So first up . . . me!
I'm Chrissy. I started out life as a reluctant farm girl on my parent's farm in a small town in northwestern Oregon. I loved art, which runs in my family- all my Aunts are so creative and artistic. My Dad too can make anything, do anything, work with any material and he is happy to share his knowledge. Growing up surrounded by the creativity, I couldn't help but create, make and decorate from the earliest age. My Mom was also really inspirational to me- she is a stay at home Mom, but she runs the whole farmstand, plus she made meals from scratch everyday while we were growing up. Even my 4 siblings are creative- they paint and make beautiful things from nothing and work with alternative photography methods, graphic design and writing.

I was also drawn toward teaching. I started working as an assistant in a preschool classroom when I was 15 years old. Although I took breaks from time to time, it was always the job that I was drawn toward and before I had my own children, it was what I thought would always be my profession. While I was a lead preschool teacher, I worked alongside Head Start Community Advocates and designed and implemented developmentally appropriate play based curriculums with an arts and language focus. I prided myself on having a creative and imaginative classroom, and even though I frequently worked with little to no classroom budget, I was always searching for ways to make the room better for very little by doing it myself.

As a preschool teacher, I was very influenced by Mary Ann Kohl and Bev Bos, who both advocate allowing children to explore their world via art. I was also influenced by Nellie Edge and even got to go to a workshop led by her! She focuses more on a literature based curriculum. With these and other creative and imaginative people as inspiration, I created arts and language based lesson plans.

I found that engaging children with classic stories and beautiful art was very rewarding. Children notice so many things in art that we as adults don't even see. Like small lines that move and weave through the paintings, or little details in the background. And they love to create. They want to "read" and "write", so they retell stories and act them out. They write their own stories and create art about their favorites. Looking at and learning how to analyze art (in a developmental manner) teaches children to look at and appreciate their surroundings in a more thoughtful way.

By watching the children, by reading with them and providing them with quality materials to create with, I learned how the children learn. I learned what they found important. And I learned how to have a new appreciation for art and language myself.

These days, I spend my time with my 6 year old daughter and 10 month old son. We spend the days creating, baking, gardening, making, doing. I have found a renewed love for my roots, and we are turning our brand new property into an urban homestead.

My purposes for this blog are to inspire teachers, parents and people who are not parents also. I want to show how being resourceful can make you feel like you have more. I want you to attempt our activities and let us know how you fared. I want to be more creative and inspirational.

The Hubs
Julian is The Hubs. Julian grew up in the city, eating boxes of Hamburger Helper, so the whole Urban Homesteading thing is novel and untried for him. He is excited to try it out, mostly for financial reasons, but also to get closer to nature and to be as self-sustaining as possible.

Julian works as a game designer at Escapade Games, where his first game has been picked up by a publisher! Yay!! This is his YEAR!! He also blogs with his business partners about the benefits of gaming at Growing Up Gamers.

Lil' Miss
Lil' Miss is Sabine. She loves art and reading, as well as computer time and creating wild and crazy board games that take over the entire house. She's attending kindergarten right now, and having a grand ol' time. Sabine loves to help her family out- she's excited to be an urban homesteader and all the fun community building that it entails, plus what kid doesn't love digging in the mud!?

Mr.Man
Mr. Man is Coren. He's 10 months old. He likes to drool, smile, fuss, crawl around, and shove things in his mouth. He has no idea what his family is trying to do. He's not really sure what he's trying to do from one moment to the next. However, we are hoping to raise him with strong values of sustainability, good eating habits, and a healthy love of art and books.

So, that's us. We would really love to hear from you! Please email us and let us know what's on your mind! We will try to respond as best we can.