Housing
City homesteaders seek healthier lifestyle
By maria longley
the news leader
STAUTON, Va. (AP) — When Michael
Reeps and his wife, Heather Smith-Reeps,
broke ground on a garden at the Staunton
home they moved into five years ago, their
intentions were simple enough they wanted
to enjoy some fresh salad greens in the sum-
mer.
To save money and to be more eco-friend-
ly, they added barrels to collect rainwater
and active composting. They built a cold
frame, which allows plants to grow in cold
weather without artificial heat. They dou-
bled the size of their original 10-foot-by-20-
foot garden and planted
some berry bushes and
fruit trees. They bought a
dehydrator and make their
own jellies and jams. They
even make their own
yogurt.
Reeps and his family are
crossing into urban home-
steading, a lifestyle rooted
in the idea that it’s healthi-
er for people and the plan-
et to produce your own
food.
“I would say we are
straddling the two,” said Reeps, a website
designer who works from home. “We’re
still in the hobby category, but we would
love to cross that divide where we could say
X-percent of our seasonal produce we grew
ourselves.”
It’s not just edible landscaping. Some
homesteaders also raise small animals such
as chickens, rabbits, goats and bees. They
preserve foods by canning, freezing, drying
and fermenting. Eco-conscious homestead-
ers also might install solar panels, use grey
water and engage in re-using and repairing
wherever they can, and make their own
clothes or household products.
The movement is growing in popularity
around the country. In Staunton, parks and
recreation will offer an entire urban home-
steading section of classes called Urban and
Rural Survival. They will include urban
vegetable gardening; milk, chickens, cook-
ing, preservation and canning; homestead
livestock; water resources; and a ham radio
tech class.
Holly
Parker is
about as
self-suffi-
cient as a
home-
steader
can get.
The 50-
year-old,
part-time
n u r s e
recently
planted a
variety of
trees on a section of her 20-acre property in
Augusta County, just north of Staunton. The
grove, paid for with a conservation grant, is
also intended for soil rehabilitation and
habitat for wildlife.
In addition to her substantial garden,
Parker keeps chickens and a hog. Her home
Reeps and his family are
crossing into urban
homesteading, a lifestyle
rooted in the idea that it’s
healthier for people and
the planet to produce
your own food
page 12 The Portland Skanner April 20, 2011
is solar-powered, and she heats
it by burning wood.
Parker works the land to be a
good steward of the environ-
ment and to not have to rely on
corporations to put food on her
table.
She is also a lifelong garden-
er and outdoor enthusiast.
“I love my job, but I don’t
want to do it 40 hours a week,”
she said. “That’s why I do this.
The operating theory is if you
don’t spend it at the store, then you don’t
have to make it (money).”
Not all homesteaders are environmental-
ists like Reeps and Parker, but many even-
tually end up on the more natural, organic
side of food growing, says Jennifer
Grassler, 41. A classically trained pastry
chef, Grassler spends most of her time
homesteading with her sister and mom on
their Bedford farm, as well as teaching
classes on a variety of skills.
“The reasons people do it are two-fold.
On one side, you have the pragmatic. If I
keep my own hens, I have fresh-tasting eggs
and I know how my chickens are taken care
of,” she said.
“But then there is this emotional, empow-
ering feeling you get as you progress.
You’re not reliant on outside sources for the
things you need. You start feeling connect-
ed to nature, and you find your place in all
of it.”
Grassler, who will teach several introduc-
tory classes for Staunton, said it’s easy to
start if you pick something you’re curious
cutline
about.
“You don’t have to go 100 percent,” she
said. “You can start small, maybe plant
some beans and tomatoes with your kids. Or
maybe you can make your own bread.”
Homesteaders here say a community of
like-minded people already exists in the
Central Valley; many barter with each other
or just share.
Some homesteaders see their acquiring of
old skills as preparation for an inevitable
environmental apocalypse.
“There certainly are doomers. I’m some-
where in the middle,” Reeps said. “I think
there is something useful about re-acquiring
these older skills that have been replaced by
industrial mass-produced solutions.”
Reeps said he doesn’t have enough room
on his property to add animals - he did
check and learned that Staunton allows
three chickens per property. But he and his
wife do plan to start canning tomatoes.
Their intensive gardening is teaching their
6-year-old daughter, Ella, some important
lessons about food - and not just the nutri-
tion aspect, he said.