Radical homemakers reclaim the simple life

San Francisco Chronicle / sfgate.com ^ | Sunday, August 22, 2010 | Leilani Marie Labong, Special to The Chronicle

[thecodont]

An inspirational, grassroots movement is afoot in the Bay Area (yes, another one), and it's going to make the world a better place. No, really. Granted, this region has sprouted its fair share of grassroots movements; however, this particular crusade - dubbed radical homemaking by New York writer and pioneering radical homemaker Shannon Hayes - seems particularly well suited to our socially responsible, food-obsessed, eco-zealous neck of the woods.

In her recent book, "Radical Homemakers" (Left to Write Press; $23.95), Hayes, 36, makes a deeply personal and well-supported case - to be expected from someone who holds a doctorate in sustainable agriculture and community development from Cornell University - for shunning consumer culture in favor of a life of complete and utter domesticity.

Although she had eyes on a college professorship, Hayes jumped off the career track a decade ago, along with her husband, Bob, a former county planner. Aching to "honor their deepest dreams and values" (in the radical-homemaker vernacular, these virtues include family, community, social justice and the environment), the couple moved back to her family's farm in upstate New York, where, she writes in her book, "subsistence farming, food preservation, barter and frugal living are a matter of course."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/22/HOBM1ET424.DTL#ixzz0xOvjTGn0

[thecodont]

Michael Macor / The Chronicle

Charlie Simpson, 7, visits the backyard henhouse in Belmont that provides fresh eggs for his family, which no longer eats prepackaged food.

Again, here is the interesting political estuary where the green left and the self-sufficient right meet.

On Amazon.com:

Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture
Shannon Hayes

"frequently bought together" or "also bought with" titles:

Make Your Place: Affordable & Sustainable Nesting Skills
Raleigh Briggs

Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood
Jamie C. Martin

Making a Family Home
Shannon Honeybloom

Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way They Eat
Temra Costa

Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life
Jenna Woginrich

Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection
Jessica Prentice

[April Lexington]

holds a doctorate in sustainable agriculture and community development from Cornell University

Sounds like a quality institution of higher learning to me... NOT!

[christianhomeschoolmommaof3]

for later reading

[SuziQ]

Radical Homemakers? I thought that’s how the libs always described stay-at-home moms. ;o)

[PGR88]

subsistence farming, food preservation, barter and frugal living are a matter of course... I wonder if my Polish Grandparents knew they were "radical homemakers?"

[Ellendra]

Prepper ping-worthy?

[roadcat]

My mother was a radical mother in San Francisco, and I did’nt realize it until reading this article!

She walked or took the bus everywhere. She used cloth diapers on us kids, scrubbed them on a washboard in the tub, and hung them out to dry via solar and wind energy. She grew vegetables in the back yard. Those and the 5 fruit trees in our yard kept us healthy. A lot of things she did were energy efficient - used a broom and mop, no electrical cleaning help was used.

Oh, we were dirt poor.

[ElkGroveDan]

Of course they are never satisfied living like cavemen themselves. Before long their legislative brethren will be forcing that crap on the rest of us, like they are doing with the plastic bag tax. They want everyone to carry around reusable canvas bags like the hippies.

After that they will want to outlaw baby formula and braziers.

[cherry]

someday my silly liberal grown kids will understand that dear old mom and dad have been practicing frugality, environmentalism,social responsibility and conservation for decades except we just called it turning the lights off, quick showers, buying on sale,contributing at church,growing a garden and canning, making home made sausage,hanging the clothes outside, and opening the dishwasher to air dry.....

nothing we've ever done has been "cool"....

but I've personally been saving newspapers and crushing aluminum cans since the mid 70's...

they seem to love the food channel and all that home made cooking but it hasn't dawned on them that that is what I've been doing for decades....LOL

[thecodont]

She walked or took the bus everywhere. She used cloth diapers on us kids, scrubbed them on a washboard in the tub, and hung them out to dry via solar and wind energy. She grew vegetables in the back yard. Those and the 5 fruit trees in our yard kept us healthy. A lot of things she did were energy efficient - used a broom and mop, no electrical cleaning help was used.

Somehow these simple practices are not seen as frugal or virtuous until the Left gives them its imprimatur. :/

[cherry]

don’t you love it how these greenies have discovered “grass fed” animals as being better for you and the environment?.....yet HUNTING is for all grass fed animals......and yet its vilified....

[kcvl]

Radical Homemakers uncovers a hidden revolution quietly taking hold across the United States. It is the story of pioneering men and women who are redefining feminism and the good life by adhering to simple principles of ecological sustainability, social justice, community engagement and family well-being.

******

Bob Hooper, an environmental educator by training, was completely unaware that, when he asked Shannon Hayes to marry him, he would be sentenced to a life time of editing and illustrating her books, processing chickens, and helping her to think through all her research.

http://radicalhomemakers.com/about-shannon-hayes/

[Albion Wilde]

Surviving socialism ping!

[Albion Wilde]

ping

[OldMissileer]

doctorate in sustainable agriculture and community development from Cornell University

I guess its not good or smart until some moron, and I use that word in its truest sense, with a fake degree from a lame college says it is so.

"Social justice" and environmentalism. What a crock of leftist crap. These idiots spend their parents money on elite "degrees" and then go out and beat their chest about doing something that has been done since God put man on Earth.

People in my family farmed and made do with a lot less than these poseurs. The one thing they have in over abundance is hubris.

[GOPsterinMA]

The Italian side of my family has always eaten rape greens (a.k.a. ‘Skunk cabbage’) olive oil and yes, arugula when those things (and many others) were considered junk or peasant food.

I guess by the prices charged for said items these days, they've been ‘approved’.

p.s. Nothing beats the taste of a fresh picked tomato!

[Conservative4Life]

Radical Homemakers? I thought that’s how the libs always described stay-at-home moms. ;o)

Other than being referred to as religous zealots this is my wife.... lol

[thecodont]

I guess its not good or smart until some moron, and I use that word in its truest sense, with a fake degree from a lame college says it is so.

Yes!

[NTHockey]

Attention, NY legislature. These people are evading taxes by bartering. Attention, FDA! These people are using foodstuffs that are unregulated. Attention, EPA! These people are using water in violation of directives. Attention, FBI. These people are self-styled radicals.

[poobear]

“p.s. Nothing beats the taste of a fresh picked tomato!”

I wish you lived next door. I’ve got about 10 lbs. of fresh tomatoes even AFTER I canned 16 pints of fresh okra and tomatoes yesterday!

We’ve been eating those junk greens here in the south for a long time too. I plant bib lettuce now and think I’m living high on the hog ;D!