One of the biggest reasons I feel more propelled to go in the direction of Radical Homemaking now (I’m 35) is that I have no real intrinsic motivation to play the politics and games that are necessary to succeed in a regular job. And, the lack of motivation for status, money, and prestige affects how I work in these regular jobs. My productivity and efficiency is low, I find I value cooperative relationships more than competition and I get into trouble there! I like to move at a leisurely pace and to stay healthy and calm. I found that without the anxiety, I also couldn’t get the “success.” If I weren’t overly anxious and drinking coffee every 2 hours, I couldn’t compete witht he people who did, nor relate to them.

I started my own business this Spring and am more motivated and happy than ever. Everything makes sense when you have to earn your own money. It’s all very tangible and direct. I find in a classic working environment, it’s not about the work you actually do, but it’s the politics and games you play. There are some really great work environments out there, and I’ve been fortunate to work in one of them. The people I worked with were my friends, we helped eachother out, we were very effective together. Unfortunately, that job didn’t last forever and it’s not easy finding that kind of work environment. A lot of workplaces are very toxic and I can’t thrive inside them!

I would love to meet other people interested in Radical Homemaking that have vegetarian/animal rights slant in the South western area of Virginia! I hope to hear from you soon.

Before I identified a gluten allergy, I baked my own bread. A male friend was visiting me ten years ago and looked at my tidy (though not clean) home and reflected that with my penchant for the kitchen and for homemaking, I would make a good wife. I have always chuckled at this and had read enough Wendell Berry about the meaning of wifery and husbandry that I was able to forgive the gender bias implicit in his comment.

I was an organic landscape designer for a few years and then, after returning to school and finishing my bachelors, we moved to Houston and bought our property with the intention of turning it into a suburban farm. I planned to eventually move on to something larger and run a CSA that would serve southern Houston. However, we have flooding problems and making a paycheck off the land is not in the cards. After that failure I worked a few “normal” (and somewhat unskilled) jobs for not that much income and I was extraordinarily bored. After the last job, which was horribly stressful in addition to being completely boring my husband suggested that I not worry about finding another job if the only jobs I could find were so unfulfilling. “We’ll figure out how to make it,” he said. When I sat down and calculated what we would save on gas, convenience food, etc. as a result of me not working it was only about a quarter of my (meager) yearly salary. But, as my husband pointed, out the improvement in our happiness and satisfaction, our quality of life, and my good health and low stress during our pregnancy next year more than makes up for it.

Next month is the first month we go back to one income and it’s a little scary, but I’ve been working on getting my mind ready all summer. “Radical Homemakers” helps. It reassures me that we can make it and have full lives without the extra income. I also reread Eric Brende’s “Better Off” which is an inspiring picture of what life can look like when you make the transition. I’m going to reread the Nearings “The Good Life” next for more reassurance.

So, my life now is more of all the things I was already doing but barely had time for anymore. We have a small flock of chickens and a garden. The flock is about to expand (the garden is ever expanding) and we’re adding rabbits for meat and bees to the menagerie. Now that I have time, all the meals from scratch are a pleasure to make rather than a chore. I’m able to expand from making all our bread and jam into making all our crackers and soap as well. I plan to volunteer. That’s something I haven’t been able to do since I was in high school.