Radical Homemaking

Luke was kind of curious about me taking the picture so he was crawling out of the basket as I took this shot.  I could tell you that the dynamic duo  are simply taking a break from all of their hard work on the farm, but in reality they've been lounging there all day.  Of course, they did just get spayed and neutered two days ago, so they may be feeling under the weather. 

I'm reading Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes (the link is to the right) and I'm absolutely enthralled.  There are so many facets to discuss, but I think if you visit Shannon's website, you'll get the basic ideas.  For anybody who is in the rat race and is frustrated with it, but can't see any viable alternatives, you may appreciate this new paradigm (and aside from believing in the four tenets of ecological sustainability, social justice, family and community, the only other commonality of the author's interviewees was that they could cook, so don't go saying that you can't because you don't farm, or you live in a city etc).  The quotation that hits home the most thus far is from Ellen Goodman:  Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.

There have been a couple recent events that have made me question my own involvement in the rat-race.  The current state of our public education system, which really does a disservice to our youth by stymieing their creative and critical thinking skills, continues to bother me (and since I am a teacher, I feel that I condone it).  Also, I just went to hear a local Holocaust survivor share her story.  Coming away from that, the only thing one can think of is, "What the heck are we doing?!"  Let us get back to basics, throw all of the excess out and remind ourselves that we are one human family, and we have to take care of each other. 

My darling husband and I are figuring out how we can "opt out" of the corporate world to which we all seem bound.  This idea has obviously been growing in our heads independently for a while, but it is very scary to leave the supposed security of a job with benefits and retirement (don't worry Mom and Dad, this is not something that is going to happen in the next two years), and I certainly have been more reticent than he to move on. We have been raised to think that being part of the system is the only way to survive well.  Reading through Radical Homemakers and other books has helped me realize that there is another way, and that it really does make sense on many different levels.

On a completely different note, while writing this post I inadvertantly started baking the dough that was rising on the wood stove.  So I made the dough (intended for a loaf) into small flatbreads.  Sadly, the wood stove was so hot, that it broke the pizza stone that the bread was on).  A temporary loss for pizza making, but a gain in realizing that we can use the woodstove for cooking and baking instead of the gas oven we have (pancakes, rolls, pizza, stews are all coming to mind).