The Urban Homesteaders' League

…to Virginia!  Jennifer Corbett has recently started a Virginia chapter of the Urban Homesteaders’ League, and we are  super excited to watch the group develop.  Check out their website, Meetup group and FB page.

Lots of new events are happening at the League!  Please check out our Meetup page for more info.

The wonderfully talented Jen Kelley has made a fantastic new 6 min. film about the Urban Homesteaders’ League Market Stand.  Check it out and spread the word!

This broadside was designed by Shea Cadrin.

It covers growing and juicing wheatgrass, making cordials, alteratives to paper products in the home, and soapmaking.  It’s meant to be printed, double-sided, on an 11″x17″ sheet of paper.  Enjoy!

UHL Broadside #7 (pdf)

Several months ago, I was strolling through the Union Square Farmer’s Market when I first spotted the booth of the Urban Homesteaders’ League. There were swap items on a table, a kombucha demonstration in progress, an inviting collection of how-to books in the corner, and a big banner that read “Urban Homesteaders’ League.” I stopped dead in my tracks. I had been making a long string of changes in my life over the past six years in order to adopt more ecological practices around my basic needs. I had started making my own bread, granola, and herbal tea. I was growing herbs, melons, and greens in my community garden. I had joined a CSA, sold my car, stopped using household paper products, and had started buying all of my clothing second-hand.

I was doing everything that I could to wean myself away from the wasteful consumer life-style in which I had been raised. I was finding such fulfillment learning how to make and do things for myself. But I didn’t realize there was a name for this or even a group of like-minded folks nearby who were moving in the same direction. When I saw the banner for the Urban Homesteaders’ League, I realized–of course! Urban homesteading is the perfect way to describe what I’ve been trying to do!

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A great day at the UHL market stand. I got to the market at 10, and found our booth beautifully decorated with a big drying rack covered in small, pretty cloth squares. I was just in time to hear about how Lorie no longer buys paper products. No paper towels, no paper napkins, no sponges, not even toilet paper! I, like everyone else, was intrigued and a tiny bit larmed at the possibilities raised by that last challenge, but was truly shocked to learn that the pretty cloths were her toilet paper! To answer the questions you’re wondering: yes, they were clean,  no, there was absolutely no sign they’d ever been used, and no, she doesn’t use bleach. It was definitely the sort of thing that you could read about 100 times and still be squeamish about trying, but seeing and talking to someone who’d done it made all the difference in making something go from scary to inspiring.

There was just enough time for me to go buy some cheese and chocolate before Turil’s session on wheatgrass. Now let me be clear- I had ZERO interest in wheatgrass. I’d tried the shots and found them gross. I was just there because I had to be.   But Turil’s session was totally engaging. She explained why I’d hated my shot (wheatgrass is so strong you need to build up to shots.) She showed us amazing, flourishing stalks- planted 5 days earlier! We tried stalks- and they were delicious! I wound up a total convert and got to take some seeds home as my reward.

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This was the last day of the Urban Homesteaders’ League Market Stand.  Like every other day of the stand, the weather was perfect and the skillshares were fantastic.  We hope that you enjoyed the project!  Thank you for participating!

Turil Cronburg presenting on growing and juicing wheatgrass.

Group effort.

Lorie Reilly discussing her experience going without paper products in the home.

Visitors.

Alexa Photopoulos presenting on soapmaking.

Jaime Alberts talking about making cordials.

More visitors.

The swap table.

The crew (minus Lorie).

The Market Stand this past Saturday was a blast! I met some talented and interesting people and learned a bunch of new things. And it was a perfect New England autumn day, sunny and crisp.

In all, there were four skillshares. Kat kicked off the day with a discussion of eco-friendly habits and what may stand in the way of adopting these. All of the participants had an interesting discussion about how convenience and social support often help us make the eco-friendly habits stick.

Next, Alex demonstrated how to ferment fall root vegetables.  He got his raw materials right there at the market, chopped them up, added salt, and stuffed the mixture into jars. Mike and I took one of the jars as part of the swap table and have been diligently opening it and pushing the contents every day. As a reward for our diligence, the stuff got really juicy and bubbly and seems to be alive in that jar – can’t wait to try it!

My skillshare was next. I got to talk to a number of knitters from the crowd and, I hope, some of the onlookers were also interested in what I had to share.  I am still surprised that reusing yarn from old knitted garments is such a novel idea for many people. My mom has been doing it for years! I guess I am helping the “spread the word” on my blog, with the skillshare, and by just talking to other knitters.

Finally, Tessa shared her experience with growing chickens in the back yard. Even though we are not in the position to have chickens in our backyard (we are renting, so it’s not even ours), I was very curious about the topic. Turns out that if you only have a couple chickens, they are not smelly and not too loud (since you don’t need a rooster). Tessa also shared photos of different chicken coops in Madison, WI area (where she used to live) – it seems that the sky’s the limit when it comes to coop design…

As always, there was a free broadside with information on the above topics for anyone to take.

It was great to meet everyone and to spend a day at UHL’s Market Stand!

This Saturday is the LAST day of the UHL Market Stand.  Here’s the schedule:

10:00a.m. Alternatives to Household Paper Products w/Lorie Reilly
10:45a.m. Intro to Growing and Juicing Wheatgrass w/Turil Cronburg
11:30a.m. Making Soap w/Alexa Photopoulos
12:15p.m. Making Cordials w/Jaime Alberts

We hope to see you there!