Moving Forward

Growing Community

There are plenty of groups in Iowa City where you can go meet at an expensive restaurant or bar and spend too much money to socialize.

There are quite a few groups that meet at places that aren't conducive to taking kids, which means people with kids have to find a sitter.

There are a whole lot of groups that only have one focus or push some sort of spiritual agenda.  I don't like to be a naysayer but atheists and Christians also want to garden organically and sometimes the labyrinth walking at events is a little over the top.

This wasn't meant to be one of those groups.   It was meant to be the practical down-to-earth alternative. It is meant for peasants and people who aspire to be peasants. ;-)

This group was formed with the idea that members would  host family-friendly potlucks, bonfires, and maybe even the occasional harvest party or quilting bee.  It was formed so that people who wanted could sit around the table and work on a craft project, while another group made them homemade irish creme.

It was formed with the idea that someone could post in the group, "Hey, come help me build my new garden beds and I will feed you!" Or that you could call someone in the group to come over and look at the bug that's eating your tomatoes.

It was formed so that people could go in together on bulk orders and save money. Although honestly, I think the UNFI buying club a few of us belonged to is defunct.  I will have to look in to that. There are still members with Frontier wholesale accounts and wholesale accounts with other supply companies.

It was formed with the idea that we would be freely sharing our knowledge with one another about all sorts of topics and maybe even working out ways to share equipment with people who want to try something new.

In short, it was formed to grow a community.  As one of the few remaining founding members, I am going to push hard to see that  we stick to those principles.  There will never be membership fees, nor will we charge people for classes.  We won't meet in places that are financially or situationally prohibitive for people.

Furthermore we won't push any sort of hippy dippy agenda.  We aren't doing this for the Earth Mother or to usher in a new society.  We are trying to recreate the good parts of an old-fashioned community where people pitched in and helped one another out. That's how families survive rough times and there is a sad lack of that in today's society.

2017 Reboot

For those of you who are in the Facebook Group, but don't know who I am,  my name is Stephany Hoffelt and I live in Iowa City. Back in 2009, a few friends and I tried to get this group running. The thing is that we never meant for the Facebook group to be anything other than a place to set up real life events.

None of the organizers were really interested in facilitating discussion on the Internet group. Homesteading types are a busy lot. The point of this group was supposed to be for members to gain sustainable living skills and connect with other people into DIY to share knowledge and possibly tools and equipment.  I left our first couple of blog posts up for posterity.

We had some potlucks and crafting parties, but it never really turned into what we had envisioned. Primarily because most of the original organizers have moved away for jobs in other states. So here I am,  trying to figure out what to do with the Facebook group.

I am beginning to see a growing dissatisfaction with social media. It's kind of filling up with contentious, argumentative types. I feel like now is a good time get people off the Internet and meeting in real life. I'd be interested in hearing what would accomplish that.

The only rules here are that we only talk about selling or bartering what we produce (no essential oil sales or Norwex, nonsense) and we are going to keep politics and spiritual beliefs out of it. People come to be interested in this lifestyle for various reasons. If you are doing it to save money, cool! If you are doing it for the environment, that's awesome. If you are a prepper, that's great, too. I am not really interested in why you do things, just how you do them.

Eventually I would like to start hosting skillshares and bartering events.  Unlike some of the DIY groups out there that have a tendency to make things difficult and expensive, I'd like to see this group make things more accessible and affordable.

I'd like to see bartering of time and materials. I'd like to see creativity employed to make sustainability accessible to everyone. Steve (my partner) and I have a lot of tools/equipment, but we have had not such great luck loaning stuff out. We are more likely to make space in our garage and let you use our woodworking tools on a woodworking project, in return for some help putting in our new raised beds in the spring.

For my part I will volunteer to try to coordinate and improve communication in the group. We wills start publishing a monthly newsletter pdf on the 20th of every month. I know this is a weird date, but it fits in around my other writing project deadlines - the ones I actually get paid for ;-). I would love it if other local folk would like to submit an article on any of the following topics that pertain to homesteading.

Baking
Beekeeping
Brewing and Boozy Concoctions
Candlemaking
Gardening
Homemade Self-Care Products
Knitting & Crocheting
Preserving
Sewing
Small Engine Repair
Soapmaking
Woodworking

What is urban homesteading?

Another “green” group for Iowa City; you may be asking yourself “so what is urban homesteading anyway?” So glad you asked! Urban homesteaders are a pretty diverse group, but there are some common themes. These are people who are making a conscious choice to make our world healthier by relying less on fossil fuel use in its many manifestations, from industrial farming to electric clothes washers. Urban homesteaders seek self-sufficiency and reducing their reliance on business and infrastructure for things such as food, electricity, and many other things that can be created at home. We are seeking to reclaim knowledge that we have willingly given up in favor of industrialized, cheap, and easy products: including food.

Homesteading has it roots in the “back to land” movement of the 60s and the 70s: the urban exodus to the countryside to seek a stronger connection with the Earth and foodways, living off the grid and by the sweat of one's brow. Urban homesteaders are trying to seek balance of the benefit of urban life with the same longing for a simpler, less consumptive lifestyle. Many of us start simply as gardeners with a small plot of organically cultivated vegetables, and our interests expand to include alternative energy, reusing and re-purposing things instead of carting them off to the dump, and trying to preserve our harvest to nourish throughout the year.

Whatever stage of urban homesteading you are at, from interest onward, your presence is welcomed in the group. We seek to build community, to learn from and to encourage each other.