Monday, February 21, 2011

An Urban Homestead?

Do we qualify as an Urban Homestead? (gosh, I just love saying that forbidden word... Urban homestead, urban homesteading, urban homestead... oooh, I'm gonna be in trouble now, LOL!)
Today is the Urban Homestead Day of Action. The day to take back possession of the term that defines so many of us. But, having moved from the city to a 5 acre plot of land, do we still qualify as urban homesteaders? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, yes, we do- or at least we will. We may not currently be within city limits, but looking out across the highway in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees, you can see all the lights of the suburban subdivision that is so near. The farm just to the south and west of us has put 40 acres of land up for sale for another subdivision (sigh). There is the 'Moss green eco-village' office park planned for just down the road. It doesn't matter if we are urban at the moment... give it a few years and we will be again.
We started this journey while we were still living in town, it was a fabulous location and I still love the house. But, the postage stamp yard and the regulations of living in town weren't conducive to the type of life we wanted to live (restrictions on animals, compost bins, etc). Hence the move to our lovely acreage.
We are still building our dream. The progress is slow but sure. I ordered another red currant bush (to replace the one that died after V ran into it with the mower- oops!) and cranberries! We're planning to build the greenhouse this spring and I'm looking into possibly building a hoop house as well. I'm still working on V about chickens. He is adamantly opposed to them (bad chicken manure experiences in his past when we moved here). But, there is a local feed store that sells chicks in the spring. I wonder what he would do if I just came home with some.....
The orchard has been planted, the strawberries look lovely under their straw mulch (I peeked on Saturday) and things are taking shape. Will this area ever be truly urban? I sincerely hope not. But I will always consider myself to be an Urban Homesteader. We live on an urban homestead. We are urban homesteading. We are urban homesteaders.

5 comments:

  1. Their lawyers will be contacting you soon Judy :-). I bet they will be sorry they ever made the decision to try & own the term "urban homesteading". I think you should bring home some baby chicks. How can anyone resist them?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yessireee!! I vote to bring the chicks home and make a quick little cage for them so the coyotes won't have them for lunch.
    Urban homesteading, Urban homesteading, Urban Homesteading...tra la la tra la Tra Laaaaaaaah!! Yes you are an Urban Homesteader and a fine one at that!!...debbie (Hell with those idiot people.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unbelievably stupid of them to try to claim a term like "Urban Homesteader". Ooops! Guess I just did it as well.......

    ;-))

    ReplyDelete
  4. I will let you use MY term "suburban homestead" if you want hahaha I better go get that trademarked! MINE MINE MINE :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think you qualify. I drive by your place every once in awhile and I tell myself I should stop in here on your blog and say "Hi" but I have the attention span of a gnat. Glad to see you are doing well.

    ReplyDelete

Glad you stopped in. I would love to hear from you.