"Our work and our life is the same thing" Hannah Maloney

Reading Recommendations

(I get no income from these recommendations- they are just things I have liked and hope you will too.)

Shannon Hayes: Radical Homemakers: reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture

When I was working, I noticed a funny thing about the way I behaved on my holidays. I would immediately put on an apron and cook up a storm. I once described this as "turning into a 1950s housewife" but whilst it made me happy, my friends looked very uncomfortable at the idea. As feminists, we have been led to thinking that homemaking is somehow a return to slavery and boring manual work with no rewards.

Home made onion scrolls

In this book Shannon Hayes interviews 20 people involved in what she calls the 'radical homemaking' movement, whereby they value growing their own food, making all kinds of things at home, social justice, the community and ecological responsibility. She tackles the 'is this perhaps anti-feminist' question and does justice to the complexity of the answer.

I found this a very helpful book -it is encouraging and supportive without being in any way dismissive of the complexities for women who are practicing 'radical homemaking". I love my radical homemaking -and DH does too. We share the work, we each have specialisations and skills to offer, we love being together and working on this place. I have noticed, however, a bit of a sense that when I try to describe my activities in the week, it sometimes sounds less impressive to others than I feel it to be myself. 

This week I made bread, I planted asparagus and lettuce and noticed what was growing in my garden, I walked around a lovely lake with my DH, I made some quilt blocks, I read some books, I did some volunteer work...DH made some of the meals we ate, he prepared a patch of ground for some repair concreting after the plumber dug it up, he planted begonias, he did some volunteer work....

This book helps me with that - it gives me a sense of not being alone, and that walking in another direction from the crowd is just fine. Shannon's blog is found here

"hang up the washing on a line" - even in winter we can line dry most of the time. 

You might also like to read an interview and her "10 radical steps" here 

The blog title form this week comes from Hannah Maloney. If you have seen Hannah Maloney on Gardening Australia, you may have noticed that she is both a permaculture designer and a self-described "radical homemaker. Watch here

If you like this book I suggest you will also like Barbara Kingsolver: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle- our year of seasonal eating. 

Barbara's family spends a year only eating what they grow. The book includes chapters from other members of her family, who reflect on the experience. There are insights into the industrial food production processes in the USA and why growing your own or purchasing from local producers is a good idea.

Check out these books in your local library -if they don't have them you might be able to get an inter-library loan.

I leave you with a quote or two from Shannon:

*Live radically, and you’ll inevitably face the judgment of others; loving unconditionally is the antidote.
* Building a better world is hard work. It's time we embrace dirty hands.