Urban Homesteading hits the Mainstream Media!

Woohooo! ABC News program NIGHTLINE ran the following story last night on their show.

A Family Farm in the Midst of Suburbia

IT is SO exciting to me to see that our message of self-reliance and resourcefulness is now going beyond our circle of like-minded people. The more we get our story of food empowerment out to "the people", the more likely we are to see real change that will improve everyone's lives.

Next week my daughter's 1st grade class is walking the two blocks to come and visit my garden. So many of these children think that food comes out of a box or from the "golden arches". These school kids are simply the product of generations of Americans who have been taken in by the ease of fast-food and the simplicity of processed food products. I look forward to showing them another way to think about food and backyards!

The first year that I had this garden underway, my daughter was 3 years old. When the tomato plants started putting on fruit, I showed them to her excitedly. "Look, " I said, "look at the tomatoes!" I was shocked when she said, "Mom, those are NOT tomatoes! Tomatoes are RED!"
Wow, she really needed a garden. Now green tomatoes are her favorite. And she has her own raised bed or two and is in charge of edible flowers in the garden.

We need to get our kids involved in food production. It is the only way to truly break the chain of apathy and dependence on long-distance produce and overly processed convenience food.