Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living

823 Pages·2011·27.41 MB·English

by  Rachel Kaplan, K. Ruby Blume

Urban Homesteading
Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living
Rachel Kaplan
K. Ruby Blume
Copyright © 2011 by Rachel Kaplan and K. Ruby Blume
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief
excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to
Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.
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This book is dedicated to the children who follow after us.
May they inherit a fertile and abundant world filled with people who honor the
diversity of life teeming around us: from the tiniest microbe, to the wondrous
chicken, to the beauty of human community.
Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Why We’re Here

Start Where You Are

Knit It Up

The Empire Has No Clothes

Permaculture—Peace with Creation

Creating a Personal Sustainability Plan

Gardening and Growing

The True Growth Economy

Urban Dirt Farmer

Seeds to Stem

From Patterns to Details

Life Is with Creatures

Eating Close to the Ground
Food Is a Verb

Urban Farm Kitchen

Living Cultures

People’s Medicine Chest

The House

From the Ground Up

Powering Down

Sourcing the River

Zero Waste

Self-Care, City-Care

Personal Ecology

The Art of Our Common Place
Endnotes
Resources
About the Authors
Acknowledgments

A book like this is never written by one person, or even by two. Collaborating on
this project has been a good experiment for us, even when we wished we were in
the garden rather than in front of the computer. We are grateful for the support
and encouragement we received while working on it, and want to acknowledge it
here.
For their time and commitment to the path: Aaron Ableman, Patricia Algara,
Jane Allard Allen, Laura Allen, Kevin Bayuk, Ellen Beeler, George Beeler,
Rachel Brinkerhoff, Maryann Brooks, Massey Burke, Alli Chagi-Starr, Lindsey
Dailey, Trilby Dupont, Lauren Elder, Ashel Eldridge, Michael Erlich, Tom
Ferguson, Barbara Finnen, Trathen Heckman, Jenifer Kent, Ben Macri, Jeannie
McKenzie, Daniel Miller, Evelina Molina, Frank Morrow, Jim Montgomery,
Giancarlo Muscadini, Hank Obermayer, Erik Ohlsen, Cris Oseguera, Sasha
Rabin, Kitty Sharky, Christopher Shein, Troy Silviera, Rick Taylor, Andree
Thompson and Tina Wilder. Many of these fine folks are linked, directly or
indirectly, through two organizations we love: The Institute of Urban
Homesteading in Oakland, California and Daily Acts, a person-powered
organization for sustainability education and inspiration in Sonoma County,
California.
Others who chimed in with thoughts, photos and support: Karen Lamphear,
Michael and Dana Yares, Jennifer McWilliams, Diane Dew, Toby Hemenway,
Daily Acts, Ellen Bicheler, Annie Deichmann, Dan Kaplan, Karen Romanowski,
Carl Shuller, Karen Lyons, Molly Goulet Bolt, Karen Erlichman, Jennifer
Lindsey, Seth Zuckerman, Will Stapp, Victoria Temple, Stacey Evans, Keith
Hennessy, Michael-Medo Whitson, Michelle Lujan, Jonathon Gavzer, Glenn
Caley Bachmann, Stacey Meinzen, Kelli Loux, Sabrina Kahn, Chris at the
Farmer’s Market, Ruth Persselin, Patty Sherwood, Bart Anderson, Willi Paul and
Planetshifter.com.
Readers extraordinaire who made it so much better: Tracy Theriot, Miguel
Micah Elliott, Laura Allen, Tamar Bland, and Marion Kaplan. Elinor Burnside’s
contribution as reader, proofreader, sounding board and general all around
inspiration for living was extraordinary and much appreciated.
For their long-term, salt-of-the-earth support, their continued faith in her work
on the planet and for simply being amazing and inspiring each in their own way,
Ruby wants to thank her personal angels: her mom Jacki Fox Ruby, her partner
Erik Bjorkquist, and her friend Allyson Steinberg.