I just picked up, and devoured in one night, the most fantastic book: Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich. This book is about setting up your own little farm, no matter where you live, and offers stories and practical advice on getting started. It even has some lovely recipies I know I'll be trying out! And it made me want my own chickens and angora bunnies- more than I already did.
When I was a kid, I wanted to live on a farm. My mom had lived on a farm during her first marriage, and my grandparents lived in an old farm house on a lot of land. When I'd visit with the grandparents, I'd have a lot of fun pretending I was a farm kid, feeding the dogs, grinding up scraps of soap for detergent, cracking walnuts and making scrambled eggs. Small things, but enough if you're a child and have imagination.
That desire to have a bit of a farm hasn't really died in me. However, I don't really like the idea of raising animals to eat, or waking up at four in the morning to start chores. So how do you compromise? Homesteading, of course! Where even a happy suburbanite can have a little taste of the farm, enough to perhaps inspire a bit more, but not enough that your entire lifeline is ruined if the weather is bad during the growing season. It's Farming Lite.
And I'm really, really excited about all the possibilities and interest in this topic now. Give me a few years, my own yard, then we'll see.
By the way, Woginrich has her own more than just little homestead that she writes about:
http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/
