Ok... so where I grew up was not exactly what I would call urban by any means but it was most definitely an incorporated town and I lived within the confines of that town. Towns in 1975 were a little different than towns or cities we see today in that if there were ordinances on such things like having gardens and/or critters and selling that produce or critters, they were not enforced and we were pretty much able to do as we pleased.
We had chickens, goats, rabbits, horses, pigs, cows and even sheep on occasion. We had a big old garden too. From those gardens and from those critters on our little homestead we ate well and sold some of our produce and products from the critters. My mother sewed all of our clothes and made all of our food from scratch. Sound familiar?
Ummmmmmm... Did I mention that this was in the early 1970's and not 2009 or 2011.
Though we did not call it anything in particular other than "the funny farm," it indeed was urban homesteading and without it I would not be who and what I am today. I would not be growing 90% of our food. I would likely not be walking lightly upon the Earth and leaving as small of a footprint behind me as I can. I would likely not grind my grains, make my noodles, slaughter my chickens or make my own clothes. If I had not grown up where I did and how I did,my children would also not know these things, but they do !!!
You see this is a lifestyle and it is not new. It has been occurring since the dawn of time. People have been growing food on their little plots of land, attempting to preserve their way of life by teaching others, protecting the Earth and walking softly while upon it and even "inventing" "new," improved ways of doing it for thousands and thousands of years. It is not something anyone can trademark or patent as it not an idea but a verb, an action, not a possession.
The very idea that someone has tried to and has succeeded sickens me to the very core. Another case of "the vision got lost" along the way or perhaps people only saw what they wanted to see and made idols out of things that should not be idolized. No matter, it seems the nose has been chopped to spite the face and now things will play out as they need to. Fortunately, homesteaders of all sorts are being brought together by the mess that has been created and we are standing up together for that which we believe in. Kings are losing their crowns all over these days!!
Been thinking very similar thoughts on this, dilli.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother & her man are my biggest homesteading influence. We were raised on their tenant farm. As you said,It was their life style. They had very little income & fed everyone without asking for outside donati.ons. They did a lot of cool country folk things....like selling peacock feathers & cooking turtle soup
My father-in-law grew up in the East End in LONDON, England. His family raised a veg garden, chicken, ducks and rabbits for their meals. All this was in the 30's and 40's. You can't get much more urban than London! When I read about their nonsense and obviously some judge's nonsense and some lawyer's nonsense, I was appalled and disgusted. I saw their website year's ago and quickly left and never went back as I saw the writing on the wall then. How dare they?!
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