Homesteading State of Mind

Health & Family
Typography
In May of 2011, Sister Jann McClary and her husband Tariq moved from the Washington DC metropolitan area to establish a new home in the mountains of Colorado, building it from the ground up as part of their plan to become free of the spiritual and physical stress of modern urban life. Sister Jann is documenting her experiences for the Muslim Link. See her earlier installments at www.muslimlinkpaper.com by searching for “Running for the Hills”. Make sure you select “Exact Phrase” in the search options. – TML

 

sunshine-dryer


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Sunshine dryer is noiseless and free


 

What's it take to be a homesteader? Forty acres? A herd of cattle and horses? An agriculture degree? A cowboy hat and a tractor? All those things come in handy and an extra $50,000 thrown in would be just peachy, but all you really need to start are three things: niyyah, desire, and mind-set. Really. The rest will come, insha Allah.


Now, I don't for one second entertain the thought that your reading this column will make you wanna go out and get your farmer-thing on. I, myself, am not a farmer, as evidenced by the meager harvests I've wrung from my garden over the pasts four years. You don't need a degree in animal husbandry to raise your own chickens for eggs, and you'll do just fine without a large parcel of land. I've come to find out that homesteading is not about the trappings. It's about the doings: the day-to-day ideas you come up with to pull a little more out of a dollar; re-purposing common items; living in cooperation with the land; being self-reliant with the provision Allah grants.


Even in the city or suburbs there are homesteader habits you can begin doing that are inexpensive, practical and that don't require lots of advanced knowledge.


Insulation – If you have trees in or around your property bag the fall leaves and use them as insulation around your home. Keep them in bags and stuff them in an attic crawlspace or that drafty spot in the cellar. Come spring, remove the leaves, start a little patio container garden and use the leaves as mulch. Remember though, if you're renting, or the trees aren't on your property, get permission from your landlord or ask the neighbors. Narrated Said bin Zaid: The Messenger of Allah said, "Whoever usurps the land of somebody unjustly, his neck will be encircled with it down the seven earths (on the Day of Resurrection). "  (Sahih Al Bukhari)

 

seeds-for-swamp


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Seeds for swap is better than a food exchange.


Laundry – Keep your quarters in your pocket on laundry day and use the sun to dry your clothes. Backyards are a great place for clotheslines, but if you live in an apartment that has a balcony or patio, string  up a few lines from wall to wall. Not only do you save money, but the sun will disinfect the clothes and it make them smell so good you won't need fabric fresheners. Don't forget to take the lines down when you're done so the place won't look like a cat's cradle string game.


Clothing – Old clothes, out-of-style clothes, clothes from that one aunt who insists on giving you stuff-you-wouldn't-be-caught-dead-in, or gently-used baby clothes will invariably clog your closets and crowd out shoe space (which we all know is much more important.) Rather than dumping them off at some anonymous thrift store, organize a clothing swap with friends and neighbors so that all that barakaat and sadaqah gets distributed in your community.


Cosmetics – You can go ahead and spend six bucks on a 4-ounce bottle of lotion, or slap $20 on the counter for a swanky-looking jar of chemicals and dyes promising 20-year-old skin. Don't you know that you've got most of the healthiest, cheapest, and skin-nutritious ingredients right in your kitchen?! Get out the mayo, the olive oil, the coconut oil. Grab some cucumbers, lemons, black seed, strawberries. Got some thyme, rosemary, chamomile or peppermint? You've got the makings of moisturizers, toners and hair rinses right behind your refrigerator door. Google this stuff  and you'll find tons of easy recipes for your own creams, salves, ointments and more. No chemistry degree needed. Move over Mary Kay,  Maryum Kareema will be knocking at your door!


Gardening – So last year your patio garden did pretty good, huh? So then you probably have zucchini coming out of your ears, and your friends have more tomatoes and peppers than they can possibly find recipes for. So have a harvest-and-seed swap. Organize your extra produce in pretty baskets, put left-over seeds in labeled snack bags and swap 'em for what you don't have. Let your friends deal with zucchini-ear syndrome next spring.

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Country wheels help get the author to her neighbors house down yonder to say hi


 

Lighting – Most people think of homesteaders sitting around squinting next to oil lamps or candles trying to get chores done. A lot of us may wear glasses, but it's more a function of age than poor lighting. I would tell you to go solar like my husband and I have, but retro-fitting a house for solar after it's already been wired for the regular power grid isn't too practical or economical for most city-dwellers. So chop your BGE bill with a modest investment in LED light bulbs. Replace your standard incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs all over your house. They come in many different wattages and you can even get them in warm tone, like incandescent, or cool tone, like fluorescent. And they'll practically last till your kids graduate college.


Transportation – Get out of the car and onto a bike. Yes, a bicycle. Your kids ride bikes, why not you? No, I don't suggest you pedal it along the BW Parkway to get to work. But if you've got a short errand to run not too far from your house, two-wheel it instead. You save gas, get your heart, legs and lungs working, and you can finally loose weight for less than that gym membership you don't use is costing you.


Nutrition – Eat better. Just plain eat better. A hallmark of homesteading is to do as Allah commands in Surat-ul Baqarah, ayat  172, “O you who believe! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with, and be grateful to Allah, if it is indeed He Whom you worship.”  If you can buy organic, buy it. If there's a farmers' market, shop at it. If you've got a community garden in your area, plant in it.  Buy local produce grown in your state if possible rather than supporting agricultural economies far, far away. Cook fresh, from scratch, so you know what's going into you family's bellies. Really read ingredient labels. Some of them are down-right hysterical, but you'll stop laughing when you see what's being passed off as food these days. If a package has more than about 5 or 6 ingredients, and too many polysyllabic words, best to put it back on the shelf.


These are just a sampling of things that can make you into a certified, city-dwelling homesteader. A lot of folks, even out here, are living “all hat and no ranch”. That may seem ingenuous, but you've got to do what you can until you have it like you want. Go forth, and may your inner-homesteader prosper.

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