An Amazing and Prolific Urban Homestead

To earn the extra income needed to support this rapidly growing worldwide outreach, in 2006 I launched an online store, Peddler's Wagon, to sell the green products we use on our homestead. Our e-wagon carries select practical goods and useful tools for eco-pioneers seeking to build a sustainable future.

Throughout my homesteading endeavors, I realized the need for the interdependence developed in community. Because today’s friends and neighbors increasingly engage online, I (at my daughters’ urging) began Freedom Gardens. This social networking site, run by Anaïs and Jordanne, connects gardeners from around the world, enabling them to share tips about plant selection, soil and pest problems, as well as climate issues.

Eight years ago, Path to Freedom was a family project I began right in my back yard in a struggle to live free. With this vision, I set out on a solitary journey. With a mission to develop the intellect, ability and fortitude necessary to take care of my family, I made one small step. Using the Path to Freedom homestead to show what can be done with one’s hands, I invited others along via the Internet. In these anxious times, people are discovering that, to survive, they must become free. At its inception a mere spark, Path to Freedom has lit a sweeping, homegrown revolution.

Today, at 61, I am a diehard homesteader turned urban revolutionary. The world today — and, tragically, my children’s inheritance — offers more violence while bearing graver threats. Each day, living selfishly beyond our means, we walk dangerously along the precipice of cataclysmic global warming. Why not take a different path? The way to survival is through working in our earth, and the tool of salvation is a trowel. I brandish it now in the cause of a one-trowel revolution.