I am an Urban Homestead Youtuber and Garden Salvage Artist in Southern California. Hi there, I’m Ann, an urban micro farmer/homesteader in Southern CA.
I share garden tips, how to’s and create garden art out of repurposed materials. I love organic gardening, family time and raising backyard chickens and quail. Expect to see on my page: plant medicine, product reviews, how to's, and interviews from the world of sustainable farming and alternative medicine.
I’m so excited, my olive trees have so many more olives on them this year. They went many years without being watered before I moved here and this year they have been getting consistent water and mulch. Last year I harvested some and I tried my hand at salt water curing them, they turned out good, I learned a few new ways of curing so I look forward to this harvest.
I have this beautiful mimosa tree on my property and I was doing some research about it and found out that the blossoms are edible and medicinal. Today I’m making a mimosa Blossom simple syrup. The simple syrup can be used on pancakes and waffles, and teas and margaritas, etc.. it is light hearted and has a taste similar to strawberries with the added citric acid.
Keep in mind, the flowers and leaves are edible but the seed pods are not. Do not eat the seed pods.
32 ounces water
32 ounces raw organic cane sugar
2 cups fresh Mimosa blossoms
Half teaspoon citric acid
Let water and sugar dissolve first on low simmer. Add mimosa blossoms. Keep on low summer until Serup is your desired thickness. Simple syrup, so I have a tendency to be thinner than other syrups. Store in clean mason jar.
Mimosa blossoms are wonderful, edible flowers to make simple, syrups, teas, etc. They smell amazing, and they have a beautiful taste, when accompanied by a l...
Garter Snake Caught a Toad
I love my time with my This weekend I visited with my Ghostie🥰 we had so much fun. I miss him already.
The Old Grape Vine Has Grapes This Year!
Remember the grapevine that I found from an old vine that existed on my property before I bought it? Look at it this year! I prune her and she has grapes! A...
Yesterday was Dodge’s first day in his new pasture. We just got done fencing it off for him and he seems like a happy camper.
I Built My Well House Out of All Repurposed Materials.
I started my Well house last fall, but because of winter storms, I never got a chance to finish it. The winter before the pipes burst because of the freezin...
I just uploaded the How To Propagate Stone Fruit From Cuttings full video that GeriLyn and I did. I hope you enjoy it. Keep in mind, even though summer is in full swing, fall is right around the corner. We will be pruning our trees in fall, perfect time to propagate!!! Blessings and thank you for watching🌸
Do you have a favorite stone fruit tree that you would love to have more of? Stone fruit is very easy to propagate and fall is the perfect time of year to ge...
This is an teaser to let you know I will be uploading the full version of How to Propagate Stone Fruits From Cuttings video this Friday. I created this video...
First harvest heading into garlic season!!! Not bad. Some bigger than others, all container grown! Can you imagine how big they would be if I directly planted them! I’m satisfied and grateful 🧄
I’d like you to meet the newest addition to my homestead, this is “Dodge” our handsome ram. Special thanks to my friends .lejak & KayLyn over at 😍 they wanted to bless my farm with new sheep after the tragic loss of our three lambs to bloat a few months back. offer such a wonderful service by working with their sheep and goats to provide and to our communities. Thank you Brandon and KayLyn, we love Dodge and look forward to providing him some ewes in the fall. My heart is grateful and blessed 💕
My grand dog got into my pepper plants and snapped a few branches. I wanted to see if it would root from these cuttings if i put them in water…
My grand dog bit my pepper plants, so I am going to try and propagate the broken branches in a glass of water. 
We incubated seven Indian runner ducks and I do believe four of them shall hatch. The others were not fertilized. I’m so excited to add these ducks to our fa...
The yuccas are in full bloom here in Southern California and I’m going to go harvest some, because yucca blossoms are edible.  they do contain saponins, so I prefer to sauté them to cook them out. Saponins can give you a tummyache if you eat too many raw. When sautéed yucca blossoms taste a lot like artichoke hearts.
Many people like to pair them with eggs, but I am going to make one of my families, favorite dishes, Pasta Alla Checca and I’m adding Yucca blossoms. This pasta dish is light, because the tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs are barely sautéed.
I am sautéing the blossoms, etc. in delicious marrow that we bought from Cahuilla Mountain 💚 
Yucca blossoms are so beautiful! They stand so tall, regal and solitary when they are in full bloom. These lovely flowers are edible. I love to harvest a han...
Regardless of how your day is going, sometimes you just have to pull over and appreciate nature. Spring time is my jam. I had to take a second out and breathe, not that it’s been a bad day, but it’s been a day to say the least. I could even say it’s been a week already. Isn’t this beautiful little cactus gorgeous. It reminds me to appreciate things outside of my stress zone. I hope you’re having a blessed day and I hope this totally unfiltered picture gives you peace and joy. God bless you. ,Cactus
If you like kombucha, here is an experiment I tried where I took a glass of store-bought raw kombucha and grew a Scoby from it. I used to GT’s raw kombucha the synergy blend. Here’s my video of it. Enjoy🌸
I heard that you can grow a scoby using store-bought, raw kombucha, so I decided to try this. This is my Scoby experiment using GT’s raw kombucha. You can tr...
It’s so enjoyable to share the good experiences of homesteading, but the tough lessons, the setbacks and failures are another story. Here is one of thoseI horrible setbacks.
The other day when I was at work, one of my sheep crushed my industrial strength grain container of chicken scratch, popped the lid off, and her and her sisters proceeded to gorged themselves on the chicken scratch… with the help of my chickens. I did not expect them to eat that much grain and didn’t think it would harm them, because grain in small amounts is not bad for sheep, but carbohydrate overload is entirely another story. It causes ruminants to get toxic acidosis and bloat. It kills the bacteria in their rumen (stomach) and in turn, creates horrible toxicity. The mortality rate is very high. A vet can go in and empty the stomach, but even then, it can be touch and go, because of the damage to their bacteria from severe acidosis.
I am very new to raising sheep. Before I got my sheep I read on raising sheep, watched videos, talked with people that had sheep, etc., but there are some tough lessons that only experience gives. I am thankful for the many forums, groups and friends that tried to help during this difficult experience 💚 Heather Graff Cj Lester Denise Squires
I will always carry baking soda on hand, specifically for my ruminants, it’s what all the forums, friends and literature recommended. It helps to quell the acids, very similar to how baking soda can help our stomach when it is upset. I will keep my grains locked away from my sheep and goats. The industrial strength food grade plastic grain container was no match for my one year-old, lamb. I have a hard time opening that container, but she was able to crush it.
I will raise sheep again at some point. They are wonderful animals and a joy to have. One Shepard Youtubers said, “When raising sheep, expect losses” I did not expect it to happen this soon. It’s a very sad day on my Homestead.😢 my hope is to share some thing with someone who wants to raise sheep, but isn’t aware of Bloat. 
It’s so enjoyable to share the good experiences of homesteading, but the tough lessons, the setbacks and failures are another story. Here is one of thoseI ho...
Now that the weather has cleared up it’s back to the grind. Had a beautiful weekend working on this lovely home.
I had an onion sprouting in my onion drawer and decided to dissect it and get as much zero waste from it as possible. I came away with four onion sprouts to go in the garden, a handful of good onion, to cook with, and some onion skins to make onion powder and the rest to go in the compost. Today was a good day.
I had an onion sprouting in my onion drawer and decided to try and grow more onions from it. I saved the good parts of the onion to cook with, separated out ...
This is our mobile sheeps tractor. We move it around every second day so that they can access our whole past year till we are totally fenced. I wanted to get one of the mobile pens with the solar hot wire, but it is not in my budget today so we built one with what we had and I think the girls love it. I always love repurposing. -PurposedCanopy
Another drywall patch & touch up paint job.
Drywall repair, tile repair and fresh paint job - start to finish.
Snow day! We got snow last night❄️ My Calendula looks so lovely covered in snow🌼
This is A Day in the Life of a Sheepdog in Training.
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This is post contains some of the happiest news I’ve gotten this year. In fact, it causes me to want to change my business name to.” The Panting Grammy.” Can you guess why? OK I’ll tell you. @jonathug_ and @_angelmariee_ blessed me with such wonderful news that they are expecting. I am going to officially be a human grandma. I absolutely love my three doggy grand children and treasure them, however, I have now joined the ranks of grandma and I am thrilled. My baby is going to have a baby! If you get a chance to look at all the pictures and videos in this post, you will find out what the gender reveal is as well. Thank you for sharing in our joy. It was such a wonderful day at the gender reveal being with family @stephengarlatta , @lauren__bartolii , @thehaydenhomestead and my new family @jamieshaffstall 🎉.
How to Make a Calendula Infused Oil #calendula #calendulainfusedoil #HerbalMedicine #PlantMedicine #suninfused #plantlover #flowerpower #organicallyann #socalhomesteader #homesteadlife #calendulasalve #mosquitobites #diaperrash #sunburn
Can you plant the rooted ends of store-bought green onions? Absolutely! They are one of my favorite kitchen hacks that I use all the time. As the green onions grow in the garden, I harvest them for different dishes like Pho or chicken teriyaki. I will let some of the green onions flower and save the seeds. If I don’t want to save the seeds from the older green onions, I will pull them up and use them in soup stock or marinades. The older they get a little tougher they get. #KitchenHacks #GardenHacks #GreenOnions #Scallions #PlantingGreenOnions #PlantingStoreboughtGreenOnions #PlantingStoreboughtScallions #OrganicallyAnn #GardenTips #HomesteaderLife #GardenLife #socalhomesteader
It’s Snowing!!! #anzasnowday #homesteadlife #organicallyann #socalsnow
I had an onion in my area drawer that was sprouting, so I decided to dissect it. I saved the good parts of the onion for cooking, the starts for planting, which there were four of them, and the onion skins for onion powder and compost. #GrowingOnionsFromSproutingOnions#GrowingOnions #SproutingOnions #Onions #GardenHacks #FoodHacks #OrganicallyAnn #GardenTips #0waste #zerowaste #Sustainability #SustainableGarden #Self-sufficient #HomesteaderLife #SoCalHomesteader #Homesteading
Don’t forget your chickens. I’m cleaning out the refrigerator. Chickens love leftovers. Rather than throwing them in the trash give them to your flock and they will bless you with wonderful eggs and fertilizer for the garden. #BackyardChickens #Chickens #FeedingChickens #OrganicallyAnn #ILoveMyFlock #FlockLife #HomesteaderLife #socalhomesteader #Homesteading #SelfSufficiency #0Waste #sustainabilitymatters
My friend Gerilyn called me the other day and told me her dog Rocco just killed her laying hen Jolie. She didn’t want to waste Jolie‘s life. She asked if I could teach her how to process a Chicken since it was a fresh kill . I drove right over and showed her how. As Homesteaders, our goal is to become more self-sufficient, sustainable and have less waste. I am proud of G that she wants to become a wise steward of her flock and a better Homesteader. I am myself I’m not as self-sufficient and sustainable as I would like to be, but I sure love sharing some of my knowledge when asked. Every day is an opportunity for all of us to learn some thing new. If you are at all squeamish, please do not watch this video. I will be showing G how to pluck, gut and prepare her chicken #responsiblehomesteading #RaisingChickens #ProcessingChickens #Self-sufficiency #Sustainability #HomesteaderLife #BackyardChickens #socalhomesteaders #OrganicallyAnn
Raising chickens, enhances, my life and my health. First and foremost, these little animals bring me joy on a daily basis by their little antics, they are utterly adorable. They also are natural pest and weed control. Their poops help enhance my soil. And daily they provide me with these incredible little gifts… Eggs! Eggs are known as natures multivitamin, they are power, packed with vitamins, minerals, and protein, not to mention good cholesterol that’s good for my heart! They are one of the most affordable livestock that gives great nutrition. They are sustainable if you raise them yourself. I am so grateful to have chickens. #BackyardChickens #RaisingChickens #HomesteadAnimals #RaisingAnimalsForSustainability #Chickens #HomesteaderLife #SoCalHomesteader #OrganicallyAnn #EggsAreGoodForYou #NaturesMultivitamin #chickenandeggs
Good Morning and Happy Daylight Savings!
How do you create a Moss Egger chicken? #mossegger #RaisingChickens #BackyardChickens #SoCalHomesteader #HomesteaderLife #Organicallyann #Chickens #MossEgg.
So, I wanted to get some goodies for my new lambs to bond with them and I came across these Apple Smacks Treats from @starmillingco.7514 at my local @truevaluehardware in Anza - thank you Christina💚 they love them! In fact, all of my animals love them💚. Not only are delicious treats to them, they are also supposed to help with their skin, coat and digestive health. A total win-win… not to mention, they’re a very affordable treat in a nice sized bag. Thank you Star Milling Co for making them and thank you Anza True Value Hardware for the recommendation. #applesmacksanimaltreats #starmillingco #truevaluehardware #bondingwithlambs #livestocktreats #homesteadlife #socalhomesteader #organicallyann #sheeptreats #farmanimals #homesteadanimals
My grand dog absolutely loves sheep colostrum. This bottle was originally for our new lambs but Meg goes crazy for the lambs milk. She now has her very own bottle. Max and Callie really like it too. Lol - go figure.🤣 #gsp #lambmilk #sheepcolostrum #farmdogs #sheepdogintraining #lambs #socalhomesteader #organicallyann #homesteadlife #homesteadfun
Meg does not like shovels, brooms, rakes, etc. She will try and take them out on every time lol. I love her puppy energy, now if I can get her to help me dig some holes to plant some stuff and we’re making progress.#gspofinstagram#puppypower #belgianmalinois #FarmDog #HomesteadLife #OrganicallyAnn #ilovemydogs #gsdpuppy
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