Homesteading

I love the word Homesteading!  It creates images in my mind of cultivating a home surrounded by Gods creation.  Raising kids in a simple world where nature is their pleasure.  I looked up the definition of homesteading and discovered it was originally about living self-sufficiently but has recently been given an urban clause that brings is down to small-scale, sustainable agriculture and homemaking because land is no-longer freely available.  That is bitter sweet to me.  It's sad land is no-longer freely available but nice that there are ways to make it work in the world we live in. 

I grew up in a small town and when I was 15 became a vegetarian.  I remained a vegetarian until I turned 28.  I never had a "save the animals" mission, although I think that is a great cause, it was more about recognizing that I didn't like "normal" and wanted to live differently.  Vegetarian foods started showing up in the grocery stores by the time I was in college.  I ultimately decided to change my diet after gaining 90 pounds during pregnancy, mostly water, and realizing that my healthy alternative life was not what I thought it was.  I had moved away from healthy vegetarian meals to easy to microwave vegetarian meals that had more ingredients that I couldn't pronounce than a Twinkie.  I wanted to go back to "real" food.  The kind of food I grew up eating.  Home cooked meals that may have a can of something in them but were made with love and effort. 

Now  we do our best to buy organic unprocessed foods and create our meals from scratch.  We have also started planning the gardens so we can make urban homesteading a part of our lives.  It can be overwhelming at times but I just keep reminding myself to take it one step at a time. 

Here is the inspiration for our vegetable garden.