Radical homemakers reclaim the simple life

San Francisco Chronicle / sfgate.com ^ | Sunday, August 22, 2010 | Leilani Marie Labong, Special to The Chronicle

[thecodont]

An inspirational, grassroots movement is afoot in the Bay Area (yes, another one), and it's going to make the world a better place. No, really. Granted, this region has sprouted its fair share of grassroots movements; however, this particular crusade - dubbed radical homemaking by New York writer and pioneering radical homemaker Shannon Hayes - seems particularly well suited to our socially responsible, food-obsessed, eco-zealous neck of the woods.

In her recent book, "Radical Homemakers" (Left to Write Press; $23.95), Hayes, 36, makes a deeply personal and well-supported case - to be expected from someone who holds a doctorate in sustainable agriculture and community development from Cornell University - for shunning consumer culture in favor of a life of complete and utter domesticity.

Although she had eyes on a college professorship, Hayes jumped off the career track a decade ago, along with her husband, Bob, a former county planner. Aching to "honor their deepest dreams and values" (in the radical-homemaker vernacular, these virtues include family, community, social justice and the environment), the couple moved back to her family's farm in upstate New York, where, she writes in her book, "subsistence farming, food preservation, barter and frugal living are a matter of course."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/22/HOBM1ET424.DTL#ixzz0xOvjTGn0

[thecodont]

Michael Macor / The Chronicle

Charlie Simpson, 7, visits the backyard henhouse in Belmont that provides fresh eggs for his family, which no longer eats prepackaged food.

Again, here is the interesting political estuary where the green left and the self-sufficient right meet.

On Amazon.com:

Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture
Shannon Hayes

"frequently bought together" or "also bought with" titles:

Make Your Place: Affordable & Sustainable Nesting Skills
Raleigh Briggs

Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood
Jamie C. Martin

Making a Family Home
Shannon Honeybloom

Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way They Eat
Temra Costa

Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life
Jenna Woginrich

Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection
Jessica Prentice

[April Lexington]

holds a doctorate in sustainable agriculture and community development from Cornell University

Sounds like a quality institution of higher learning to me... NOT!

[christianhomeschoolmommaof3]

for later reading

[SuziQ]

Radical Homemakers? I thought that’s how the libs always described stay-at-home moms. ;o)

[PGR88]

subsistence farming, food preservation, barter and frugal living are a matter of course... I wonder if my Polish Grandparents knew they were "radical homemakers?"

[Ellendra]

Prepper ping-worthy?

[roadcat]

My mother was a radical mother in San Francisco, and I did’nt realize it until reading this article!

She walked or took the bus everywhere. She used cloth diapers on us kids, scrubbed them on a washboard in the tub, and hung them out to dry via solar and wind energy. She grew vegetables in the back yard. Those and the 5 fruit trees in our yard kept us healthy. A lot of things she did were energy efficient - used a broom and mop, no electrical cleaning help was used.

Oh, we were dirt poor.

[ElkGroveDan]

Of course they are never satisfied living like cavemen themselves. Before long their legislative brethren will be forcing that crap on the rest of us, like they are doing with the plastic bag tax. They want everyone to carry around reusable canvas bags like the hippies.

After that they will want to outlaw baby formula and braziers.

[cherry]

someday my silly liberal grown kids will understand that dear old mom and dad have been practicing frugality, environmentalism,social responsibility and conservation for decades except we just called it turning the lights off, quick showers, buying on sale,contributing at church,growing a garden and canning, making home made sausage,hanging the clothes outside, and opening the dishwasher to air dry.....

nothing we've ever done has been "cool"....

but I've personally been saving newspapers and crushing aluminum cans since the mid 70's...

they seem to love the food channel and all that home made cooking but it hasn't dawned on them that that is what I've been doing for decades....LOL

[thecodont]

She walked or took the bus everywhere. She used cloth diapers on us kids, scrubbed them on a washboard in the tub, and hung them out to dry via solar and wind energy. She grew vegetables in the back yard. Those and the 5 fruit trees in our yard kept us healthy. A lot of things she did were energy efficient - used a broom and mop, no electrical cleaning help was used.

Somehow these simple practices are not seen as frugal or virtuous until the Left gives them its imprimatur. :/

[cherry]

don’t you love it how these greenies have discovered “grass fed” animals as being better for you and the environment?.....yet HUNTING is for all grass fed animals......and yet its vilified....

[kcvl]

Radical Homemakers uncovers a hidden revolution quietly taking hold across the United States. It is the story of pioneering men and women who are redefining feminism and the good life by adhering to simple principles of ecological sustainability, social justice, community engagement and family well-being.

******

Bob Hooper, an environmental educator by training, was completely unaware that, when he asked Shannon Hayes to marry him, he would be sentenced to a life time of editing and illustrating her books, processing chickens, and helping her to think through all her research.

http://radicalhomemakers.com/about-shannon-hayes/

[Albion Wilde]

Surviving socialism ping!

[Albion Wilde]

ping

[OldMissileer]

doctorate in sustainable agriculture and community development from Cornell University

I guess its not good or smart until some moron, and I use that word in its truest sense, with a fake degree from a lame college says it is so.

"Social justice" and environmentalism. What a crock of leftist crap. These idiots spend their parents money on elite "degrees" and then go out and beat their chest about doing something that has been done since God put man on Earth.

People in my family farmed and made do with a lot less than these poseurs. The one thing they have in over abundance is hubris.

[GOPsterinMA]

The Italian side of my family has always eaten rape greens (a.k.a. ‘Skunk cabbage’) olive oil and yes, arugula when those things (and many others) were considered junk or peasant food.

I guess by the prices charged for said items these days, they've been ‘approved’.

p.s. Nothing beats the taste of a fresh picked tomato!

[Conservative4Life]

Radical Homemakers? I thought that’s how the libs always described stay-at-home moms. ;o)

Other than being referred to as religous zealots this is my wife.... lol

[thecodont]

I guess its not good or smart until some moron, and I use that word in its truest sense, with a fake degree from a lame college says it is so.

Yes!

[NTHockey]

Attention, NY legislature. These people are evading taxes by bartering. Attention, FDA! These people are using foodstuffs that are unregulated. Attention, EPA! These people are using water in violation of directives. Attention, FBI. These people are self-styled radicals.

[poobear]

“p.s. Nothing beats the taste of a fresh picked tomato!”

I wish you lived next door. I’ve got about 10 lbs. of fresh tomatoes even AFTER I canned 16 pints of fresh okra and tomatoes yesterday!

We’ve been eating those junk greens here in the south for a long time too. I plant bib lettuce now and think I’m living high on the hog ;D!

[SueRae]

Isn’t that the truth? Many if not most of us follow the same course. But we call it something else...common sense. And we don’t need it legislated upon us, especially by the do as I say, not as I do crowd.

[esquirette]

The income from the book is gonna help out.

[onona]

BFL

[Think free or die]

"Again, here is the interesting political estuary where the green left and the self-sufficient right meet."

True. I often find that good food and self sufficiency are points of connection with my liberal neighbors and my "green" brother. Taking care of our environment used to be called conservation, and low impact living often goes along with running a family business. In many cases I find that the lifestyles, values, and family priorities of people who appear to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum are really not terribly different. It gives me hope.

[OldMissileer]

I’ve got about 10 lbs. of fresh tomatoes even AFTER I canned 16 pints of fresh okra and tomatoes yesterday!

We indulge ourselves during the growing season with our extra tomatoes:

We take a couple of frozen pepperoni pizzas (don't flame me, we like them) thin slice the home-grown tomatoes and place them on top of the frozen pizza. Then cover with extra cheese (this protects the tomato as well a giving more good stuff). When you place the pizza in the oven add about a minute and a half extra on the bake time.

The heat cooks out the acid and when you bite into it the tomato is almost like eating candy. FANTASTIC!

[Red Badger]

P I N G ! . . . . . .

[Poser]

Sounds like a British TV series.

[MrB]

That’s what I see -

a group of leftist/liberals who see the writing on the wall,

but are unwilling to blame their ideology for causing the collapse of civilization.

So, they self-aggrandize and say they are doing it to “save the erf”.

[poobear]

No flames here. My chest freezer is full of them. Whatever is on sale in the freezer section!

Great idea with the tomatoes. I also buy frozen dough and make fresh olive oil, tomato and mozzarella pizza with basil. They charge $20 for a small one at a restaurant!

[mewzilla]

Different article, same subject....

Meet some of Portland's radical homemakers

The element of choice is what's interesting here. These folks live on this income level by choice. I wonder if it's that, the element of choice involved, and not necessarily the lifestyle that's making them happy.

[mewzilla]

And, seems to me, choice is not something the left values very much or lefties wouldn’t have been deriding stay-at-home moms and homemakers for years.

[OldMissileer]

I also buy frozen dough and make fresh olive oil, tomato and mozzarella pizza with basil.

Now that sounds like Heaven!!

[poobear]

Darn it, now I’m hungry. Lunch isn’t until 11:45 and all I brought was a sandwich!

Hope the spouse wants pizza tonight ;D!

Florida FReeper.

[fnord]

Fun BBC show from the mid-70's: Good Neighbors

featuring the delicious Felicity Kendal

[GOPsterinMA]

Me too! AWESOME!!! Y’all eat Skunk Cabbage?

Fresh Bib Lettuce salad...YUM! I’m getting hungry and it’s only ~10:15!

[poobear]

Down here it’s called swamp cabbage. Sort of like a huge hearts of palm. At BBQ events you cook a pound of bacon in a large pot over a propane fryer flame, add the swamp cabbage, cover with beer or water then salt and pepper to taste. Outstanding next to brisket, slow cooked pork roast pulled or ribs.

That’s it I’m out of here. Lunch is a little early today!

[thecodont]

The income from the book is gonna help out.

Indeed yes.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***where, she writes in her book, “subsistence farming, food preservation, barter and frugal living are a matter of course.” ***

Nothing new. Forty five years ago a back to nature desire hit the hippies and young people of that time. That was about the timethe MOTHER EARTH NEWS began and the WHOLE EARTH CATALOG came out.

Hippie communes and other groups sprang up and almost immediatly died. Farming is HARD WORK!

Then some enterprising people found you could make lots of money by WRITING BOOKS ABOUT FARMING and survival without having to leave your apartment.

One author wrote a dozen of books about outdoor and farm living but actually lived in a LA condo.

[GOPsterinMA]

I'll remember that - swamp cabbage.

That recipe you described sounds succulent! mmmm...mmm...mmmmmm...

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***We’ve been eating those junk greens here in the south for a long time too.**

If the world goes to hell in a handbasket we should be able to survive on poke weed and lambs quarters! The area around my garden grows them well! I wish my garden did as well as poke!

[poobear]

Swamp cabbage are the hearts of palmetto palms before they reach a height of 8 to 10 ft. Ideally the smaller the sweeter the heart. Just go about anywhere near low land with a machete and start hacking, you'll come home with 30 pounds of heaven!

[poobear]

Oh, I forgot. Watch out for rattlesnakes. They love palmetto palms. So do roaches and spiders. Real men with high boots do the hacking! A shotgun and rifle are standard gear.

;D!

[handmade]

junk food

lamb’s quarters are great used when no more than 6 inches tall- cook like spinach or toss in green salads, can go into soups— good stuff

[SuziQ]

"At the end of the day, after you've recycled gray water into your garden, biked to work and washed a hundred diapers by hand, you've done a lot of good for yourself, but have you really changed the world?" Kraft asks. "Radical homemaking can become too self-righteous."

Yeah, some of those folks act like they've discovered something NO ONE else knows about, and they're SO cool for doing it. They don't realize that they're living the way their great-grandparents lived, and that those folks worked hard to invent labor saving devices so that their kids and grand-kids wouldn't HAVE to do the back breaking work that they did!

You can be conservative with energy and still take advantage of labor saving devices.

[GOPsterinMA]

Thank you for all the information! I am now prepared to go Swamp Cabbage picking.

[poobear]

You won’t be sorry. Enjoy! If you’re not a Florida resident or don’t know anyone local, just ask an air boat tour guide, he’ll be happy to comply. Anywhere in Florida is fine. Just tip the driver!

[GOPsterinMA]

Thanks again!!!

[SuziQ]

Sounds like a British TV series.

A hilarious series, by the way!!

[poobear]

Didn’t mean to not reply to you, just got a little busy. The garden here as well as any country depends on the family. Sounds like you grow what not only you can but what the familia (sp) is used to eating. Keep up the tradition. We have.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Bump for Morning Coffee!