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Bay Area Homesteading

 

Welcome to Bay Area Homesteading and Family Gardening

  Bay Area Homesteading and Family Gardening is located in Pearland, Texas. We are located right outside of Houston, Texas. In our goal to become more self-sufficient and "green", we have realized that our area is lacking in resources.  Classes in homesteading basics such as canning, pickling, quilting, candle making and organic backyard gardening are hard to find. Our goal is to bring          self-sufficiency, independence, "green" living and a sense of community to our area. ____________________________________________________________________________________


What we currently offer:

Classes that teach a variety of lesssons pertaining to homesteading, green living, and urban farming.                                                   Visit our  Class Description page to see the  classes offered and our Class Schedule page to see our current  schedule.

Meet-up and Forum available to chat with other homesteaders and urban gardeners.  Meetings scheduled for local residents interested in becoming more self-sufficient. Visit our Forum page and Join our Meet-up Group.      

Other resources, information, and "how-to" articles are available on our Articles/Links page.

If you would like to be added to our email llist for class notifications, recieve our monthly newsletter or contact us for any other reason.  please visit our Contact Us page and let's talk.
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Pearland Old Townsite Farmer's Market        2nd and 4th Saturdays  8am-12pm

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Pearland Old Town Site Farmer's Market is Here!  The Market is  held on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays  at Zylinski Park on Grand Blvd.. We are currently working with the Pearland Old Town Site Coalition, The Pearland Economic Development Corporation, and the City of Pearland Parks and Recreation Department to bring a successful and sustainable market to our town.  Keep Pearland Beautiful has also donated the use of recycle bins for egg cartons, plastic shopping bags, cans and bottles! Please visit our farmer's market page for more information. If you are interested in becoming a vendor at our market, please let us know. We are now taking vendors... 

Pearland Community Gardens                                                  Updated: 3/3/11

Our Goal:   We are working towards building a better community by raising flower and vegetable gardens throughout the area in order to bring neighbors together to create beautiful landscapes, raise food for our area hungry, and educate people about organic gardening, green practices, and self-sufficiency.

Our Plan:   We would like to create vegetable, flower, and butterfly gardens that would be available to area Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, daycares, schools, area residents to learn about gardening and green practices. We would like to water our gardens using rainwater collection methods, compost to enrich the soil, and use companion plants and other green methods to discourage pests. We would like to donate our harvest to local food banks and shelters in our community.



3-3-2011
Where we are now:  We are currently starting to expand the gardens for the 2011 season. We ended 2010 with                          twelve 16 ft.x 4 ft. beds and a 40 ft. diameter bed. We recently, along with the help of a local Boy Scout troop,  built four more 16 ft. x 4 ft. beds. Thanks to a grant from Keep Pearland Beautifull we are getting ready to edge the last pre-existing beds this weekend and build four more beds. We will also be building  a large compost bin and chipping lots of branches for mulch. Produce production should double this year and we hope it helps fill the needs of the local food bank, who is currently having  rise in families nneding assistnce.  We want to make sure to thank Keep Pearland Beautiful for their generous Beautification Grant, Living Earth for their donation of 10 yards of soil/garden mix, Exxon Mobile for their quaarterly grants and the local Boy Scout groups thay have really helped us at the garden with some of the larger projects we have.

10-8-2010
Where we are now:   We are have built the first phase of our donation garden and plants are growing. We have been making donations of vegetables each week to the Christian Helping Hands Food Pantry located here in Pearland. We have torn out our Spring tomatoes and squash and have replanted for our fall crop.  Volunteer Meetings are on the 4th Sunday of every month at the garden at 6:30pm. (Bring a chair and join us).  We currently have volunteers who help on watering days, pick up coffee grounds from Antigua Coffee House, Weed and all other garden chores. The 40 foot diameter herb bed is under construction and we have our first Allotment plot built.


What we need: We are currently looking for tree removal services to remove several Chinese Tallow trees, compost to amend the soil, rain water collection barrels, building materials for the raised handicapped accessiable beds, and Volunteers! If you are interested in gardening with us, please visit the community garden page.


Bay Area Family Garden and Allotment Gardens                    Updated: 5/10/10

Our Goal:  We are currently working on building a family garden and allotment garden where families can join together to grow wholesome and organic foods. Families will share in the maitenance and cost of the family garden in exchange for a share in the harvest. Our allotment garden will provide residents who lack space for a garden to work their own plots. Plots will be 10x10 and 10x20 plots leased each season for a small fee.

Our Plan:  

For Family Gardens:  To locate senior residents and residents with large gardening spaces in order to pair them up with local families to garden as a group and share the harvests. We have several seniors in the area that have large gardens that they cannit maintain anymore, but would be more than happy to share their knowledge, garden, and harvest in exchange for friendships and help. If you know of a family, senior or individual that has garden space but lacks the man-power and is willing to share thier space in return for a portion of the harvest, please contact us as we have a waiting list of ready and willing gardeners.

For Allotment Gardens:  To locate apartments, neighborhoods and businesses that would allow us to build allotment gardens where resident could lease out a small area to garden on their own. We have several residents who would love to raise fresh produce for their families but do not have the space. We would like to provide everyone with the opportunity to lower their grocery bills, eat healthier food, and live green.  If you are an Apartment Complex, Real Estate Developer or HOA, let us help make your residents happier by providing gardening space. Please contact us for more details.

Where we are now:  We have decided that since we have had such a generous donation of land use by the Vic Coppinger YMCA that we are going to build the Allotment and Family Gardens as part of Pearland Community Gardens. As these are the most expensive to build we are currently seeking grants, funding and donations to build. We plan on have al least 1 phase in by the end of next year. We have built our first allotment bed and are planning to add more soon.
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If you are interested in any of the above projects or are interested in participating or volunteering... Please contact us..