Yes, I know, urban farming and urban homesteading are two different things, but what I love is that they are both trying to achieve the same goal of sustainable living in an urban jungle.
“The first supermarket appeared on the American landscape in 1946. Until then, where was all the food? ... It was in the homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. it was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.”
Life these days is pretty easy. Essentially everything we have was made to provide a sort of convenience for us. Marketers needed something to do and they figured it out; they created a "need" and we bought in. This is nothing new. But I certainly think we all forget how good we have it when we can drive to the grocery store in a car to pick up food, we didn't grow, and then to go home, to a house we didn't build, that is heated by fuel we didn't have to collect. Life is good. Cars and grocery stores were created to make our lives easier and more convenient. Especially for the masses living in urban centers. Since so much of what we do and have was created to make our lives more comfortable I am wondering if it has made us any happier. I know it is hard to tell, given that we haven't had to live a life without modern conveniences, but do you think it has made us any happier?
Here is a pic Cam sent me after he filled the wood pile with freshly chopped wood.
I've noticed in the past little while that I get really exciting when I learn how people are living in the city and how they are pursuing a sustainable life. I am excited when I hear that someone has ripped out their front lawn to plant a vegetable garden, or they are heating their house with wood, or they are getting their eggs from backyard chickens, I get really excited hearing when people in the city are doing what should be easy and natural for us as humans to do. I mean, common, we have survived for hundreds of thousands of years without supermarkets, surely we can grow a vegetable.
I love hearing about how someone would bike to work in a blizzard in a busy city, not because the actual bike ride would be arduous and dangerous(which I am sure it is), but because it would be sooo difficult to decide that morning to get on that bike knowing it will be a challenge when society is begging you to get in your car and make the easier choice. I believe that the harder path for urban farmers isn't the physical labour that it takes to live the life they chose, but the choice to go against the societal grain of living a life of convenience.
Living a Fulfilling Life
Can you even imagine how awesome you would feel after you biked to work in a blizzard? I don't know about you, but I would definitely want to high five myself. THAT feeling would be gratification (assuming you had warm clothes and didn't freeze.). I know it is on a different level, but that is the feeling I had after I harvested all of my tomatoes last year and made a dozen jars of tomato sauce. After I was done, I looked around for someone to high five, because all I could think was, 'I made this and I killed it!' (Killed it=good.)
There is a special feeling that you get when you do something all by yourself and it takes work and afterwards you feel like you have accomplished something. I don't really get that feeling when I buy a can of organic tomatoes from the grocery store. It is usually more of a sense of disappointment when I do because all I can think about is how that can is lined with a BPA plastic and I should have canned my own tomatoes. Seriously. That is how I think. Anyone? Anyone? JK.
Look at our only carrot. So special and tasty. You can tell he was raised with care.
From Thoreau to Helen and Scott Nearing, people have been preaching for centuries that hard work is more rewarding. The good life isn't about lawn chairs and margheritas, it is about taking care of a chicken and in return that chicken gives you an egg to nourish you.
My dream of a gratifying life, means that I know exactly where my food came from because, gosh golly, I grew it. I planted that seed and watered it, I watched it grow and took care of it, and when I go to eat that one tiny baby pickle, it will taste far better than any grocery store pickle. Which reminds me of a funny story. In our first garden, Cam and I planted about a hundred carrot seeds, and sadly weeds and slugs took over, and in the end, we got one carrot. And I I did everything I could to protect that carrot. I built a tiny house for it when frost was coming, I watered it, I weeded it, and when we finally harvested it, it was the best carrot I had ever had. It was seasoned with love and hard work, and that is not something you can buy in a grocery store.
And that's really the crux of it. What I love about urban homesteaders, is that even though they might live close to a grocery store, they will still go through the trouble of growing their own food because, even though it might be hard work, it is that much more rewarding. I mean, can you imagine how good butter would taste if you had to churn it yourself? (okay okay, that was a joke)
Going Against the Social Grain
I think it is easier for homesteaders in the country to do what they do without criticism because that is what people do in the country. And I know it sounds like I am generalizing, but it isn't odd for someone in the country to have chickens, frankly, you would expect it. In the city, on the other hand, if you are opting out of something as simple as going to restaurants so you can eat the healthy food that you grew and prepared, you are inching your way towards becoming a social outcast.
Show me your indoor herb garden dear urban homesteader. Jacky is guarding our oregano.
Choosing to be a homesteader in the city is hard because human beings have survived thus far by being apart of a pack and following societal norms. It is going against all instincts to stay in when all your friends are going out. You risk becoming a social pariah. Now, maybe this sounds extreme to some, but think about it this way. In our world today, our culture demands that we look a certain way with new clothes, shiny cars, and big houses. It is basically a rat race to work as hard as you can, to make as much money as possible, to keep buying things so you can fit in. And if you are the guy at work who bikes every day, wears older clothes, and tears up his front lawn to put in a veggie garden; you are on the outs. Sorry, but it is true. And that is hard. Choosing that life in this day and age is hard. It certainly is not the path of least resistance. And to be honest, I love it! Not that I want anyone shunned, no, I want to see people making the right choice, even if it is the hard choice. I want to high five the guy that speaks up about his love for the environment and growing veggies when he is in a room full of people with suped up gas guzzling shiny trucks with quads, sleds, and motor-homes. I want to jump up and down for the woman that builds a pond and raises ducks in her backyard when no one in the city has done that before. I want to fist bump the person that soaks chickpeas to make chickpea pizza, even though it takes hours of prep and they could have bought a can from the grocery store.
So for all those urban homesteaders, who are carving their own way, I love what you are doing. I think it is courageous and rewarding and I love hearing all about it.
What I Really Want to Know About a Self Sufficient Lifestyle
Ah, an urban homesteaders pantry. Notice all the glass jars filled with lentils and beans. My addiction.
Now, most people might think my love for urban homesteaders includes reading detailed blog posts about how they made their own kombucha or how they started their seeds indoors, and although I do find that interesting, what I really enjoy hearing about is how they live. The whole picture. The Sailers, who were voted Mother Earth News Homesteaders of The Year in 2014, have a great post where they describe how they live their urban homesteading life from the garden to the chickens to the bread to the biking to the rabbits. I loved hearing all of it. Oh, and I love when an urban homesteader shows pictures of their cupboards, which are usually lined with glass jars, so you can see all of their food choices and how they must make everything from scratch. The day to day, that is it for me, that is one thing that I just I love about urban farmers and how they are pursuing their sustainable life. I wish every urban farmer/homesteader would post about what their average day looks like including everything they ate, how they made their commute, what they have growing in the garden, and what they are reading or watching. I would love to hear all those boring details, although they would not be boring to me.
Now, I shouldn't detract from my love of all back-to-the-land hippies, homesteaders, off the grid enthusiasts, and self sufficient preppers, but they just don't seem to tickle my fancy the way a good ol' urban farmer can.