What is an Urban Homesteader?

On our modest urban lot, in a home nearly 100 years old, we raise vegetables and fruit, we compost, we preserve what we grow, we repurpose castoff materials, we build, we repair, we stitch, we use a mix of transportation, our shed includes plans for solar power and rainwater harvesting, and we continue to ponder adding a few chickens to the mix. In short, we are urban homesteaders.

According to the Dervaes (who have also applied to trademark these 10 elements) this is what makes one an urban homesteader:

1. Grow your own food on your city lot. (More than 50% of your diet, organically, with visually appealing landscaping.)
2. Use alternative energy sources (e.g., solar, wind) in conjunction with energy efficiency and conservation measures to reduce usage.
3. Use alternative fuels and transportation (bicycle, walk, public).
4. Keep farm animials for manure and food. Practice animal husbandry.
5. Practice waste reduction. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without, compost it, re-purpose it.
6. Reclaim greywater and collect rainwater. Practice water conservation and recovery.
7. Live simply. … in the manner of past eras. Develop back-to-basics homemaking skills, including food preservation and preparation.
8. Do the work yourself. Learn to do home and vehicle maintenance, repairs and basic construction.
9. Work at home. Earn a living from the land or hand work done at home. Develop a home-based economy.
10. Be a good neighbor. Offer a helping hand for free. Urban homesteading is a community-based way of life, not a business opportunity. Be a neighbor, not a business person.

I shouldn’t need to point out it’s ridiculous to think that anyone could trademark these “elements” — I mean this is what people have been doing for generations, they just didn’t have a name for it beyond “living” or “survival.” In most parts of the world this is still what you see around every corner.

As far back as I can remember, I was taught to “use it up or wear it out, make it do or do without,” a phrase that hearkens from pioneer times or at least the 1930s Depression, depending who you ask. Throughout my life I’ve worked toward building my skills to be largely self-sufficient — sewing, knitting, cooking, baking, gardening, preserving, building, repairing, et cetera. I used to have a portion of my personal website that was called “Back to Basics” which included things like growing food, baking and cooking and my  “Luddite Skill Set” where I gathered this sort of information (huh, the pages still seem to be there… go peek if you wanna).

While we don’t meet all of the 10 key points right now we certainly cover a lot of the same ground and, really, the spirit of the current urban homesteading movement is to encourage one another to grow local, live simple, and live lightly on the earth, so isn’t it enough to make a solid effort? Does this not look like an urban homestead?

I think it does. I’m more than comfortable including myself in the community of urban homesteaders and I’m so happy to have been introduced to more of that community over the past week, even if the circumstances were not so bright. Here’s a great round-up of some of the other posts today which the Crunchy Chicken is calling Urban Homesteaders Blog Like A Pirate Day.

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Before I finish this post,  can I just point out how hypocritical that last point in the list is?

“Urban homesteading is a community-based way of life, not a business opportunity.”

Really? Then why go to the trouble of trying to claim it legally as your own intellectual property? Why send out letters threatening others who have embraced that lifestyle? It doesn’t seem very neighborly to me.