urban homesteading

Below is a blurb from an article by Kelly Coyne. Really amazing stuff. Check out Kelly and Eriks blog at : homegrownevolution.com

"What is an Urban Homesteader?

An urban homesteader is someone who enjoys living in the city, but doesn't see why that should stop her from engaging directly with nature, growing her own food, and striving for self-sufficiency.

We don’t wish to retreat to the countryside and live like the Unabomber in a plywood shack. We believe that people are best off living in cities and cooperating with other like-minded folks. Instead of hoarding ammo and MREs, we're building the skills and forming the conditions and networks that sustain us, our friends and our neighbors, now and into the future.

Urban homesteading is about preparedness, but we don't like that term very much. It connotes stockpiling things that you hope will keep your ass alive. Survivalism in general is about the fear of death. Urban homesteading is about life – it is a way of life founded on pleasure, not fear. Our preparedness comes not so much through what we have, but what we know. We are recollecting the almost-lost knowledge of our great-grandparents, those most essential of human skill sets: how to tend to plants, how to tend to animals, and how to tend ourselves."

This is pretty much how I see it. Every single one of us has the power to improve our quality of life and increase our independence by doing for ourselves. Our grocery stores will continue to sell us inferior products full of pesticides, growth hormones and antibiotics unless we take a personal stand. And besides, urban homesteading is so much fun! I encourage you to take a small step today. Plant a little lettuce in your front yard, grow herbs in a pot on a windowsill- If your really brave, keep a chicken in your backyard! Fresh eggs are really fantastic. Not all runny and pale like store bought.
stepping down from the soapbox for now,
-EJ