A little about my blog

I never imagined that someday I would start a blog, declaring myself a "homemaker." In high school, I avoided home ec classes. I wasn't interested in learning how to sew a button or how to bake a chocolate cake.

But that all changed when I met my husband. He told me stories of how his mom would bake bread from scratch every day, about the treats she would bake, about how she would sew most of his clothes when he was little.

He also encouraged me to find a hobby -- besides watching TV every night. He believes that hobbies are what keep us happy; they are what we look forward to at the end of a long, stressful work day.

So for my first hobbies, I started clipping recipes from food magazines. I'm drawn to baking recipes, in particular. Baking seems to suit my "inner scientist." I prefer to follow a recipe exactly as written, believing that will always give me the best result. With cooking, I've found that experimentation is necessary to suit our tastes. My husband is perfectly comfortable throwing whatever ingredients together to see what works and what doesn't. I don't have those adventurous instincts.

As I grew more confident in the kitchen, I started thinking about other hobbies I could do with my hands, as a break from the computer that's always facing me at work. I bought a used sewing machine and have tried to sew clothes (so far unsuccessfuly) and a quilt (which has turned into a three-year project).

When we bought our first house, I bought seed packets to start a flower garden. My success in growing tomatoes encouraged me to try to grow peppers, then lettuce. Now I have a mini vegetable garden in the backyard.

Through my job as a farm writer, I also met urban beekeepers and folks who keep chickens in their backyards for fresh eggs. It made me think about starting my own backyard "homestead."

I'm not sure how far I will actually go with my "urban farming" hobby. But I am interested in learning how to make pickles, bake a pie and actually finish sewing a quilt.

I invite you to join me in my adventures in "reverse" homemaking. I'm going to get back to basics, learn how to make things from scratch and get in touch with my "pioneer" roots. I'm looking forward to the journey.