Life is good
I agree with Angelina’s statement that urban homesteading is a movement. A growing and necessary movement—and an excellent way to say screw you to the ridiculous, unsustainable systems our country has put in place to feed and give “comfort†to its citizens. It has become my chosen form of political activism.
I also hear the truth in Angelina’s statement that she doesn’t want or need a farm. Part of me still longs for that possibility, but reality intrudes, thank goodness. I briefly explored that option three years ago when we lived on a piece of land that was certainly large enough to make a small farm and a tiny living. I researched forming a CSA but found that my customer base would have been too far away and not interested in making the trek out to the country to help. Consequently my prices would have had to be a lot higher so I could hire warm bodies to keep up with the work. Those higher prices made it a lot less interesting to that same customer base.
I went the farmer’s market route and while it was an amazing experience that I have sorely missed these two summers since, it wasn’t the most effective way for one person to make a living. I know that time and trial and error would have improved my model, but I also know that I would have hit a ceiling on how much I could earn because I’m only one person. When I did the math at the end of that season of dabbling, I had made about $900 profit, but that worked out to be about 1.80 an hour.
Now I’m trying to apply what I learned out on the “farm†to my life here in the city (rural city, but still city). I know that I (mostly) don’t want to be a farmer. But I also know that I want to grow a lot of my own food and continue to form connections with the other dedicated growers in my community. It’s a slow process because I work full-time outside of the home. One of my biggest complaints about what it takes to collect such a nice paycheck every two weeks is the fact that I have to spend more hours than necessary chained to my desk in a cubicle.
In terms of efficiency, I could get my job done in 3 days most weeks, four during super rush times. That is, if I could just focus on the work and not get sucked into the constant stream of interruption that is endemic in the corporate office culture. I’m trying to not get bitter about the productivity I could have enjoyed at home during those wasted hours at work. About the tomatoes that never made it into canning jars. All in good time, I tell myself, all the while looking back over my shoulder at the looming shadow of change building on the horizon.
I’ll try to drop my jealousy when I see photos of other bloggers’ stocked freezers and pantries this fall and keep my eye on the prize of progress. There’s always next year. Or, at least, I hope there is…
Saturday’s market boomed with activity, such a great thing to see. I should have brought the camera—the light was perfect—long, slanting shadows and a golden hue made all the deeper by the piles and crates of pumpkins and winter squash. Such a boon to our small city to have this market growing exponentially each summer. The fact that I walked away from the second to last market day with this haul is just amazing.
My haul:
-
2 eggplant
1/2 peck paste tomatoes
2 heads lettuce
1 bag mesclun greens
1 bag mustard spinach
1 large bunch collards
1 large bunch curly kale
1 quart green beans
1 pint edamame
1 pint habaneros
3 sweet yellow peppers
3 yellow crookneck summer squash
onions
2 small loaves of bread from Rafael
1 pint maple syrup
1 pint maple BBQ sauce
1 pie pumpkin
1 bag Black Arkansas Apples
1 giant cabbage
1 quart yams
1 giant frosted pumpkin cookie for Lila
1 big bunch of flowers with purple dahlias for Cheril
and finally…
one pint of raspberries—the last raspberries of the season!
We had dinner at Cheril & Greg’s last night, and I cranked in the kitchen from noon until six. I brought the bulk of dinner because Cheril’s been at a yoga training for the past two days, and also because I felt like cooking for my people, dangit.
I made a big salad of just greens that I tossed some Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes into before dressing with a sweet balsamic vinaigrette.
One of the eggplants and a lone zucchini got dredged in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, then fried golden, layered in a casserole with mozzarella and asiago cheese, and the sauce I made of eggplant, onion, garlic, tomato and herbs. End of the season Veggie Parmesan. Without the parm, but still yum.
I also tried the scrumptious looking recipe from Smitten Kitchen, for butternut squash and caramelized onion galette and I must say, it was heavenly.
Finally, I did up a 12 x 9 inch pan with an apple, blueberry, raspberry cobbler. Time to buy new baking powder…the biscuit dough didn’t rise at all. Yuck.
We watched the Indians/Red Sox game 6 and sipped wine after dinner. Chris and Lila both fell asleep on the couch. I enjoyed the quiet, sitting in the dark with my dear friends…their doggies groaning in pleasure from their respective spots of repose. Life is good.
Technorati Tags: eat local, homemade, recipes, farmers’ market, farm, urban homesteading, garden
"In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside; we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves, and the stacks of grain, and the bare clusters of the grape, there is the field of a wholly new life, which no man has lived; that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women. In the hues of October sunsets, we see the portals to other mansions than those which we occupy."
~Henry David Thoreau
October 21st, 2007 at 9:14 pm
i am in lust with those raspberries. my god they’re just so gorgeous!
October 21st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Wow, I’d no idea, Kelly, that you tried to make a go at doing your own either CSA or farmer’s market stand with your country spread. Impressive. I only aimed to feed my own, but once I went to a tiny town’s farm market some 3 towns east I even said to Tom, gee, we could do that (such hubris, I’m telling ya). That idea died quickly.
But I do agree with your (and Angelina’s) premise that DIY foodstuff is a putative nyah-nyah to factory foodism. My dear MIL actually said last week that she is intimidated by my cooking. I really *want* to tell her it ain’t the cooking, babe, it’s the idea that I get my goods from the back 40, not the Wall-wart. I can’t tell her that, though; I can only show her.
I wonder, though: is it possible for you to squeeze your corporate days? Squeeze the days to actually get more time with the kids and the garden? Just my not commuting 3 days a week saves me buckets of time, frankly. And can you remove some trees to get yourself some more light in the growing regions of the yard? I know that is such a heretical notion: chopping down a tree. But as a city gardener, I convinced a neighbor that his maple was doing in my harvest, so we split the cost of its removal.
But I do envy you those beautiful raspberries. Yum.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:29 am
[…] here for more Der Beitrag wurde am Sunday, den 21. October 2007 um 18:23 Uhr veröffentlicht und […]
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:03 am
We did a service project yesterday morning with M’s Hebrew school class at a farm that is practically urban–and it’s on state land, is a non-profit, has a CSA, and supplies three local foodbanks. Rambunctious kids and happy parents were totally on it: picked 210 pounds of carrots, cleared half of two beds (LONG beds), and pulled up a bunch of fencing and irrigation tubes. Such a great morning. I think I like farms, especially other people’s farms where I can help physically and with my non-agricultural skills. On the other hand, while eating dinner cooked by you would be delightful, six hours in the kitchen would make me furious, not peaceful, and I hate articles like the NY Times magazine piece yesterday where Alice Waters guilts the busy single mom about the quality of the food she eats and the evil that is the microwave. Look, I’m sitting down with my kids every night, and they are getting food that not that bad in the scheme of things–it’s what I can accomplish without losing my mind, and I think it should be enough! (Sorry to hijack your blog with my defensiveness!)
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:21 am
Hey, El…yep. I really wanted to do it, too, and in many ways still do. I fantasize about getting a Kent CSA going, trying to find some non-profit dollars or a grant or something, but would also want a lot of other people involved. It’s way too much to undertake alone. I love the idea of educating people about food and garden, but at this stage in my life that’s all it is…an idea. I’m mostly okay with that, and hope that I’m able to continue angling in that direction.
My company is pretty inflexible about warm body in seat for 40 hours.
We’ve taken out about a dozen trees already, with plans to take out more. I’m also going to start some big lasagna beds down at the end of the driveway closer to the road. Our house is set about 300 feet back from the road. On either side of the driveway we have a 20 foot strip of grass in between the neighbors houses. They both get a lot of sun…and while it’ll be a pain in the patootie to get water to them, it’s the fastest solution. Hopefully people won’t view the gardens as public property because they’re so far away from the house. Maybe they’ll think they belong to the neighbors…
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 am
Becca, you can hijack my comments any time you like, I love hearing from you!
I saw that piece in the NYT as well, and ew. Just ew. And? I don’t do the 6 hours in the kitchen thing very often. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t done any big cooking like that in a while…we eat a lot of spaghetti with store-bought sauce lately. And I’m not going to feel too guilty about it, because dammit, I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got. Also? After the 3rd hour, i was kind of thinking to myself that I bit off way more than I wanted to chew with the cooking projects. I had so many other things to get done, too…none of which happened because I sprained my ankle yesterday! bleh.
Your day at the CSA sounds like heaven. Truly.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:26 am
Kelly, SO timely. I’m in the middle of reading Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s
Dilemma” and am just thoroughly floored. I’m relatively careful in what we buy, but I’m shocked at how much I didn’t know about commercial food preparation. I mean, I knew bits of it, but to see the whole story unfold is incredible. I’m reading about grass right now and already planning my next summer, creating plans for gardens, chickens, cows, greywater, and such. Of course, my husband wants to know which of those projects is priority. All of them, I say! In any case, my family will be making less of an impact on our food supply come next summer. And maybe my kids will sell eggs, or something. Oh, and I have raspberry envy. Mmmm.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Kelly, what a great post. I still really want to hire you as an urban homestead coach and get some garden planning help when your schedule allows. I think I owe you a call, sorry to drop the ball. Anyhow, I’m still reading and plotting. Thanks for sharing your lovely Saturday story.
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:43 pm
If it makes you feel any better, Kelly… at least one person here has been looking at your haul for the summer and fighting back the jealousy. How you get done all you do with a full time job AND a child is beyond me.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:59 am
I love this post and want to steal your raspberries in spite of the fact that raspberries aren’t my favorite…but that picture looks SOOOO delicious.
I don’t think people should ever be made to feel guilty when they’re doing the best they can. I think it’s great though when people are inspired to make positive change when positive change is possible. I’m going to apply for full time work today. I would so much rather stay at home, but you do what you have to do.
You have been a constant inspiration to me over the past year.
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
“Raspberries are best not washed. After all, one must have faith in something.”
-Ann Batchelder
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Yikes, Darcy! You’re on my list too. I’m sorry I haven’t followed through…it’s been mad crazy and I’m too overwhelmed to add anything else in right now, but I’d be happy to tell you what I’ve done that works and what has been a big fat failure.
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Hee, Kris, that sounds too familiar. I want it all right now too. It’s been a huge challenge for me to parse it out in terms of years and decades. When do you head back to CA?
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Thanks for the support, Kim! TWO kids. TWO! I look at other who do it all with six kids and think, well, they must put them all to work! I’ve never been very good at that aspect.
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Angelina, right back at you, sister. You rock!