Tuesday Trends - Urban Homesteading

Basically urban homesteading is about finding a level of self-sufficiency no matter where we live.

This is alot more than a trend, but lifestyles create trends and this is a lifestyle that is definitely catching on with designers in a big way!

When I had a buyer at Pool ask me to design her an urban homesteading necklace and my sister told me about her many friends and neighbors in Portland beginning to raise chickens I knew this lifestyle was becoming a design trend we might want to start thinking about.

**** a true chicken tale ****

(Once upon a time we had a chicken named Lucy. She appeared in our yard one day and kept trying to get into our house by flying into the windows - unopened windows...ouch, poor Lucy! - my generous hubby would walk around the yard with Lucy at his feet looking under rocks for crickets.

This next part gets a little gross. He would toss the cricket on the ground to stun it and then Lucy would gobble it up - hey the girl had to eat!

She would jump into our laps when we sat on the patio and nibble on our toes when we ignored her. Our dog Hershey would chase her around the yard and she would fly atop the patio umbrella to get away.

When fall came - and the chicken clean up got a little too much- chickens require a lot of clean up, if you know what I mean - we took Lucy to a farmer down the street named Junebug where she lived happily ever after with other chickens and one lucky rooster, laying a gazillion eggs for farmer Junebug)

Anyhoo, think pitchforks and chickens, cows, goats, llamas, canning, think farming with or without the overalls!

How and if you might want to incorporate this trend into your own work is up to you. Here's what some Etsy peeps are doing:

1. Mason jar lamp from Lamp Goods
2. Canning labels by Starbee
3. Vintage garden tools at BrightWallVintage
4. DIY Cheese Kit from UrbanCheeseCraft
5. Organic tomatilla shirt at Goga
6. Cow pendant by LuckyDuct
7. Mrs. Cow tote at StrandRedesign

And my own piece. This is a new style of cork necklace that I introduced at Pool- I think every city needs some chickens!

Play the Name Game and Win YOUR CHOICE of any Polarity Interchangeable Magnetic Locket!

Now that summer is winding down and autumn is almost here I will be starting the giveaways back up. But, since this is a slow holiday week I think we will try something different!

I promised my friend Kelly from the adorable shop Sweetness Jewelry some time back that I would have this name contest and then of course, I promptly forgot to do it, so here it is now :

I have a confession to make.

Catherine is my middle name. My real first name which some of you know but most probably do not was my mother's name. So, it was easier, I guess, to call me by my middle name.

(and I am very glad most people did because my husband has the same name as his father and when he was younger his family called him little George - which is actually kind of cute - but a few of them called him Georgie and they still do and it really creeps me out)

Which leads us to this little giveaway. I will give a few clues to my real first name and whoever makes a correct guess (if you know my name you can enter, too!) will be entered into a drawing for your choice of any locket from my Polarity shop!

Clue #1 - If this was your name Luke Skywalker might have dated your daughter Laurie when she had braces.

Clue #2 - If this was your name you might have been making today's equivalent of $120,000.00 a week during the great depression.

Clue # 3 - This was my mother's name and she graduated high school in the 1950's.


Do not leave a comment here with your entry - convo me cativins@gmail.com or through the link in the right column that says - let's chat. You can enter up to 3 names. Enter by midnight on Thursday 9/9. All the winning entries will go into a drawing on Friday and the winner will be notified. GOOD LUCK!