Our home is slowly becoming “the farm.” Taking care of the animals and the earth is truly alive and well at our house. We have 4 “chicks” though at least 1 is intended to be a rooster rather than a hen.

The chickies are very happy in their newly contrived coop. It’s 6′ x 10′ x 8′ tall and not square in the least. They have a lot of eggs to lay to pay back for the building supplies, but are busy working it off eating bugs in the yard. Photo credit to Sam!

I’m hoping to teach my daughter how to be self-sufficient and have the knowledge that was common among many people before the invention of video games (no we don’t have any). We live in an urban downtown city environment with the pleasure of having many services within walking or bike riding distance.

Some of the topics I can comment on were normal everyday knowledge just one generation ago, but I’m afraid much information is being lost in our instant gratification and high tech world (sorry Bill Gates).

Things we know how to do at our house are:

* make quilts and basic sewing (thanks Granny and Grandma)

* bake, cook, grill

* make beer (and getting better every batch!)

* make wine and raisins out of our grapes

* grow food in the back and front yard of our total .18 acres to eat.

* preserve extra food (peaches are coming this year and we have about 100 heirloom tomato plants of about 6 different varieties)

* make handmade paper, and work with many other art media (thanks Arizona State University Fine Art Department)

* understand and participate in our local government (thanks University of Utah Public Administration Program)

We don’t go without anything that we need and are fortunate. The food co-op is a wallet-saver and provides great nutrition from the professional farmers and grocers.

Sam has been playing the piano for 2+ years now and fills the house with beautiful music almost every night. Any toys without batteries that use the brain are really great, like chess! We hang our clothes on the line outside to dry and do our best to conserve whenever we can. We live in an 80+ year old house that has never had an air conditioner, but we did get some window units last year (very hot year!). I have an informal “barter” relationship for Internet access and have basic tv that still has too many channels. We reserve movies at the library rather than rent, . . .

Many of these lifestyle choices are out of necessity of not having much disposable income. I would love to retire young too….But, many of my household decisions are due to a secret passion to live off grid (maybe subconsciously I’m just like mom). And, just like mom, we do our best wielding a hammer when necessary. I’m hoping to combine all these talents into a do-able and realistic energy efficient and wisely used urban home. Okay now, go turn off those lights in the other room!

I would love to hear from other urban folks trying to live wisely and possibly convert existing structures to save / make energy rather than consume it. My relatives that live on real farms are probably laughing by now, but this city girl is doing her best! Thank you in advance for any tips.

I’m especially interested in:

* changing plumbing to grey water system for the yard

* urban solar PV distributors in Utah / SW region

* grass alternatives for landscaping

* organic weed control / landscaping