Reason No. 2

I didn't lie. I do want a record of this new adventure and decided therefore to blog about it. But I have another motive: my big experiment is to create an urban homestead, and by its very nature, such a lifestyle requires community. This blog, I hope can be a tool in developing that.

Self-reliance in a city is both better and worse, easier and harder, than self-reliance in a rural setting. What I will lack in physical land space, more rigid ordinances, and accessible supplies can be supplemented by living close to lots humanity--and by finding among them people of like minds. With each other as resources, we can find ways to buy less, make more, and be healthy as a people and a planet.

With that goal in mind, I have set myself an ongoing assignment: to explore the non-profits and other groups already working toward these or similar goals in the Indianapolis area and to share these places with you here. I want to talk to anyone interested in local foods, heirlooms, responsible resource use, recycling, urban homesteading, beekeeping, organic gardening and landscaping, backyard chickens, earth-friendly building and civic planning, living simply, social justice, edible schoolyards, fighting climate change, permaculture, community gardens, herbalism, walkable communities & well-planned public transportation, community art, and food preservation. I want to talk about ways in which we can do more for ourselves so that we take less from the Earth.

While I admire and participate in many of the high-tech achievements of humanity over the past century, I feel that we are losing much of the earlier knowledge that made us so wildly successful as a species. Every creature on the planet has fundamental needs: food, shelter, water, and sex. If civilized society failed tomorrow, most of us would have trouble finding anything other than sex, which is arguably the least important. I like to think it is a celebration of my humanity to learn how to take care of my own needs and those of my family.

More personally, I grew up with a mom who made us good food from whole sources, who dried the sheets on the clothesline, and preserved tomatoes and peaches each August--who made a home for us that was built upon good books, lots of laughter, music, Sunday-night popcorn dinners, and unconditional love. OK, and occasionally sitcoms, movies, and processed foods--no one is perfect! My point is that I already know that--if your basic needs are met--the good life isn't tied to wealth--I am now in the pursuit of quality over quantity.

And I really really really want chickens for the garden and the omelets. :)