to date. In addition, we are also looking to launch a few more networks to connect people together – so keep on the lookout for news on our site!

What does your ‘beauty’ routine look like and what products and methods do you use for skin-care?
Beauty routine? This won’t take long! It’s all very simple. Although we do use one or two natural, organic creams, it’s rare and only for special occasions or blemish issues. But basically, we use kitchen cosmetics. Our regular routine for facial cleansing is apple cider vinegar and water and coconut oil for moisturizer. Even though we make our own soaps for bathing, we never use soap on our faces as we don’t think that it is necessary. Sometimes we do use clay and honey masks or salt / sugar scrubs on our face if there’s a need to draw out any impurities.

For bathing, we use our own handmade soaps made from olive oil and herbs and add Dead Sea salts when necessary. For hair washing, Anais has been using the “no poo” method for the last 2-3 years. Once a week, she simply washes her dark hair with water and rinses with apple cider vinegar, then adds henna, herbal oil mixture that nourishes and conditions the hair. Jordanne alternates between an organic citrus shampoo and baking soda and rinses her hair with honey and lemon juice as needed.

We place our “beauty” routine emphasis on our natural foods diet, healthy living and drinking lots of water. As with all true beauty, it begins within and that’s one routine that is always ongoing.

How big is your garden and how much time in it do you spend on an average day?
Our entire city lot is only 1/5 of an acre. In feet, it measures 66’ x 132’. This is an average Pasadena CA single family home. Our garden is not in a SPECIFIC area but is packed (maybe crammed is a better word!) in every available corner and inch of the yard. When you take out the square footage of the house, the driveway, the garage and other unusable spaces, the area is 1/10 of an acre… approx. 66’ x 66’.

On that small footprint, our family can grow 6,000 lbs of food annually. In a single year, we’ll have over 350 varieties of plants and we provide between 80% – 95% of our family’s vegetarian diet. This allows us to eat on about $2 a day per person.

Because this is not just a hobby, we don’t keep track of hours spent in the garden. It’s such an integral part of our life and our nourishment and our survival revolves around this agrarian element. But as we have grown with wisdom and knowledge, we have gotten better at things so the garden itself become more and more self-sustaining as the years have gone on. We are actually doing less in the garden every year and still producing the large amounts of food. It’s all about setting up a “foundation” of good soil and sustainable practices which pay off in the long run.

Our busiest times are in the crop turnaround seasons of Fall and Spring – that is when we need to transition the garden from hot plants to cold plants or vice-versa.

What is your favourite dish to prepare?
Oh, this is a hard one! There are so many exciting tastes and textures that God has created, it’s difficult to choose one over all the others! Each vegetable or fruit brings its own unique anticipation to our menus.

That said, there are several meals that we have regularly through a normal week – Garden Pizza Thursday, Spaghetti Friday dinner and Saturday just isn’t the same without a pancake breakfast and a dinner of Spanish rice with garden herbs and sweet pepper wrapped in homemade tortillas. Sometimes, we girls joke that if we ever changed the weekly favorites, there might be a mini riot on our hands.

We choose to eat from what’s in season in the garden so our diet changes many times throughout the year. We find that that not only brings us closer to God’s way of living – in tune to the rhythms of nature – but we feel it makes our bodies healthier and our spirits more nourished as we anticipate the first harvests. By waiting for that first fresh tomato or strawberry we find that we appreciate the food more because we had been “deprived” of it for the other months. We don’t run to the store and buy the fruits or vegetables out of season no matter how much we crave it… we wait and gain a little patience.

But in bumper-crop seasons, we have to admit that it can all get a tad too repetitive. (And, yes, we have been guilty of grumbling over ‘same-old-same-old!”) So, we have to make new ways of eating excessive surplus. For instance, during the fig harvest, we use the fruits as a savory meal replacement and creating dishes such as the family favorite: Fig Quesadillas. The reaction on people’s faces is priceless when you tell them the delectable Mexican-style meal they just scarfed down was actually made of fig filling and not refried beans.

We publish our meals and some recipes on our blog and there are weekly posts that show what we have been eating through that week as we tune our simple diet to the seasonal pulse of the garden. But we girls both agree that the joy is not just felt in actually eating or preparing a particular dish but in seeing the joy and pleasure in the faces of the friends and family you love.

You describe yourself as a “Laura Ingalls Wannabe”, how has her life and experience inspired, encouraged, and challenged you?
Actually, I should say an “aspiring” modern day Laura Ingalls! I was given a Little House on the Prarie book set when I was young and they’ve been a favorite of our family’s ever since. We were homeschooled so we were always reading interesting books, especially those of real life people. And this series was something that our whole family could enjoy.

A quote of hers that has made a difference in my life is:

“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”

As a little girl, I felt a sort of kinship, even a longing, as if I felt I was born in the wrong century. I wanted to wear frocks, braids and bonnets and enjoy buggy rides. I am not saying her life was absolutely idyllic. Sure, life was tough; but it was also very simple and very beautiful.

In her books the home is self-sustaining, the center of labor and livelihood. And there is something very fulfilling and compelling about that.

As a “wannabe,” I ask myself: Would she have been enticed by the lure of the millions of commercials and products which bombard us ad nauseum, promising an easier and more fulfilling life? What choices are offered to me today? As a woman reclaiming a sort of domesticity by becoming more home and family centered, I need to make the right choices.

During our growing up days, our Dad often challenged to us ask to ask ourselves, “What did they do back in the old days?” This practical exercise got us thinking – what do we really need, what can we do without and how can we do this in a simpler more back-to-basics way. And so, our personal motto has become “a step backwards is progress” Our Urban Homestead lifestyle makes us feel like we are pioneers in modern world, forging a new, more sustainable future.

The journey may seem overwhelming, and downright scary; but, if taken slowly, one step at a time, we are able to make life-changing tracks. It all comes down to taking that first step!

Thank you both so much for taking the time out of your busy life to share all of this with us! I enjoyed learning more about you and am excited to see what you are doing and how you are making an impact for the Kingdom.

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