It all started with a move to Phoenix. My husband got a job and we were headed south. For the first time since my children were born I was going to be able to stay home with them full time. Now, I am not a stay-at-home mom by nature. Frankly, Dora makes me want to take a hatchet to the TV and I always lose at CandyLand. Since I love being with my kids (most of the time) the opportunity to stay home was not completely unpalatable. I knew I needed a purpose above and beyond finding joy in dusting and diapers. As I examined my life I realized that the main problem I had was with overconsumption. Overconsumption of food, goods and convenience. It was so easy to go to Target for one thing and come home with thirty, or to grab ready-made food instead of cooking my own.. Thus was born the idea for a year of householding. For one year, I decided, we would make as much of our own food as possible, and not buy anything new that could be purchased used. I am making an exception for underwear, there are some things that just aren't meant to be recycled.
My hope is to teach my children about the natural bounty surrounding us every day. I have a tree in my backyard that produces lemons, oranges and grapefruit. With that one tree alone I can create cleaning products, food and of course, homemade limoncello. In the month that we've been here I've found a dairy farm down the road, a cattle ranch that raises grass fed beef, and discovered that Phoenix is riddled with farmers markets. At the same time I've discovered that I'm terrible at yeast bread. so this year will not be a total breeze. I'm good, but still a novice in many ways. I will humbly and gratefully accept all advice, tips, recipes and wisecracks that anyone chooses to send my way. The grand experiment starts March 1st, 2012 and I hope you will all join me, I'm going to need all the support I can get!
