Selling the urban homestead

I’d been living in my house in Los Angeles for almost twenty years before I ever heard mention of the term Permaculture. We’d purchased our home in 1986 and, newly married, settled into the forties’ era two bedroom, single bath 1300 square foot suburban tract house to begin raising a family. Within a couple of years, two kids, a dog, and a cat began to make the tiny galley kitchen feel cramped, so we added an additional 1000 square feet: a larger kitchen, an attached family room, an extra bathroom, and a second floor art studio.

The original plan

Now the family has moved on, and I’m moving on as well. The house is simply too big for a single person, and though I’ve always appreciated the Valley Village neighborhood (close to freeways, public transportation, and walkable shopping – not to mention the surrounding cohesive Jewish community, Valley College, and all of the amenities that make this area one of the hidden gems of the San Fernando Valley), it’s time to explore the world outside Los Angeles.

This house should be an easy sell at the moment; there’s still a lot of demand for single family housing despite the obvious need to “densify” the city. But I’m not interested in simply selling the house, and that’s where Permaculture comes into play. I’m looking for someone who’s willing to invest in keeping the experiment going, expanding on what I’ve started.

The permaculture redesign
Rendering: La Loma Development

I took my first design certification course in 2006, and it provided me with a lot of ideas for what could be done with my property if I set urban resilience and native habitat as my goals. I considered a number of design options and, in 2010, the year I retired, I was ready to pull the trigger on a permaculture retrofit. 

My considerations started with a swimming pool that clearly wanted to be a pond. Despite regular maintenance and a regimen of chemicals, it would periodically turn green. It was surrounded by an expanse of concrete that would heat up during the long hot afternoons when a plunge into the pool would be welcome – if you cared to hazard a dash across the hot pavement. The concrete had to go – in fact, all the impermeable hardscape had to go. Los Angeles has a problem with hardscape directing water off the property and right out to sea. So, not just the pool/pond but water itself became a design focus.

The pool begins its transition to pond

Concrete hardscape was broken up and used to build walkways, the driveway, retaining walls, and a dry-stacked planter for succulents in the front yard, allowing water to percolate into the ground rather than run off towards the street.  Gutters were installed on the house and garage, and rainwater captured and stored in several barrels and cisterns.

Native drought-tolerant plants were planted on the outer margins of the property (replacing what had been lawn), and a path of decomposed granite invited pedestrians to step in off the street and enjoy the garden or browse through the offerings in a Little Free Library.

Multiple varieties of apple, citrus, peach, apricot, pear, plum, grapes, pomegranate, fig, sapote and jujube, together with walnut, almond, and macadamia trees comprise the beginnings of a food forest.  Areas closer to the house became  dedicated vegetable and herb gardens, with production shifting from the back to the south-facing front of the house in winter.

Although the pond could become a productive aquaponics system, it currently serves as home to eight very large koi, a family of turtles, and various mosquito-eating fish. Taro, horsetail, and bulrushes line the perimeter, and a pumping system, powered by rooftop solar, keeps the water circulating. A trellised deck, covered with passion fruit vines, provides an ideal spot to enjoy a shaded respite from hot summer afternoons. 

Chickens used to roam the gardens at the back of the property, keeping the insect population in check, and though they’ve been adopted out, their coop is still in place and ready for new tenants.

In short, my little Los Angeles homestead in the Valley doesn’t need a new owner as much as it needs someone to care for it and continue the experiment. It will go on the market towards the end of this month, and if you’re a permie looking to engage in the project of urban homesteading in one of the world’s most diverse and exciting cities, this may be the opportunity you’ve been looking for. Leave a comment. Drop me an email. I’d be happy to show you around.