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Croomstead 🌱🪴🌳🌵🌿

@croomstead

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Urban Homestead 🏡
Growing Abundance 👩🏿‍🌾
Sustainability for the People ✊🏿🌱

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AND WE’RE BACK! 🏡🐓🌴🌱🌳

After a couple months of house hunting, we found our place to root again. Back in zone 9 where I can grow anything I want because it’s Southern California!

It’s an older home that needs love, meaning a rehab. But I love it tho! Checked everything off our list like close proximity to our parents, good neighborhood, a space for Nasi to play, a space I can grow food and space for leisure.

Grateful for the journey that brought us here and excited for everything we’ll build next.

Welcome to the next chapter. 🤎

#Croomstead #BlackHomesteaders #GrowYourOwn #Homestead #UrbanFarm by @croomstead

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8 months ago

HEY Y’ALL it’s Mr. & Mrs. Croom, owners of The Croomstead. We are Black, Married & Homesteading. This all matters specifically because we live in America where, well systemic racism/genocide according to the UN is happening to us as we speak 🥴. We exist in a food apartheid, where organic food is not accessible in our communities. The nearest grocery store is miles away, so lots of us shop at corner stores severely lacking healthy foods. There is extreme income inequality and the racial wealth gap is worse than it ever has been, even since right after slavery 🥴 Black and Brown communities, that house the essential workers of our nation deserve so much better, so we are trying to create better! We practice nature therapy, to promote healing, by growing our own food and raising some livestock. We are on a journey towards financial independence & self sustainability. As college educated Black professionals, we realize that the whole rat race thing just isn’t for us. I mean, we all work to maintain but we don’t want to HAVE to work in order to pay bills to maintain a lifestyle. This is our very own version of the “American Dream” ... the freedom to just be. Eventually, we’d like to buy farm land, produce our own electricity with solar/wind power and have our own water source. For now, we are urban homesteaders building towards that dream and this is our WHY. Nice to meet meet you folx 💚 feel free to introduce yourself or just say hey in the comments 🤗 taken in San Bernardino County by @croomstead

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6 years ago

Postpartum Harvest 🥕

There’s nothin like snuggling the tiny human you’ve been carrying for the last 10 months. Pregnancy and childbirth was an experience I didn’t know I needed. Today we’ve got some pears, zucchini, chard, carrots and fresh eggs. The garden has been neglected ever since my third trimester. I’m grateful to get what little I have. Fall seeds are getting started tomorrow! #EcoTherapy #NatureTherapy #Croomstead #BlackHomesteaders #Homesteading #Gardening #BackyardGarden #SmallFarm by @croomstead

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3 years ago

GARDEN SPACE 🪴👩🏿‍🌾

One of the first things we wanted to do here was create space to grow food. We started with planting directly in the soil but then I decided I wanted a raised bed/market row combo for the backyard. We did little by little. Built out the galvanized steel raised beds. Lined the bottom with leftover cardboard. Then our nephews helped us fill them with compost and cover the surrounding ground with wood chips. We still have to do the area for the animals and the market rows but I love it so far!

#Croomstead #RaisedBedGarden #UrbanHomestead #GrowYourOwnFood #SoCalGarden by @croomstead

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2 months ago

CALI SUMMER ☀️💧🏊🏾‍♀️

The summers are getting hotter and hotter! Having access to a pool is so quintessentially Southern California. Like, I grew up with a community pool (shoutout to College Park) but it just hits different when the pool is in your own backyard! I’m glad we got to get the pool fixed up for the summer. I really enjoyed seeing our family and friends have a pool day for my son’s third birthday! We love it here 😆 #Croomstead #PoolDay #SoCalLiving #UrbanHomestead #BackyardLiving by @croomstead

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2 months ago

THE ROOF🏠❕

You never really know what’s wrong with a home unless the seller is honest in the listing (unlikely). Either that OR you can make an offer, enter escrow and get a full inspection! This house needed a lot of work. But off top, we had to take care of the roof, which we found out would take 20k of our Reno budget! Instantly I’m annoyed bc I feel like the seller should’ve been said something! Anyways, we ended up hiring a Black contractor who used only POC subcontractors for the repairs. They got it done in 2 days. So now the roof was completely done and we could get our solar installed. The solar folks at GRID are awesome. We got it installed, Edison did the inspection and we officially have permission to operate! Glad we got that one checked off the list! #Croomstead #UrbanFarm #RealEstate by @croomstead

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2 months ago

Our Garden 🌶️🪾🍅🫑

I’m so excited to be back in a proper climate! I can grow citrus, avocados, bananas, plantain, dragonfruit like all types of food! I can grow perennials that don’t have to die and come back, just everlasting.. growing all year long! Omg the flowers! The herbs! See, I had the vision I just needed the platform 🤣

So far we have planted 2 Japanese plum trees, a peach tree, a blackberry bush, tomatoes, squash, peppers and some herbs. What else should we grow? What’s your favorite edible or medicinal plants?? taken in Inland Empire, Ca by @croomstead

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7 months ago

Got the land, had the vision, executed the plans & now life is calling us in a new direction. When we bought our second SoCal property, we dreamed of building a desert oasis that served our family and our community... and did! But recently, we sold the desert homestead! When we bought we were child free but now that Nasir is here, we need to be closer to our aging parents and greater opportunities for him to flourish! We need to be within a reasonable distance to a trauma hospital. We need folks who are just a 10 min drive away, instead of an hour! We need all the things that living far out in the boonies just doesn’t provide!

If you’ve been here since the beginning, you know Croomstead didn’t start on this land, and it won’t end here either. We still building, still planting and just shifting where those seeds grow and where we grow! Stay tuned family, we have our eye on a house we can turn into an urban homestead that is close to our parents’ Life is golden! 🤞🏿#UrbanFarm #BlackHomesteader #BlackFarmers #Croomstead #Sustainability by @croomstead

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10 months ago

It’s Juneteenth Y’all! It’s been 159 years since the last remaining African slaves were declared free in America. But we have to remember that in some rural area our people were kept in bondage well into the late 1900s.

Know that I love y’all, my fellow Black Americans. We’ve flourished in this generation triumphantly. But the fight for freedom continues. We have to build communities that can sustain ourselves. We have to grow our own food. We have to buy Black. We have to barter when we cannot buy. We have to love each other. Please protect yourselves and each other. And remember, it’s always a beautiful day to be Black ✊🏿 #Juneteenth #BlackAmericanIndependenceDay #Croomstead #ThrowSomethinOnTheGrill by @croomstead

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2 years ago

Bloom Ranch 🌱🖤🌵🍑🤌🏿

This is the largest Black owned farm in Southern California. Sitting on 250+ acres of high desert charm. It was absolutely beautiful and awe inspiring! We have our hoodstead in the same climate as them, so it was inspiring to see what all they are able to sustain, with extreme weather and best practices. This food symposium was all about strategizing the future of local food, community led sovereignty and strengthening social cohesion through cooperative economics and collective responsibility.

Let me say that being in community with these beautiful people was so inspirational! We appreciate the opportunity to be in collaboration. We appreciate the opportunity to learn about and promote generational sustainability for California farmers, landowners and ranchers in partnership with leaders from healthcare, government and industry professionals. I am so excited to delve into the work that everyone here is doing and to form community partnerships for longevity!

Juneteenth Local Food Symposium
Hosted by Dr. Bill Releford,
Produced by Black Soil KY

#BloomRanch #Sustainability #Juneteenth #BlackFarmers #Croomstead #BloomRanchofActon #LocalFood taken in Bloom Ranch of Acton by @croomstead

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2 years ago

Apricots 🧡

First fruit harvest of the season. I have to admit I slept on apricots until I planted this tree. This is my most prolific stone fruit tree in my mini orchard and this Fall I have to plant more! Y’all can plant these right where you are too, this a dwarf tree that doesn’t take up too much space. We tried these fresh off the tree still warm from the sun and they were amazing! This batch is just for the honestead and my Mom lol.. but catch us next year we’ll have preserves, fresh fruit and all the pastries #Apricots #StoneFruit #StoneFruitSeason #Homestead #Hoodstead #Croonstead by @croomstead

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2 years ago

Solar Energy ☀️🌞

We are officially using the sun to produce electricity for the homestead. Solar has environmental and financial benefits for those who choose to switch to it. Energy bills can average $200 a month easy in So Cal. I drive an EV, so I can charge my car at home for basically free now. “Get Edison outta my pocket” was my moms line growing up whenever we left lights, tvs, computers or fans on. Now Edison is outta my pocket plus when we sell energy back to them, they put a lil somethin in our pockets now 🙃 #GreenEnergy #Solar #SolarPower #SolarEnergy #SolarPanels by @croomstead

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2 years ago