Sunday, October 12, 2008

I feel like Luke Skywalker going on an adventure that he cannot conceive of

Hi. It's Sunday night, October 12, 2008, and my husband Bryan and I have decided that just talking about having an urban homestead in Los Angeles is no longer sufficient. With our boys, 3 and 4 years old, growing too fast before our very eyes, we are committed to having an environment for them that gives them an alternative to the fast-paced, superficial, commercialized urban lifestyle that is all too easy to surrender to in a city like Los Angeles.

OK, so a little background on me. Three words -- total city girl. Zero experience making anything, can't sew, finding edible foods in the wild, not even girl scouts. Nada. Zip. Basically, if there was some armegeddon or holocaust, I would have nothing to barter.

The lucky thing is that that we just moved to a pretty big lot so having a garden, a chicken coop and run and alternative power are all a possibility. And with the power of the Internet and my researching skills from law school, I am determined to have my family learn to be as self-sufficient as Angelenos can be. Although, we're talking about food mostly, not something as crazy as getting rid of our cars or phone.

I've been researching chicken husbandry for the last week, and fortunately, there are some great sources. I just found a blog in which an LA family raises 3 hens. http://greenfrieda.blogspot.com/
I'm going to see if I can visit them and get some advice on coop building.

There is also a great site called http://www.backyardchickens.com

I love that there is this movement in cities across America (and other "developed" countries) to get back to being in touch with what's important -- perhaps a new frugality, according to this week's Business Week.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/news/articles/business_news.htm

Anyway, how we figure out a different way of living so as to become as free as possible from corporate and commercial enterprises to one that is created from us by us. Food FUBU. I'm excited and scared!