Growing up outside of Kansas City, you might think I lived in “farm country.”  Nope.  I lived in the suburbs.  635 people in my high school class.  I began to wonder what it would be like to live in a small town.  To make a long story short, I decided to go to college in a tiny town with the idea that if I didn’t like it, I could transfer to KU where everyone I knew was attending.  BAM – I knew in the first few days of college that I loved the small town life, and that I probably would never return to the city.  I got a teaching job in another small town and have been there ever since. 55 kids in my daughter’s high school class, and 78 in my son’s (the largest to ever graduate from this town!)  I wouldn’t change a minute of it.

Fast forward a few decades years, and here I am, retired from teaching, living  in a house we built out in the country with my husband, 2 dogs, and 18 chickens.  I have a huge garden which is full of vegetables that I put up every summer.

There is something so empowering about growing your own food, raising your own chickens, molding your best life.  Gardening is not difficult.  A small garden is not time-consuming, but eating food that you, yourself, planted only a few months ago?  A feeling that can not be duplicated.

I see stories all over the web of people who are trying to get “back to basics.”   What does that mean?  Do we have to live on 20 acres to get there?  Of course we don’t.

I believe part of it means learning how to be more self sufficient.  Having a garden of any size and working on putting real, nutritious food into our bodies.  I think it means trying to be frugal in as many ways as possible, including learning how to make our own cleaning supplies and toiletries.  It’s doing what we can to use natural medications and maybe using alternative energy sources.  Sometimes it means raising our own food to an extent.

Mostly I believe it means living modestly and simply.  Live in the suburbs?  You can have a small vegetable garden in the yard. One or two plants per person in your household is more than enough to have fresh tomatoes all season, and plenty leftover to can or freeze for winter eating.  Live in an apartment?  Grow a tomato plant on your balcony.  If
you don’t want to grow your own vegetables, take advantage of the farmer’s markets that have popped up everywhere around the country.  Stop by a farm stand or a truck on the side of the road selling home-grown vegetables.  Buy from people instead of corporations.

There is no reason not to eat organic, healthy food whether you have a garden or not.  If we want to live a more sustainable lifestyle, we just have to start.

I have been working towards a more sustainable, organic, natural, healthy lifestyle in the last few years.  Not just with  my food, but all the products I use on a daily basis. I don’t want to rely on “big business” to dictate what I should eat or wear or clean with.  I want to eat what comes out of my garden (or the garden of someone who lives near me.)  I want to know that my cleaning products are natural and aren’t going to hurt anyone. I want to know that the food I fix is not processed.  I want to know that the delicious eggs in my refrigerator were laid by my chickens within the last few days.  Or hours.  I want to know that I can grab a jar out of my pantry that contains food I canned last summer  when it was at its ripest, and that it didn’t come from some other country.

I have become passionate in these beliefs and want them to carry me through until I can’t bend over to pick a tomato any more.  I want to share this passion with others and hope you will join me on this journey.