Moving Towards Urban Homesteading

: nature walk

Based on our values, organic lifestyle and desire to live a simpler life, we are moving more towards urban homesteading. We are excited about taking the first steps in this direction by starting a compost pile and removing our deck on the south side of our yard to make room for a garden. Honestly, we have no idea what we are doing! The saying in our house goes, "I found this thing on Pinterest...." And then we begin a new project. I have a LOT to learn about homesteading and living a self-sufficient lifestyle, but I am excited about this new chapter in our lives.

: compost bin

: removing the deck

Last year the focus was living a radical life. I wrote about the problem with the American dream, adopting, and of course The October Dress Project. We still want to live that radical life! I am still involved with the 12X12 Project, making purchases each month from a fair trade company and educating people about the different social justice issues that are constantly around us. We support friends around the world who are doing missions work and of course, we finally have our boys from Uganda home with us! I would call all of that pretty radical from the life we were living just a year ago, and we hope that God continues to lead us towards other radical things.

: fairtrade fashion from Bali Elf and Sevenly

This year, we want to simplify. It probably sounds odd to start a new chapter in our lives with a steep learning curve as a desire to simplify, but it is true. We want a slower pace to our lives, more reminiscent of times gone by. You know, knitting and churning butter kind of times gone by. I am checking out crazy books from the library like, "Almost Amish," and "Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century." Who have I become? I'm embracing this mental transition towards a more agrarian life most of the time, but it is still odd to think I want to become a small scale farmer. What actress becomes a farmer as her day job? That is just strange! But that is what we are doing, so watch out blog. Things are a lot to become a little bit more crunchy....