Founded by Jules Dervaes, Jr., the Path to Freedom family homestead features over 350 varieties of edible and useful plants that grow 6,000 pounds of organic produce annually on 1/5 acre city lot. In addition, the intrepid eco-pioneers raise chickens, ducks, goats, and worms; brew their own biodiesel to fuel their diesel car; generate electricity with solar panels; cook meals in earthen and solar ovens; and maintain an extensive website documenting their journey.
Through Path to Freedom, these modern homesteaders seek to inspire others to live a more simple and ecologically sustainable self-sufficient way of life.

HISTORY
Path to Freedom was established in December 1999 and became an internationally influential website and e-mail campaign advocating the return of Elian Gonzalez to his father and home in Cuba, following the boy’s dramatic rescue at sea off the coast of Florida. The ensuing political turmoil and media coverage over the fate of a six-year-old boy prompted Jules Dervaes, Jr. and his family to use the Internet as a way to disseminate in-depth and up-to-the-minute information about the Elian story and to educate the public regarding the legal and moral issues of the case. By the time Elian and his father returned to Cuba in June 2000, Path to Freedom had collected and submitted over 21,000 signatures to government and news organizations.
Following the successful outcome of Elian Gonzalez campaign, the Path to Freedom website evolved into an alternative, progressive news site, which touched on issues such as genetically modified foods, pesticides in food, the environment, and Y2K issues.
In 2001, after bringing such important issues to the public, the Dervaes family determined they wanted to do more to fight the system and corporations behind many of the environmental and societal ills they had highlighted on their website. These homegrown revolutionaries decided there was no better way to protest against such injustices than by showing how they had been and were currently trying to live a protest by growing their own food; making a living with their hands; practicing voluntary simplicity; cooking from scratch; eating with the seasons; and becoming energy efficient.
Thus, the birth of what is now known worldwide as the Path to Freedom urban homestead model documented at PathtoFreedom.com Since its small beginnings, the intrepid pioneers have grown over 6,000 pounds of vegetables and fruit on their 1/5 acre (1/10 acre garden) in a year; brewed their own veggie fuel (biodiesel); installed solar panels; built an earthen cob oven (with the help from the community); raised a menagerie of farm animals; and cut their energy usage in half from 12 kwh a day to 6 kwh.

DERVAES INSTITUTE’S INVOLVEMENT
Since the public aspect of Path to Freedom began in 1999, the Dervaes family were often asked why they did not become an official non-profit organization. The family seriously considered such a direction but decided not to journey down that path.
On one hand, the family could possibly achieve more by becoming a non-profit 501(3)(c) organization with a governing board and outside resources. But, on the other hand, these eco-pioneers wanted Path to Freedom to be a true example of a single, ordinary family making a go at living a self-sufficient, sustainable life by the hard work and toil of their own hands and the innovation of their entrepreneurship.