I've been on another planet

I have totally neglected my blog, but for good reason.

Reason #1
Morning sickness. My baby fever ended up turning in to a pregnancy and from January until the middle of March I was so sick and exhausted that I couldn't even get two sentences together. But I'm so happy that I'm pregnant and everything is going well, so I an now focus on things other than keeping my breakfast down.

Reason #2
A need to find a simpler life. A lot of my posts before were about how I wish we lived in a world that would just slow down and really live and experience life. I was so focused on what was going on around me in society, that I started to feel overwhelmed. I took a step back and realized that just because I'm a member of this society, doesn't mean I need to take part in the craziness. I realized that the way to a more peaceful and simple life was by making changes to my own life, not by waiting for a whole society to change.

I have been spending many an hour pouring over books and websites about a trend called "homesteading". Homesteading involves really getting back to basics and living a more self sufficient and sustainable life. While I am by no means planning on moving to the country to do this, I am making steps in my deep in the city dwelling to live a life where the world doesn't stop if the lights go out or the supermarket is closed.
Here is the Wiki definition if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homesteading

My first step is my vegetable garden. I have become totally enthralled in anything edible that I can grow in my garden, lol. I soak up every bit of information I can find about vegetables and herbs and am basically taking the hope for the best expect the worst stand point. I have no clue what type of soil I have, or if I already have vegetable crop killing insect infestation that is the result of previous planting of flowers or vegetables. All I have is a shovel, a few containers, some good quality soil, and lots of sun. Lets hope that is the equation for a good vegetable garden.

I'm not a trendy person by any means. But this is a trend that I am very excited to experience as a way to give my children a sense of relationship with the land, the knowledge that food doesn't just magically end up at the grocery store, and to experience the stilling of the mind while digging out weeds or a crop.

I plan to do this one step at a time, enjoying the experience, celebrating the triumps and learning from the downfalls. After all, isn't that how our ancestors lived?