Into the fray

I am a rural homesteader. I grow my own food, I raise livestock, I hang my laundry out to dry, I collect rain water, I bake bread, I knit and make things by hand instead of buying them, I use wood to heat my home,I forage wild food, I preserve food. But this is where I am now. My journey to homesteading began in Portland Maine. In my 3rd floor apartment on Munjoy Hill.

I started as an Urban Homesteader in 1996. I had a 10x15 community garden, where I grew herbs, winter squash, tomatoes. I would bring my kitchen waste to the compost bins at the garden. That garden fed us well curing some VERY lean times. I grew greens, tomatoes, and basil in pots on a large roof just outside my kitchen window. I collected rain water on that roof. My neighbor and I would go strawberry picking at a farm a fifteen minute drive from my home. We then learned, together, how to make strawberry jam. I baked bread. I walked down to the beach and collected seaweed for my garden. I foraged for wild raspberries on the hill leading to the beach. I harvested pole beans and froze them in my tiny little apartment freezer. I canned tomatoes. I joined a barter network and learned to work with my neighbors in a new and exciting way. I learned to knit and started making warm clothing for myself and my son. I was a single mother and I was an urban homesteader.

So, I was sadden and not a little annoyed that the Dervaes Family has decided to copyright a series of phrases including the term Urban Homesteading.

All I have to say is that if the Nearings were living, I very much doubt they would be copyrighting the term Homesteading. I think they would be very excited to see a movement grow to encompasses a lifestyle they promoted whether is was rural or urban.